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ESP32 life-time

Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2021 10:32 pm
by svenbieg
My ESP32-chips only last half a year. I did reduce frequency form 240 MHz to 160 MHz already. I'm using it for a thermal solar control and this is my fourth chip already.

Re: Long live

Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2021 10:53 pm
by WiFive
Sounds bad, but not enough information to know whether to blame the chips or the supporting circuitry or operating conditions.

Re: Long live

Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2021 1:36 am
by ESP_Sprite
+1, I'm curious what you're doing with them. Anecdotally, I have ESP32s in use for way longer than that and they still work fine.

Re: Long live

Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2021 9:08 am
by svenbieg
What am i doing wrong? I have 5 analog Inputs and a driver for the relais, some RGB-Leds and a display. The voltage is regulated by an LD33V. The controller is inside of the house, there are always about 20°C. Everything works fine for months.

Re: Long live

Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2021 9:51 am
by ESP_Sprite
How exactly does it fail when it fails? Do you have a schematic? Especially with a relais or external analog inputs, high-voltage spikes could play a role here.

Re: Long live

Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2021 12:37 pm
by svenbieg
I'm using a voltage divider with the 3.3V supply-voltage, the relais are driven with 5V by an ULN2003. I just wanted to know if this a known problem of the ESP32. I'm going to try the DevkitC, maybe the chip got too hot when i was soldering it on the adapter.

Re: Long live

Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2021 12:46 pm
by svenbieg
ESP_Sprite wrote:
Sat Feb 20, 2021 9:51 am
How exactly does it fail when it fails? Do you have a schematic? Especially with a relais or external analog inputs, high-voltage spikes could play a role here.
The first chip hung up and restarted after few seconds, so i reduced the frequency. The second chip was my fault, i erased flash too often. Last time the chip didn't drive the LEDs anymore after few weeks.

Re: ESP32 life-time

Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 2:19 am
by ESP_Sprite
Strange. Without a proper schematics, there's nothing I can say about why it died, but our chips have been designed to work for years and years and them dying after such a short time certainly isn't something that commonly happens.

Re: Long live

Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:10 am
by ESP_Angus
svenbieg wrote:
Sat Feb 20, 2021 12:46 pm
ESP_Sprite wrote:
Sat Feb 20, 2021 9:51 am
How exactly does it fail when it fails? Do you have a schematic? Especially with a relais or external analog inputs, high-voltage spikes could play a role here.
The first chip hung up and restarted after few seconds, so i reduced the frequency. The second chip was my fault, i erased flash too often. Last time the chip didn't drive the LEDs anymore after few weeks.
Just to check I understand: the first chip stopped working at 240MHz but can work at 160MHz still? That's quite odd!

Regarding "erased flash too often", are we talking >100,000 erase cycles here?

Re: ESP32 life-time

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 7:15 pm
by svenbieg
No, the first chip doesn't work anymore. I reduced frequency on the second chip. Your chip was designed to work many years, but is anyone out there who has chips working that long?