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Sivers Semiconductors AB of Kista, Sweden (which supplies RF beam-former ICs for SATCOMs and photonic lasers for AI data centers) has provided additional details on the debt financing with a US-headquartered bank, established to fully refinance the company’s existing debt, while also supporting ongoing growth and financial strategy...

Поважна делегація з Королівства Норвегії в КПІ kpi пн, 05/26/2025 - 17:46

Презентація збірки поезій «Чорні тіні» Руслана Неровні kpi пн, 05/26/2025 - 17:43

Меморандум про співпрацю з Благодійним фондом Genesis for Ukraine та Благодійним фондом «КОЛО» kpi пн, 05/26/2025 - 17:16

At a time when the explosive growth in artificial intelligence (AI), data centers, electric vehicles (EVs), and renewable energy is triggering an unprecedented demand for high-voltage, high-frequency and high-efficiency power devices, the chatter about silicon carbide (SiC) poster child Wolfspeed’s bankruptcy has startled the semiconductors world.

Wolfspeed, which divested its LED and RF businesses to focus on SiC-based power electronics, has been considered a flagbearer in the rapidly emerging SiC semiconductors market. The company pioneered 1-inch, 2-inch, 4-inch and 6-inch SiC wafers, and it was the first outfit to open an 8-inch SiC wafer fab in Mohawk Valley in 2022.

In fact, Wolfspeed is now the only company manufacturing SiC devices on 8-inch wafers in high volume. So, what has gone wrong in Wolfspeed’s SiC fairy tale? For a start, while the word bankruptcy triggers a sense of shock for a company that’s considered the market leader, the truth is that Wolfspeed is restructuring itself to address financial vows and reinforce operational efficiency.

After all, SiC is a new market that is constantly evolving. That inevitably brings growing pains, especially when a new technology like SiC entails higher product development costs while carrying small-volume orders. In other words, Wolfspeed’s situation is more than a company in crisis.

Figure 2 The SiC-based devices promise to transform power electronics in segments ranging from data centers to EVs to renewable energy. Source: Wolfspeed

Why bankruptcy

Now, let’s take a closer look at Wolfspeed’s predicament. First and foremost, a slowdown in EV demand is widely quoted as the cause of Wolfspeed’s current misfortunes. Second, while the SiC substrate business has served as the cash cow for Wolfspeed, the arrival of Chinese players has led to a steep decline in the price of SiC substrates.

According to Yole, the advent of Chinese SiC substrate suppliers has led to a significant capacity expansion and a 30% price drop in 2024. Third, and probably most important, are Wolfspeed’s financial headwinds. It’s carrying $6.5 billion debt while its sales projections seem too optimistic amid the EV slowdown and aggressive push from Chinese players in the SiC market.

So, this bankruptcy news looks more like a bid to establish supply chain discipline, capital flexibility, and policy alignment. The recent change of guards at Wolfspeed in which Gregg Lowe bowed down to make way for Robert Feurle is most likely about setting the stage for this critical transition.

Figure 2 It’s probably no coincidence that Feurle’s appointment precedes the bankruptcy news. Source: Wolfspeed

It’s pretty ironic that Wolfspeed, then known as Cree, made a huge bet on LEDs at a time when the LED market was about to crash. Nearly two decades later, Wolfspeed decided to transform itself into a power electronics device company. Yole calls it an exciting story of business transition.

While the Wolfspeed bankruptcy is most likely coming in weeks, it’s important to put things in perspective. Wolfspeed is still a market leader in SiC materials and is ranked number four in SiC power devices. That said, SiC’s technology and cost challenges leave Wolfspeed with gigantic task of turnaround in a market that demands high CapEx for future development.

Related Content

• Wolfspeed to Build 200-mm SiC Wafer Fab in Germany
• The CEO office transitions at Microchip and Wolfspeed
• Wolfspeed’s Robert Feurle Aims to Rescue Top SiC Maker
• Renesas and Wolfspeed Sign 10-Year SiC Wafer Agreement
• Wolfspeed at APEC 2025: Jay Cameron on the Growing Role of SiC

The post The truth about Wolfspeed’s bankruptcy chatter appeared first on EDN.

