MMM v3 BEC questions

[BrianG]

Originally Posted by coreyfro

Ahhhhhhhhh, makes total sense now. OK. if I have any requirements for higher voltage, then I'll use my CC BEC...

Depending on the actual voltage you'll need, you can probably get away with using a linear regulator since you said you need ~1A. The loss in efficiency will be less and less as the regulator voltage approaches the supply voltage and/or the current goes down.

The losses is simple to calculate: power_loss = (supply_v - regulator_v) X current.

So, if you are running 4s and wanted 9v out, the loss at 1A would be 5.8w. A decent amount to be sure, but nothing that a medium heatsink couldn't handle. As a bonus, linear regulators can be "programmed" (via 2 resistors) to be at any voltage you want.

The disadvantage of linear regulators is power loss/inefficiency. The disadvantage to a swithing regulator (aside from cost) is the potential for it to go bad and send full supply voltage to your circuits. It doesn't happen very often, but is possible. I don't know how expensive that processor/circuit is, but something to think about. Linear regulators usually fail by thermaling, or going into overload shutdown. You have to really try to blow a linear regulator.