1

I want to power the RP2040 using two AAA batteries. In the official documentation it says, if I don't care too much about USB and a good ADC, I can go as low as 1.8 V to power the chip. I don't want to use USB, I just want to control a L9110 chip.

My question is, do I need a regulator of some kind or can two batteries alone be used to power the chip? I would start at about 3.2 V and drop down to roughly 1.6 V if the batteries are discharged, right? Would this voltage drop over time affect the computation in some way?

I'm new to the field and I don't know what kind of consequences this might have. Unfortunately I don't own a proper break out board to try this other than the Pico, which already implements a flexible power circuit.

Thanks in advance.

winny
  • 13,064
  • 6
  • 46
  • 63
Thez
  • 46
  • 3
  • 1
    I don't see why not. I see it is specified as 1.62 up to 3.63 volts. That seems to cover most of the energy in 2xAAA batteries. They are [practically dead](https://www.powerstream.com/AA-tests.htm) when they get down to 0.81 volts each. – user253751 Feb 17 '23 at 17:30
  • (relevant to the link I commented above: AAAs behave the same as AAs but smaller, as they use the same chemistry.) – user253751 Feb 17 '23 at 17:39
  • Ok, so that means that depending on the power draw, they together will stay above 2V for most of their lifetime. Are there other things I might need to take care of? – Thez Feb 18 '23 at 07:16
  • Make sure you have enough power for the motors – user253751 Feb 18 '23 at 09:59
  • Thank you very much! – Thez Feb 20 '23 at 07:46

0 Answers0