The Seeeduino Wiki claims that it can run on 3.3V/5V. It doesn't specify if it can step down higher voltages. I am looking to power the XIAO using a battery. It usually uses a USB-C cable which can provide 5V. Will I need to step the voltage down, or does it behave like a normal Arduino Nano and automatically step down the voltage?
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Have you successfully used a 6v powersupply to power up the XIAO? I asked on Seeeduino Xiao forum and they said 5V is maxium, if higher it will damage the board.– Neung ChungCommented Jan 15, 2021 at 8:03
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Hey @NeungChung, I was looking into this as part of a project, but ended up finding out that I didn't need to use the XIAO anymore, so unfortunately I can't answer your question. Did they provide any details as to why this is the case? I'd say that the answer below is pretty detailed.– Hari5000Commented Jan 16, 2021 at 22:51
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2 Answers
If you scroll down on that page you link to you can see the power circuit. It uses an XC6206 voltage regulator which has a maximum input voltage of 7V and a dropout voltage that could be as high as 680mV.
So you can feed between about 4V and 7V in to the VIN pad and it will step it down to 3.3V. Anything below 4V and you will go "out of regulation" though the system may still run down to lower voltages. If you go above 7V you will blow it up.
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Make sure it's a regulated 6V supply. Unregulated power supplies tend to output voltages much higher than their published voltage under very low load. You might well exceed your 7V "do not exceed" voltage limit at the low current draw of a microcontroller.– Duncan CCommented Jul 6, 2020 at 18:57
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@Majenko initially they mentioned a battery, but their last post said a "6V POWER SUPPLY." I took that as a change of plan.– Duncan CCommented Jul 6, 2020 at 19:10
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@DuncanC Whereas I take "power supply" to be any source of power, including batteries.– MajenkoCommented Jul 6, 2020 at 19:18
A batch of 60 XAIO ESP32C3's will not power on using a 3.3V DC supply applied to pins 3V3 and GND. They only power on using a 5V input applied to pins 5V and GND. The test rig was a bench DC power supply. The XIAO ESP32C3 seems to power on as low as 4.1V DC applied to the 5V pin. No external component is required, just a direct connection from the bench power supply to the 5V pin. Therefore the posts somewhere on the internet about needing a diode in the path of the positive supply do not appear to be necessary. Note that the ESP32C3 were not programmed, ie. they arrived from the factory and were powered without downloading any code to them. Thus the posts about sleep mode are not applicable as the 3.3V and 5V behavior should then be identical, but they are not.