Inductor-inductor-capacitor (LLC) resonant converters have a couple of appealing characteristics for applications requiring an isolated DC/DC converter such as minimal switching losses, no reverse recovery when operating below the resonant frequency and the ability to tolerate large leakage inductance within the transformer.

The challenge

A primary challenge when designing an LLC converter with a wide operating range is the behavior of the gain curve with respect to equivalent load resistance. This is because as the quality factor (Qe), increases, the maximum attainable gain decreases Conversely, the minimum attainable gain increases as Qe decreases. This is shown in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1 LLC gain curves showing that, as Qe increases, the maximum attainable gain decreases. Source: Texas Instruments

This behavior makes it difficult to maintain reasonable root-mean-square (RMS) currents in the power stage and a reasonable switching frequency range. The inductance ratio (Ln) needs to be reduced to reduce the required frequency range; however, a lower inductance ratio increases the magnetizing current in the power stage. This article will discuss five tips for designing an LLC converter with a wide operating range.

Using a reconfigurable rectifier

One potential way to extend an LLC converter’s operating range is to implement a reconfigurable rectifier, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2 shows an LLC converter with a reconfigurable rectifier, which can be reconfigured as either a full-bridge or a voltage-doubler. Source: Texas Instruments

In this structure, you can configure the rectifier as a full-bridge or a voltage-doubler rectifier by using a comparator to look at the output voltage to decide the mode of operation. When operating as a full-bridge rectifier, Equation 3 calculates the input-to-output transfer function.

When operating as a voltage doubler rectifier, the input-to-output transfer function is:

Figure 3 shows the switching frequency versus output voltage for an LLC using the above approach to achieve a 140-V to 420-V output voltage range from a fixed 450-V input. This data is collected with an 800-mA load on the output. Notice the jump at 200 V where the comparator switches from full-bridge to voltage-doubler mode.

Figure 3 Switching frequency versus output voltage in LED driver reference design. Source: Texas Instruments

Minimizing winding and rectifier capacitance

If the operating point drops below the minimum gain curve, the LLC controller is forced to operate in burst mode to keep the output voltage in regulation. Burst mode results in higher low-frequency output ripple voltage. This is a concern for applications requiring very low output ripple at light load and at the minimum output voltage.

In such cases, the winding capacitance within the transformer and the output capacitance (Coss) or junction capacitance (Cj) of the rectifiers must be minimized. These parasitic capacitances will cause the gain curve to invert when operating above the resonant frequency. Figure 4 shows the traditional first harmonic approximation (FHA) calculation of an LLC gain curve at light load and the same LLC gain curve when accounting for winding the capacitance and Coss of the rectifiers used in the power stage.

Figure 4 The impact of parasitic capacitance on the LLC gain curve at light load. Source: Texas Instruments

Careful attention to the winding stackup within the transformer and selection of the rectifier components minimizes this gain curve inversion effect. Using wide bandgap devices such as SIC diodes or GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) as the rectifier can result in considerably lower Coss compared to Si MOSFETs or diodes.

Using LLC controllers with a high-frequency skip mode

A high-frequency skip mode can achieve a lower gain compared to what is achievable with normal switching. Below is an example from a 100-W half-bridge LLC converter with an input range of 70 V to 450 V. In Figure 5, the resonant current is shown in green, and the primary side switch node is shown in blue.

On the right side, the LLC converter is operating in a high-frequency skip mode, omitting every fourth switching cycle. The switching frequency is 260 kHz, but it is sub-modulated at a 77 kHz burst frequency. 

