Author Topic: Do I really need to regulate power  (Read 1864 times)

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Offline airman00Topic starter

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Do I really need to regulate power
« on: September 02, 2008, 10:21:57 PM »
I was wondering if for a project like my bluetooth lights( where all it is is a BlueSMIRF UART and digital outputs to LEDs) would need a voltage regulator
I mean can't I just use a 6V battery and not need a regulator , b/c I am not using any ADC . The digital outputs I know would be fine,  but would it affect the UART?

I have found with my PIC microcontrollers that an unregulated power source didn't make a difference when no ADC was used. I'm just not sure about AVR.

Thanks,
Eric
« Last Edit: September 02, 2008, 10:58:40 PM by airman00 »
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Offline dsheller

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Re: Do I really need to regulate power
« Reply #1 on: September 03, 2008, 01:00:24 AM »
I regularly test with a battery that's ~5.7 Volts (6 D cells, they're pretty much dead I know -- but convenient), unregulated and I have never noticed a problem on the UART lines. Granted it did have some weird behavior when I used a servo... you could move the servo by touching the sense line o.O
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Offline dunk

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Re: Do I really need to regulate power
« Reply #2 on: September 03, 2008, 03:12:34 AM »
you will get away with going a little over voltage for short periods of time but if this is a project you plan to leave plugged in for days at a time then better to stick within the datasheets recommendations.

the UART should behave like a digital pin in this regard.

if i were you i'd be happy to chance it with an AVR as they are quite inexpensive but i'm not so sure i'd want to risk your BlueSMIRF....


dunk.
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