Over voltage / surge protection???

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JohnBottle
 
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Over voltage / surge protection???

Post by JohnBottle »

Hi all,

I made an infinity mirror circuit - an itsybitsy m0 running some neopixels.

I purchased a 10w 5v 2amp power adapter, to a jack connect to the BAT on the m0.

It’s been working great for months - but there was a power outage at our house the other day - and I think there was a power surge as now the mirror is dead. (Another low voltage appliance was also killed)

Is there any way to protect the itsybitsys from power surge? A little circuit to make before the chip? Or just use surge protection sockets?

Thanks.

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Over voltage / surge protection???

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

The ItsyBitsy regulator will probably tolerate about as much overvoltage as the Neopixels. To protect both, you will want to add any surge protection upstream from that. A surge-protected socket would provide protection for your power adapter too.

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JohnBottle
 
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Re: Over voltage / surge protection???

Post by JohnBottle »

After checking now...

Strangely, the itsybitsy was "empty" - my code and lib contents was gone, it was just the "hello world" code.

After putting my code back onto it - the buttons all work, the itsybitsy is working fine, but the neo pixels... Only a single pixel is lit-up about half way around the length, and it is not responding to color changes.

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Over voltage / surge protection???

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Good to hear that the ItsyBitsy survived. Voltage regulators tend to have some level of protection built-in. But the effectiveness against a surge depends on the nature, magnitude and duration.

The manufacturer's datasheet for the Neopixel chips (SK6812) does not specify an 'absolute maximum' supply voltage. But from experience, the threshold for permanent damage seems to be somewhere in the 6v range.

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