Figure 5 The 100-W LLC converter switching behavior at 70V and 450V inputs with resonant current in green and the primary side switch node in blue. Source: Texas Instruments

 Managing auxiliary bias voltages

Generating the necessary bias voltages for the primary and secondary sides of the power supply can be done by including auxiliary windings on the LLC transformer. For LLC converters with a variable output voltage, the auxiliary winding voltages will change as the output voltage changes. This is especially true for LLC transformers using sectioned bobbins where the auxiliary windings have poor coupling to the secondary windings. When using a simple low-dropout regulator (LDO) structure to regulate the bias voltage, the efficiency will drop as the output voltage increases. It may require a larger physical package to handle the power dissipation.

In Figure 6, Naux1 and Naux2 are sized so that at the lowest output voltage, or the VCC bias voltage, is provided through D1, Q1, and D4. As the output voltage increases, the voltage on C2 is limited to the breakdown voltage of Zener D3 minus the gate-source threshold voltage of Q1. As the output voltage is increased further, the voltage generated by Naux2 becomes high enough to supply VCC, and Q1 is forced off as the gate-source voltage decreases below the turn-off threshold.

Figure 6 Using auxiliary windings along with an LDO structure to generate the necessary bias voltages for the primary and secondary side of the power supply. Source: Texas Instruments

This approach is more efficient than a single winding + LDO but requires two aux windings. An alternative approach that requires only one aux winding is to use a buck converter or boost converter instead of an LDO.

Managing trickle-charging for deeply discharged batteries

LLC converters used as battery chargers must safely recover deeply discharged batteries by applying a small charging current until the battery pack voltage is high enough to safely take the full charging current. LLCs cannot regulate down to a 0-V output with a small output current and therefore struggle to meet this requirement.

This can be managed by including a small constant current circuit with a bypass FET in parallel, as shown in Figure 7. When in trickle-charge mode, the bypass FET turns off, and the output current is supplied by LM317 configured to regulate the output current. This allows the minimum output voltage of the LLC converter to be greater than 0 V, even with an output voltage of 0 V. This approach allows the LLC transformer to generate the necessary bias voltages on the primary and secondary side and avoid needing a separate bias supply when the output voltage is 0 V. Once the battery pack voltage has risen to a high-enough level, a FET with a discrete charge-pump circuit bypasses the constant-current circuit.

Figure 7 LLC with a trickle charging circuit that can safely recover deeply discharged batteries. Source: Texas Instruments

Wide LLC operation

While achieving a wide operating range with an LLC converter may look difficult due the nature of the LLC topology, several strategies exist for obtaining a wide operating range easier to achieve. The five simple tips and tricks listed here are analog-control friendly and do not require more complex, digital-control implementations.

Ben Lough is a Systems Engineer in Texas Instrument’s Power Design Services team focused on power factor correction and isolated DC/DC conversion. He received his MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Ohio State University in 2016 and BS in ECE from Ohio State in 2015.

 

Related Content

• Power Tips #117: Measure your LLC resonant tank before testing at full operating conditions
• Power Tips #137: Implementing LLC current-mode control on the secondary side with a digital controller
• Power Tips #84: Think outside the LLC series resonant converter box
• Power Tips #103: LLC design considerations for audio amplifiers

The post Power Tips # 141: Tips and tricks for achieving wide operating ranges with LLC resonant converters appeared first on EDN.

High-density power modules and 48V power delivery network enable midrange vehicles to adopt luxury feature

Xiamen Hongfa Electroacoustic Co., Ltd (Hongfa) has designed the industry’s highest performance and smallest active suspension power system with a goal to drive what has been a long-time luxury feature into the midrange vehicle class. Overcoming decades of false starts by prominent automotive technology providers, Hongfa struck a balance between the need to manage active suspension system size, weight and transient performance against the requirement for higher efficiency, improved EMI and symmetrical regenerative power capacity.

As an automotive power management and distribution specialist, whose relays are enabling new 48V zonal architectures, Hongfa partnered with Vicor to integrate a fixed-ratio 800V-48V DC-DC converter power module that sits alongside a network of sensors, electromechanical actuators and sophisticated software to adjust vehicle suspension in real time. The collaboration yielded the smallest active suspension system – almost half the size of the nearest competitor – with the industry’s fastest power conversion transient response.

