Burned IC chip (BQ715) on Lattepanda Alpha - should it be replaced?

userHead drmili 2022-01-07 11:50:22 571 Views1 Replies
Hi guys,
Hope you are well! Recently I tired switching the power supply from the USB-C to 4 pin JST. I tired 12V and LPA didn't turn on. At 15V it did - but never to the OS level, I would just see LP logo and then it would restart. I thought that was super weird, so I switched back to the USB-C power supply. This was maybe 2 weeks ago. Lattepanda has been working fine so far.

A few days ago I noticed some some burning on the board: Screen Shot 2022-01-06 at 7.05.28 PM.jpg Screen Shot 2022-01-06 at 7.05.28 PM.jpg (911.04 KiB) Viewed 242 times I think the IC chip is BQ715 battery charge controller (https://www.ti.com/store/ti/en/p/product/?p=BQ24715RGRR). Although I am not sure, as the first letter got burned. I am new to all of this so I was hoping someone with more experience might have an insightful answer.

1. Is BQ715 correct part name? Should it be replaced even if the Lattepanda has been working fine?
2. The BQ715 is very very warm when the LattePanda is working. Is that normal - should it be hot? Someone on the Lattepanda discord told me that it shouldn't be warm if I am not using a battery, and I am not.
3. What do you think could cause the burning?

Also, might be important to note that around the same time I was playing with the headphone jack, trying to power different 3.5V microphones via jack's bias power. A couple of time I would switch the ground and the positive microphone wires very briefly which would produce noise or clicking sound. This was all done while powering via USB C.

Thank you guys so much!