[time-nuts] Thunderbolt Schematics?

[Forrest Christian (List Account)]

If you don't find a schematic, typically you'll find that most devices have
a RS-232 driver IC, and that is pretty much what fails when the com port
goes dead.   I have a silver thunderbolt which I just opened and on this
one there's a chip right next to the serial port labeled "232IBE" with an
intersil logo.   A quick search reveals that this is an ICL232, IBE meaning
industrial teperature range, 16 pin SOIC package.   This particular chip
seems to be a second source option for a Maxim MAX232 (not MAX232A), which
is available as a second souce from numerous manufacturers including
intersil and others.

You should be able to procure any variant of these which requires 1uF caps,
assuming this is the driver on your board.   Some variants of the MAX232
(such as the MAX232A) use different value caps.

The one I quickly came across and is cheap enough to not bother searching
any more for alternatives is a TI MAX232EID, where EID=Improved ESD
protection, extended temperature range, SOIC16 Package.   Around $1.25 in
singles.



On Mon, Jan 14, 2019 at 2:33 PM David Van Horn <
david.vanhorn at backcountryaccess.com> wrote:

> I have a couple of thunderbolts that appear to have dead com ports.
> Is there a schematic available?
>
> I have another that is working, so I'm sure it's not the USB serial or
> cable
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