High-voltage batteries and a 48V PDN trigger a revolution for the Hongfa active suspension vision

Whether a vehicle is on a worn highway, a backcountry dirt lane or navigating suburban potholes, active suspension provides better handling, a smoother, safer ride and reduced road noise. Early industry efforts in the 1970s included a complex electromagnetic solution which strained the capabilities of 12V battery power systems and required four 200-pound motors.

Historically, 12VDC has proven to be inadequate for powering active suspension motors without adding size, weight and cost. Additionally, some conventional DC-DC converters can deliver power without the need for an intermediate battery, but the tradeoff is that they are bulky and lack the fast transient response time required to meet the regenerative demands to recoup and store power.

Despite a history of power-hungry, heavy loads, active suspension systems stand to benefit from today’s higher voltage (400V or 800V) primary batteries and the industry’s adoption of 48V power delivery networks (PDNs); a combination is already powering plug-in hybrids and BEVs.

Figure  — The Hongfa active suspension system (Power System Specs HF3661 800V-48V DC-DC System) is liquid cooled and is the most compact on the market, weighing 2.6kg and measuring 197 x 201 x 71mm.

Vicor fixed-ratio 800V to 48V DC-DC BCM bus converters are inherently bidirectional and provide the fastest transient response (8 million amps/second) of any DC-DC converter topology. BCMs also offer symmetrical bidirectional performance with the ability to buck or boost with the same power level. Their advanced planar packaging simplifies thermal management system design, further reducing overall footprint and weight.

Linking active suspension directly to the main battery with a bidirectional power converter enables optimal energy recuperation. Similar to how a spring absorbs and releases energy, active suspension uses regenerative shock absorbers to collect kinetic energy that is returned to the battery.

Hongfa introduces smallest active suspension system using power modules and 48V

The Hongfa solution leverages Vicor high-density power modules to create a compact (197 x 201 x 71mm) 5kW power supply for each actuator. The system can rapidly process up to 6kW of peak power in either direction. The design of the converter is greatly simplified by using a pair of Vicor BCM6135 modules operating in parallel, instead of several hundred discrete components.

The converter is optimized to work with 800V battery systems and has an operating range between 420V to 920V. With liquid cooling it can deliver up to 100A of current with 97.3% efficiency. The system housing volume is under 1.8l and weighs 2.6kg, providing a major reduction over other systems.

“When it comes to active suspension, our OEM customers require a DC-DC converter with a response rate measured in milliseconds, otherwise, additional battery support is needed,” said Peter Li, Director of Research and Development at Hongfa. “Vicor’s BCM6135 power modules not only delivered the performance we need, they also significantly shortened our development time and have made designing this system much easier for us.”

Figure  — The bidirectional BCM6135 rapid current transient response rate of 8 million amps/second is a perfect match for the power profiles of active suspension and power regeneration demands. The BCM6135 is a 95% efficient 3.5kW peak power 800V-48V bus converter that can provide symmetrical power switching performance.

The combination of 48V and high-density power modules is enabling new levels of innovation in automotive electrification – reducing space, weight and providing superior performance. Together, Hongfa and Vicor are leveraging their automotive expertise to develop advanced technology and support the evolution of high-performing electric vehicles.

The post Hongfa compact active suspension power design will transform driving appeared first on ELE Times.

What’s new

Texas Instruments (TI) announced it is working with NVIDIA in the development of power management and sensing technologies for will help enable NVIDIA’s future 800V high-voltage direct current (HVDC) power distribution systems for data center servers. The new power architecture paves the way for more scalable and reliable next-generation AI data centers.

Why it matters

With the growth of AI, the power required per data center rack is predicted to increase from 100kW today to more than 1MW in the near future. To power a 1MW rack, today’s 48V distribution system would require almost 450lbs of copper, making it physically impossible for a 48V system to scale power delivery to support computing needs in the long term.

