Using DS2401 for large quantity production

Development Boards Arduino
1

Has anyone used the Maxim DS2401 silicon serial number chip in an Arduino environment? We have a project to manufacture a microcontroller based on Arduino and need unique serial numbers tied to each one. It looks the the DS2401 meets our need. But I am at a loss on how to get these serial numbers in an efficient way so we can print those serial numbers on a label for the PCB case and box.

The only way I can think of is the following process:

  1. when the pcb boards come off the assembly line they are flashed with the Arduino boot loader and our sketch which queries the DS2401 and outputs it to the screen.

  2. we then manually copy that outputed serial number to a label maker to print out 2 labels, one for the case and one for the box. And then finally copy the number over to a spreadsheet for historical tracking.

It seems really labor intensive and anyone’s feedback would be helpful. Thanks everyone, this is a very useful forum.

2

why do you want it in program? Why not just put a sticker/label on the PCB, and another over a seam or screw on the case, and one on the box? That how most systems are. That way it’s tamper evident, and the PCB is serialed, just as good as a HW serial.

3

Skip the manual steps. Flash your sketch and have a program on a PC read the output from the sketch, print the barcodes, and update the spreadsheet.

/mike