FW: [TenTec] 253 Tuner Chip?

[Charles Jack Hawley]

Tom Scott wrote:

> I looked up the X24C04 in my Xicor Data book. It is a 512 x 8 Electrically
> Erasable PROM with a 2 wire serial I2C interface. You read and write to it
> by sending and receiving serial packets with control commands, addresses,
> and data.
>
> I'm surprised that the tuner control system would have a problem with the
> EEPROM "filling up", but I suppose its possible. There is nothing special
> about getting full. It should just wrap around and begin overwriting the
> first locations. If the tuner starts acting flakey, sounds like a bug in the
> control software. In theory, you could manually erase the chip if the tuner
> won't handle that, but you would have to send it serial commands to write
> all the locations, there doesn't appear to be a block erase command, so it
> would be a bit of a hassle requiring some digital breadboarding.

I'm surprised also. TT came up with the "filling up" comment and I also saw from
the data sheets also that the chip continues to output data from the 256 word
page for each ack received (why would it be otherwise?). I wondered if the chip
had some endurance problem.  I had the impression that the persons I talked to
at TT were not involved in the design of the tuner control board. And, that
whoever was the designer was long gone or something. No one said that, but it
was just the way my questions were answered about the problems incurred when
turning the tuner on and the lack of a reason that the chip should repeatedly be
the cause of erratic operation after awhile.

Chuck
--
Charles Jack Hawley
Amateur Radio Operator
Chuck, KE9UW

Alias "Jack" to my BMW Motorcycle Friends
BMWMOA # 224   Black '86 K100RS
President, IBMWR

Viki rides...
BMWMOA # 18120   Black '86 K100RS

c-hawley@uiuc.edu
Sr. Research Engineer Emeritus
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign



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