The new 800V high-voltage DC power-distribution architecture will provide the power density and conversion efficiency that future AI processors require, while minimizing the growth of the power supply’s size, weight and complexity. This 800V architecture will enable engineers to scale power-efficient racks as data-center demand evolves.

“A paradigm shift is happening right in front of our eyes,” said Jeffrey Morroni, director of power management research and development at Kilby Labs and a TI Fellow. “AI data centers are pushing the limits of power to previously unimaginable levels. A few years ago, we faced 48V infrastructures as the next big challenge. Today, TI’s expertise in power conversion combined with NVIDIA’s AI expertise are enabling 800V high-voltage DC architectures to support the unprecedented demand for AI computing.”

“Semiconductor power systems are an important factor in enabling high-performance AI infrastructure,” said Gabriele Gorla, VP of System Engineering of NVIDIA. ” NVIDIA is teaming with suppliers to develop an 800V high-voltage DC architecture that will efficiently support the next generation of powerful, large-scale AI data centers.”

The post TI teams with NVIDIA to bring efficient power distribution to AI infrastructure appeared first on ELE Times.

Working on something where I am making many of these PCBs populated with 81 LEDs each. Trying to streamline as much as possible, I 3D printed a few guides/jigs to make assembling and soldering them easier. I'm a novice at 3D printing (and electronics for that matter...) but I'm enjoying having it for things like this! submitted by /u/GuzziGuy [link] [comments]

It's designed to step 12 or 24V down to 5V to power sensors in automotive/robotics wiring harnesses. Can do 2A continuously and 4A peak. It goes in a Deutsch connector so it can be potted in epoxy and made fully waterproof. submitted by /u/liamkinne [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/Hefty-Suggestion2762 [link] [comments]

it’s a 59 second digital clock 👍 submitted by /u/Spookay_God [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/AutoModerator
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I finally finished the board design and ordered it. Can't wait to assemble and try it. 2 Layer PCB with still relatively solid ground plane, 12V to 5V and to 3.3V buck converter with 10A continous output each. 19 Analog inputs, 4 analog outputs, 8 I2C channels (Multiplexer), 12 Digital Outputs + 4 for the Relais (Relais 230V 10A with adequate Insulation on the PCB side of things), 9 digital inputs. Yeah I know, it is ridiculus, but I wanted a challenge and this sure was a challenge. Took me 3 weeks to design this thing... The 3.3V and 5V Buck converters are by the way used, to provide Voltage for the IO ports - just hook a sensor to it and it gets power of this board directly. At least that's the goal. :D The 8 channels of I2C however are limited to 3.3V - there is simply no room to hook up another level shifter just to allow for 5V input. I think it is fine for me. Especially after JLCPCB decided to charge extra for the vias - I had to resize 1040 vias by hand. Thanks JLCPCB... I will never need all IO ports at the same time, but I just wanted a universal approach, where I can just solder on what I need and have no limitations (apart from speed of course!). The starting point was, that I need a board that allows me to hook up a lot of sensors for my green house and than I thought: Why not also add more sensors like use it as a wether station? I have no idea, how the board comes out and if I did any super stupid mistakes, I hope not... But I can't wait for it to finally be soldered together (in roughly 2 weeks when I receive this thing) Disclaimer: Some of the 3D models are just from the library and not the actual models. I just added it for visual fun. I mean, ESP-01 for example does not look like that lol. And if you think the diode sits a bit crooked below the power input... Yeah you are absolutely correct! It should (tm) do the trick (maybe). submitted by /u/GermanPCBHacker [link] [comments]

Here’s a unique clock from the late 70’s / early 80’s made by ESE. I can’t find any other examples of a Panaplex style clock by ESE; only other clocks in the same enclosure that use Numitron / LED displays. I bought this from a collector friend of mine recently, and decided to clean it up and lace the internal wire looms to make them look a bit better. Another popular Panaplex clock is the HeathKit GC-1005, which sold extremely well in the early 70’s as a kit for you to build. Eventually I’d like to find one of those, but I think this ESE is a bit better looking. I love the brushed aluminum accents on the top and bottom. The displays in this unit look great with no flickering, and appear to have little to no time on them. I’m glad to finally get a Panaplex clock into my possession. submitted by /u/cgrf [link] [comments]

