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uP/uC Floating Pins?

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Jim Thompson - 11 Mar 2010 16:42 GMT
When a uP or uC is exercising its POR cycle, what are the states of
the output pins?  Floating, or held low, or what?

Particularly if it's recovering from a brown-out that caused POR to be
exerted.
       
                                       ...Jim Thompson
| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
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Vladimir Vassilevsky - 11 Mar 2010 16:52 GMT
> When a uP or uC is exercising its POR cycle, what are the states of
> the output pins?  Floating, or held low, or what?

All bidirectional pins *typically* configured as inputs to avoid
conflicts.  However this is NOT a rule. Always check with datasheets.

Vladimir Vassilevsky
DSP and Mixed Signal Design Consultant
http://www.abvolt.com
Tim Wescott - 11 Mar 2010 17:06 GMT
> When a uP or uC is exercising its POR cycle, what are the states of
> the output pins?  Floating, or held low, or what?
>
> Particularly if it's recovering from a brown-out that caused POR to be
> exerted.

That depends on the part.

I have yet to run across a chip with a pin designated as 'output' that
isn't low impedance all the time, but I would expect that whether it is
low, high, or oscillating randomly would depend on the part.

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Tim Wescott
Control system and signal processing consulting
www.wescottdesign.com

Vladimir Vassilevsky - 11 Mar 2010 17:16 GMT
>> When a uP or uC is exercising its POR cycle, what are the states of
>> the output pins?  Floating, or held low, or what?
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> I have yet to run across a chip with a pin designated as 'output' that
> isn't low impedance all the time,

Tip: Open drain

VLV
Michael A. Terrell - 11 Mar 2010 17:35 GMT
> >> When a uP or uC is exercising its POR cycle, what are the states of
> >> the output pins?  Floating, or held low, or what?
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
>
> Tip: Open drain

 AFTER your boat is out of the water...

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Lead free solder is Belgium's version of 'Hold my beer and watch this!'

Tim Wescott - 11 Mar 2010 17:40 GMT
>>> When a uP or uC is exercising its POR cycle, what are the states of
>>> the output pins?  Floating, or held low, or what?
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
>
> Tip: Open drain

Well, yes, but that'll be mentioned.  Like you said: read the data sheet.

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Tim Wescott
Control system and signal processing consulting
www.wescottdesign.com

Tim Wescott - 11 Mar 2010 17:07 GMT
> When a uP or uC is exercising its POR cycle, what are the states of
> the output pins?  Floating, or held low, or what?
>
> Particularly if it's recovering from a brown-out that caused POR to be
> exerted.

You do mean _output_ pins, not general purpose I/O that might be
configured for either input or output -- right?

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Tim Wescott
Control system and signal processing consulting
www.wescottdesign.com

Jim Thompson - 11 Mar 2010 19:11 GMT
>> When a uP or uC is exercising its POR cycle, what are the states of
>> the output pins?  Floating, or held low, or what?
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>You do mean _output_ pins, not general purpose I/O that might be
>configured for either input or output -- right?

I guess I could be driven by an I/O pin.  Is it possible to program
those as a "LOW" during POR?
       
                                       ...Jim Thompson
| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |
           
     The only thing bipartisan in this country is hypocrisy
Tim Wescott - 11 Mar 2010 19:20 GMT
>>> When a uP or uC is exercising its POR cycle, what are the states of
>>> the output pins?  Floating, or held low, or what?
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> I guess I could be driven by an I/O pin.  Is it possible to program
> those as a "LOW" during POR?

What are you _really_ trying to do?

I gather that you want to drive some bit of circuitry during POR, but
for some reason you can't just monitor the reset line.  Do you want to
_drive_ it or do you just want to signal that a reset is occurring?

_Some_ microcontrollers will drive their outputs to some defined state,
or will put weak pull-up or pull-down devices on their GPIO pins during
POR.  If you don't mind the low speed and low current capability, you
could use one of these 'weak pull-up' pins to indicate a reset, then
have software clear the pin when it wakes up.

If you're trying to make some generic peripheral that'll work on every
microprocessor in existence, and have the correct POR behavior, you're
screwed -- none of them act the same, and (as I think you've pointed out
yourself) not all of them even behave _appropriately_ in response to a
brownout event.

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Tim Wescott
Control system and signal processing consulting
www.wescottdesign.com

Jim Thompson - 11 Mar 2010 19:33 GMT
>>>> When a uP or uC is exercising its POR cycle, what are the states of
>>>> the output pins?  Floating, or held low, or what?
[quoted text clipped - 24 lines]
>yourself) not all of them even behave _appropriately_ in response to a
>brownout event.

