Evaluation Kit/Evaluation System for the MAX5946A, MAX5946L

Active: In Production.

The MAX5946L evaluation kit (EV kit) is a fully assembled and tested surface-mount, dual hot-plug controller circuit board for two PCI Express® hot-plug slots. The circuit uses a MAX5946L IC in a 36-pin thin QFN package. The EV kit provides independent power control for the 12V, 3.3V, and 3.3V auxiliary outputs at two PCI Express-16 connectors. The EV kit demonstrates the MAX5946L IC's inrush current control, output overcurrent/short-circuit protection, and input undervoltage monitoring features.

The MAX5946L IC controls two separate external n-channel MOSFETs for the 12V and 3.3V outputs of each channel, respectively. Additionally, the MAX5946L has two internal MOSFETs that control the 3.3V auxiliary outputs of channels A and B. Switches on the EV kit are provided to independently enable/disable each channels' 12V/3.3V and 3.3V auxiliary supply.

The MAX5946L EV kit can be reconfigured to evaluate an x1, x4, or x8 PCI Express dual hot-plug design. Alternatively, the EV kit can also be used to demonstrate the MAX5946L hot-plug features without using the PCI Express-16 connectors.

The EV kit includes a MAX7313 I/O expander that enables communication through an SMBus™ interface for the MAX5946L signals and some of the PCI Express channel A and B signals. An SMBus interface board (CMODUSB) can be used to enable PC communication through the SMBus interface. Simple Windows® 98/2000/XP-compatible software is provided to access the MAX7313 I/O expander registers at the bit level. The MAX5946L EV kit can be used in local control without any software.

Order the MAX5946LEVCMODU for a complete PC-based evaluation of the MAX5946L. Order the MAX5946LEVKIT if you already have a CMODUSB SMBus interface board or do not require PC-based evaluation of the MAX5946L.

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