Wolfspeed Inc of Durham, NC, USA — which makes silicon carbide (SiC) materials and power semiconductor devices — has appointed David Emerson Ph.D. as executive VP & chief operating officer, a newly created role responsible for overseeing operational excellence across the firm’s 200mm facility footprint, reducing customer lead times, and manufacturing leading silicon carbide solutions for Wolfspeed’s customers. Emerson will be responsible for Wolfspeed’s Operations, Supply Chain, and Quality divisions...

The smartphone case study

Back in late March, at the end of my coverage of Google’s Pixel 9a smartphone launch:

I mentioned that one of my Pixel 7 phones had started swelling, indicative of a failing battery:

I teased that my fortunate upfront purchase of an extended warranty for it ended up being fortuitous and promised that the “rest of the story” would follow shortly. That time is now, and in this piece, I’ll also contrast my most recent experience with an earlier, less-positive outcome, as a means of more broadly assessing the consumer electronics warranty topic.

First, the Pixel 7. Devices containing swollen batteries can quickly transform into dangerously flammable sources, so I immediately removed the smartphone from its charger and powered it down. I then reactivated my Pixel 6a backup phone, the same one I’d temporarily pressed into service around a year earlier when my other Pixel 7’s rear camera array’s glass cover spontaneously cracked, and swapped the SIM into it. And then, I jumped online with Asurion, reported the issue, paid a (bogus, IMHO) $138.68 “service fee”, was directed to a local repair location (Asurion had bought uBreakiFix in late 2019), dropped the swollen Pixel 7 off, and ~24 hours later had a gift card sitting in my account for the original purchase price!

Let’s do the math:

• I bought the 128 GByte version of the phone in early June 2023 for $499, promotion-bundled (at the time) with a $100 Amazon gift card, for an effective price of $399.
• For the next 20 months (Asurion also auto-refunded my most recent month’s payment, although I had to then manually cancel the overall policy through Amazon, where it was treated as a subscription), I’d been paying $7.83 per month inclusive of tax for extended warranty coverage…a bit irritating, as the phone was redundantly covered by Google’s standard warranty for the first 12 of those months, but…for $156.60 total.
• I paid a $138.68 (once again, ridiculous, but…) “service fee” to process the warranty
• And I ended up getting a $499 gift card.

If my arithmetic is right, I ended up using the phone for nearly 2 years for a total fiscal outlay of $195.28 (plus the cost of the replacement phone, which I’ll mention next). I’m a bit surprised, honestly, that Asurion didn’t just have uBreakiFix swap in a new battery and give it back to me. That said, the display or internals might have gotten stressed by the swelling, so it was likely more straightforward for them from a long-term customer retention standpoint to just give me my money back. And to be clear, considering the burgeoning market for refurbished phones and other consumer electronics devices, they probably went ahead and swapped the battery themselves and then, after running diagnostics on the phone to make sure everything else checked out, resold it on Amazon Renewed, eBay Refurbished, or elsewhere.

Speaking of which, eBay is where I ended up picking up my replacement smartphone. I could have gone with a newer-generation Pixel device (or something else, for that matter), but I already had a bunch of extra Pixel 7-tailored cases, screen protectors and such in storage. And, thanks to Google’s recently expanded five years of software coverage for the Pixel 7 (and my Pixel 6a spare, for that matter), it was now guaranteed to get OS and security updates until October 2027 (versus the original October 2025, i.e. a few months from now as you read these words). I ended up with an eBay Certified Refurbished 128 GByte Pixel 7 in claimed excellent condition, complete with a 1-year bundled warranty, for $198.95 plus tax.

