Bypass Mega 2560 internal Voltage Regulator

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Mlingswiler
 
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Bypass Mega 2560 internal Voltage Regulator

Post by Mlingswiler »

I am working on a project with several Mega2560's used to collect weather and heading data and send that data over xbee to a controller(also a Mega250).

The sensors need to run on battery/solar. To do this I need to minimize the power consumption. I'm using an Adafruit 6600mAh Li/ion battery, an Adafruit large solar panel, and an Adafruit USB/DC/Solar Lion/polymer charge feeding an adafruit Powerboost Basic 1000.

The Powerboost supplies voltage to the Mega2560 by using the DC 5v output plugged into the Mega2560 USB port.

My question is can I feed the 5v output of the Power Boost directly to the Arduino 5v Pin vs the USB in an effort to bypass the Arduino internal Voltage regulator and minimize some power consumption?

I am new to all this any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Bypass Mega 2560 internal Voltage Regulator

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

The USB input on the Mega is already assumed to be regulated and does not pass through the on-board linear regulator.
It is also possible to feed regulated 5v directly to the 5v pin. But you should not supply power to the 5v pin and the USB jack at the same time. The automatic input power selection circuit only works between the VIN and USB power inputs.

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Mlingswiler
 
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Re: Bypass Mega 2560 internal Voltage Regulator

Post by Mlingswiler »

Awesome! Thanks for the response!!!

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