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Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
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18 years ago

Im curious why

Noone had any advice about running Cyclone II based boards off rechargeable batteries? Is there something I dont know where it's a bad idea?
Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
18 years ago

[My opinion] - You should definately use a switching power supply instead of a linear regulator for this battery powered application, even intial builds. Using a linear regulator, you waste the power from the supply voltage down to the regulated voltage. 5V down to 1.2 V puts you in the 25% efficient range. A switcher puts you at the 90% range. Consider an easy to use one such as

http://focus.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/tps62243.pdf

The effect on your battery life will be dramatic.