And indeed, when it arrived, it was in excellent condition (reflective of the highly and abundantly rated supplier I’d intentionally, carefully selected), cosmetically at least. It appears to have had a case and screen protector on it for its entire ownership-to-date, both of which I immediately replicated. And functionally, it also seems to be fine, albeit with one characteristic that gave me initial pause. Check out the to-date battery recharge cycle count reported for it:

At first glance, that seemed like a lot, given that Google documents that the Pixel 7 “should retain up to 80% capacity for about 800 charge cycles, after which battery replacement is “recommended,” and particularly given that my other Pixel 7 only has 40 to-date cycles on it:

But I’m an admittedly atypical case study. I work from home, where I also have VoIP, and rarely travel, so my smartphone usage is much lower than the norm. Conversely, given that the Pixel 7 first became available on October 13, 2023, 531 cycles almost exactly match a more typical one-recharge-per-day cadence. Going forward, now in my possession, this phone’s incremental-cycle cadence should dramatically decrease. And to further extend usable life, I’ve belatedly taken the extra step of limiting the peak charge point to 80% of total capacity on both Pixel 7s.

The soundbar case study

So, all good, right? Not exactly…there’s that other case study that I mentioned upfront I wanted to share. Two years back, I told you about my Hisense HS205 soundbar:

 

which I’d recently snagged on sale at Amazon for $34.99 to replace the BÖHM B2 precursor that wouldn’t accept beyond-Red Book Audio digital input streams:

Well…about six months after I bought it, and after very little use, it quit working. It still toggled among the various audio input sources using both the side panel buttons and the remote control:

but nothing came out of the speakers from any of them (and no, it wasn’t in “mute” mode). Given its low price and compact form factor, I assume that the power amplifier fed by all of those inputs via a preamp intermediary was based on inexpensive class D circuitry and had failed.

Good news: although it was beyond the one-month Amazon return period, it was still covered by the one-year factory warranty. Bad news: that warranty was “limited”. Translation: I was responsible for the cost and effort of return shipping to Hisense, including any loss or damage en route, which meant that I’d need to both package it in a bulky/heavily padded/more expensive fashion and pay for optional insurance on it. Further translated: it’d likely cost me as much, if not more, to ship the soundbar back to them as I’d paid for it originally. And I’d probably end up with an already-used replacement, with even more “limited” warranty terms.

Eventually, after I complained long and hard enough, Hisense’s customer support folks relented and emailed me a postpaid shipping label, followed by shipping me a seemingly brand-new replacement soundbar. Candidly, I suspect that although I always try to avoid such “media special treatment,” someone there did an Internet search on my name and figured out I was a “press guy” who should get “handled with kid gloves”. Would the average consumer have accomplished the same outcome, no matter how long and hard they complained? No. Which, again, is why I always strive to maintain anonymity. Sigh.

Similar experiences, good and/or bad? Other thoughts on what I’ve discussed? Sound off in the comments, please!

—Brian Dipert is the Editor-in-Chief of the Edge AI and Vision Alliance, and a Senior Analyst at BDTI and Editor-in-Chief of InsideDSP, the company’s online newsletter.

Related Content

• Google’s Pixel Smartphone Line: Extended and…Distended?
• Battery life management: the software assistant
• Designing for an uncertain future
• Playin’ with Google’s Pixel 7

The post Warranties: Inconsistent-requirements and -results policies appeared first on EDN.

Japan-based ROHM has expanded its portfolio of surface-mount near-infrared (NIR) LEDs with new compact top-view types, optimized for applications such as VR/AR devices, industrial optical sensors, and human detection sensors...

How does a hot swap circuit work? What’s the role of a hot swap controller? What are the basic design considerations for selecting a hot swap controller or module? Here is a short tutorial explaining the inner functioning a hot swap device while outlining key design challenges. It also includes hot swap circuit schematics and design examples.

Read the full article at EDN’s sister publication, Planet Analog.

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The post Hot swap basics: Controllers, schematics, and design examples appeared first on EDN.

At SEMICON Southeast Asia 2025, Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) hosted the inaugural Innovate Together event — designed as a convergence point for industry, academia and the public sector — where it unveiled initiatives, strategic global partnerships, and new research platforms...