That's what I'm concluding.  I've found a way to cope with a floating
input that I'm adding into the design
       
                                       ...Jim Thompson
| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |
           
     The only thing bipartisan in this country is hypocrisy
Hal Murray - 11 Mar 2010 19:28 GMT
>I guess I could be driven by an I/O pin.  Is it possible to program
>those as a "LOW" during POR?

Read the data sheet.

In general, the junk I/O pins float.  You can't "program" them
from software during reset because the software isn't running yet.

Some chips look at a few input pins to select a mode.  Some modes
might drive some pins.

The normal trick is to add a weak pulldown if you need a
particular floating signal to be low during reset.

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Michael A. Terrell - 11 Mar 2010 20:25 GMT
> >I guess I could be driven by an I/O pin.  Is it possible to program
> >those as a "LOW" during POR?
>
> Read the data sheet.

  What if it hasn't been written yet?

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Lead free solder is Belgium's version of 'Hold my beer and watch this!'

Hal Murray - 11 Mar 2010 22:11 GMT
>> Read the data sheet.

>   What if it hasn't been written yet?

Why are you designing something for a chip that doesn't exist?

Ask the guy who is trying to sell you the chip?
Ask the guy who told you about the chip?
Use another chip.

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Michael A. Terrell - 11 Mar 2010 23:55 GMT
> >> Read the data sheet.
>
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> Ask the guy who told you about the chip?
> Use another chip.

  Jim designs chips.  There are no data sheets until the designs are
complete.

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Lead free solder is Belgium's version of 'Hold my beer and watch this!'

Jim Thompson - 12 Mar 2010 00:04 GMT
>> >> Read the data sheet.
>>
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
>   Jim designs chips.  There are no data sheets until the designs are
>complete.

I don't design uP's or uC's, at least not complete ones... small local
controls, occasionally.

Here I have a analog situation where a floating input can cause high
currents (like 250mA) to flow, so I just wanted to make sure it was a
real problem before I added-in a fix.  It's done, took me 4 MOS
transistors :-)
       
                                       ...Jim Thompson
| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |
           
     The only thing bipartisan in this country is hypocrisy
Michael A. Terrell - 12 Mar 2010 05:03 GMT
> >> >> Read the data sheet.
> >>
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
> real problem before I added-in a fix.  It's done, took me 4 MOS
> transistors :-)

  I thought you had done some analog parts of ASIC that had a stock CPU
design?

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Lead free solder is Belgium's version of 'Hold my beer and watch this!'

Clint Sharp - 15 Mar 2010 20:40 GMT
>   Jim designs chips.  There are no data sheets until the designs are
>complete.
Yeah, but in this case, he's designing what sounds like a peripheral for
an existing chip. If it was a design of Jim's then I'd not have expected
him to need to ask the question.

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Clint Sharp

Jim Thompson - 15 Mar 2010 21:01 GMT
>>   Jim designs chips.  There are no data sheets until the designs are
>>complete.
>Yeah, but in this case, he's designing what sounds like a peripheral for
>an existing chip. If it was a design of Jim's then I'd not have expected
>him to need to ask the question.

Ever hear of flaky (*) customers?  Many weird, non-physical requests
and lots of misinformation.  So I ask here to get the true scoop :-)

* Like a customer who labels the R and C for a triangle wave
oscillator on his "specification" as "TANK1" and "TANK2"... I kid you
not :-(
       
                                       ...Jim Thompson
| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |
           
     The only thing bipartisan in this country is hypocrisy
Nico Coesel - 11 Mar 2010 18:02 GMT
>When a uP or uC is exercising its POR cycle, what are the states of
>the output pins?  Floating, or held low, or what?

Preferably in a state as specified in the datasheet.

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Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply
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--------------------------------------------------------------

Spehro Pefhany - 11 Mar 2010 20:20 GMT
>When a uP or uC is exercising its POR cycle, what are the states of
>the output pins?  Floating, or held low, or what?
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>       
>                                        ...Jim Thompson

Most microcontrollers float their I/O pins (various possibilities as
to what is connected inside, could be ST digital input could be an
inverter digital input, could be analog circuitry) while the reset is
active.

Since most of them can be configured as either an input or an output,
it's safest to have them power up as inputs so they don't do silly
things like turning motors on or relays if reset is held active.
Sometimes they have internal programmable pull-ups or pull-downs, but
they often don't get configured as such until the user program runs
for a bit.

A few older ones might do interesting things like become
pseudo-birectional outputs with high frequency signals on them.
 
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