The LTC2974 uses an industry standard I²C/SMBus serial interface and PMBus command set, and a reliable EEPROM that provides above standard performance and functionality. EEPROM allows the designer to permanently store the power supply configuration settings and record any voltage, current or temperature readings after a fault occurs. The user space portion of the EEPROM contains standard commands, and bulk programming commands which provide a method for 3rd party EEPROM programming houses and end users to easily program the LTC2974 independent of any order dependencies or delays between PMBus commands. With the EEPROM’s black box fault logger, status registers, output voltage/current/temperature readings, input voltage readings, as well as peak and min values of these quantities, are stored in a continuously updated buffer in RAM. The designer can think of the operation as being similar to a strip chart recorder. When a fault occurs, the contents are written into EEPROM for non-volatile storage. The EEPROM fault log is then locked, and the part can be powered down with the fault log available for reading at a later time. The LTC2974’s EEPROM can be write protected via software or hardware, is endurance tested with 10,000 cycles and guarantees data is retained for at least 10 years.