nRF52832 DCDC inductor damage

[rugarcia]

If the DCDC is enabled in the nRF52832 and during operation one or both the external inductors is damaged what is the effect on the device? Will the power sub-system compensate and just use the internal LDO to drive the core voltage?

[bjorn-spockeli]

No, if the external inductors are damaged and the DCDC converter has been enabled by writing to the DCDCEN register, then the device will not function properly.

[rugarcia]

Do you have any details on what the symptoms would be?

[bjorn-spockeli]

Well, that depends on what you mean by damaged. Do you mean that the inductors are physically removed or an open circuit or damaged in the sense that they are still mounted but their values may have changed?

[rugarcia]

Assume that the inductors are missing. There is no feedback to the DCDC buck regulator.

[bjorn-spockeli]

If they are missing then you risk damaging the DCDC and if you measure between DEC4 and GND you should see that its not outputting a stable 1.3V .