SUBJECT: Echelon Neuron Transceiver - post-sales field action

ISSUE: Echelon Corporation has notified Honeywell of a post sales field action for the Echelon Neuron transceiver. A small percentage of the Echelon Neuron transceivers that are used in the Excel 10 W7750A controllers have a 15-40% chance of failure if the temperature falls below -13 F during the controller commissioning process.

DESCRIPTION

This post sales field action affects a limited number of W7750A controllers that were manufactured between 2/19/03 and 6/12/03 (DATE CODES 0308 - 0324). This issue affects only a finite set of specific Neuron transceivers. Echelon has identified the affected Neuron transceivers by the Neuron ID number. The failure mode as described by Echelon is:

During initial boot-up of FT 3150 ICs, the FT 3150 IC might fail to boot because random bits in the flash memory cells exhibit a high erase threshold voltage thereby compromising subsequent flash writes. This behavior is exacerbated if VDD is on the lower side of the operating range of 4.75 to 5.25V, and if the IC is operated near -25°C, the lower temperature specification that applied to all parts produced at that time (the lower temperature specification was lowered to -40°C in subsequent production lots). The failure is observed as a premature part failure when the IC is first powered or following exposure to temperatures approaching -25ºC, even if the affected IC passed all manufacturing tests at room temperature. In the case of an IC that is affected, the problem could happen when you write to the on-chip flash. In a FT 3150, configuration data gets copied from external flash to the on-chip flash at boot-up. This is the write operation at could trigger a failure at boot-up. In the normal running of an application, some programs could write data into flash periodically. This entirely depends on the application. A failure could result in such cases too. This may/may not cause to device to fail completely but could certainly cause it to behave strangely since the data written could get corrupted. Exactly how the device will perform after a flash write during a normal operation (not boot-up) will depend on the application.

ACTION

There are two options to determine if the W7750A product is affected by this post sales field action.

1. The first option applies to installed and small quantities of uninstalled product. The first option is to use the Neuron inspection utility which is posted on customer.honeywell.com (see Neuron Inspection Utility Instructions). Please use this procedure for product that has been installed.

* OLE_LINK1Neuron Inspection Utility Instructions: To determine if any of the Excel 10 W7750A controllers that you have are affected by the Echelon post sales field action please go to the following web site: http://customer.honeywell.com/Catalog/Pages/xl10/xl10_lookup.asp

Enter the Neuron ID number in the Neuron Transceiver diagnostic form, and click Enter. Immediate feedback will be provided by the Neuron diagnostic form that will confirm if the Excel 10 W7750A is affected or not affected by Neuron Transceiver post sales field action. If the controller is affected by the Neuron Transceiver post sales field action, you may return the affected Excel 10 W7750A to Honeywell for a replacement (see return procedures below). If the controller is NOT affected by the Echelon post sales field action, then the device is good and may be sold and installed.

2. This second option applies only to large quantities of uninstalled product. The second option is to return the W7750A product to the Honeywell Golden Valley facility for inspection. (See Inspection return procedure)

* Please note: This option only applies to uninstalled W7750A product that has date codes OLE_LINK2(0308 through 0324)

* Large quantities of uninstalled W7750A product may be returned to the Honeywell Golden Valley facility for inspection. Please use the attached "W7750A Golden Valley Inspection Request and return form" for returning product.

Please include the return form with each shipment

Return product to:
Honeywell, Intl.
Attn: Dock 1 Mark Johnson - Neuron test
MN10-2471
1985 Douglas Drive North
Golden Valley, MN 55422

ADDITIONAL:

1. This post sales field action does not affect the W7750B, or W7750C.
2. Additionally this does NOT affect all of the W7750A controllers with the date codes of 0308 to 0324, but only the specific Neuron IDs identified by Echelon.
3. All devices must be returned by December 31, 2003 in order to be eligible for replacement.
4. Only affected product will be accepted and a replenishment order will be processed upon receipt of the returned goods and replacement units will be sent to you.

Contact: TAC Controllers Team

Contributed by: Mark Johnson

Notes:Echelon is a registered trademark of Echelon Corporation

Neuron is a registered trademark of Echelon Corporation