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[on:]

Hi,

 Im new to the Arduino environment and I've just built a solar tracker project.  I am now going to have it communicate wirelessly with another Arduino using P2P xbees.  I was wondering could anyone help me regarding how best to power the xbees.  most of my peripherals are operating off 5v but the xbees use 3.3v.

What I need to know is, can I take the 3.3v and the 5v together from the Arduino while using a power supply?  I know that the current is fairly limited when using the usb to power the Arduino, should I have a completely seperate power source for the xbee or is it possible to power it from the board with power supply.

thanks in advance for any help

[Reply #1 on:]

The shields I use have 3.3V regulators on them. Power for the regulator comes from the 5V pin of the Arduino. For most XBees, this is sufficient.

Some of the Pro versions, especially the very long range ones, consume more power than the Arduino can supply. For those, a separate power supply is needed.

[Reply #2 on:]

Thanks a million for the reply, I have ordered xbee shields now