I am using a Nano Every for combat robotics. I right now have a 5v external regulator I plug into the USB port for power, but this is physically a weak point (the USB connector has broken off on me during a fight, lots of hard impacts to the bot).
I can power a Nano via the 5V pin, but the Every doesnt seem to accept that as a power source pin. I can feed power to the VIN pin from my LiPo batteries (12.6V max) but have always hesitated to use the onboard regulator due to heatsinking concerns.
Is my best bet to continue to use the USB (although fragile) connector, supply the 12.6V to the VIN, or should the chip be accepting 5V from the 5V pin?
Yes, I do that now. But I cant send that to the VIN pin since it wants 7+ and I have been avoiding it anyway. I cant send it to the 5V pin as it seems to be just a 5V output only on the Every vs a source option on the base Nano. So I send it to the USB port + and - pins. This works but the port itself is fragile under combat conditions.
Since I am getting a very cleanly regulated 5V from the converter, putting it to the 5V pin would be ideal, but the Every doesnt accept it as an input unlike the base Nano.
The Nano Every has a SMPS, not a linear regulator, nominally rated for 1A. The "heat concerns", generally overblown otherwise, are just not applicable with the N.E.
Thank you both for your help, I will play with supplying the 12.6V via the VIN pin. It ill also be watching the voltage (via a 2 resistors stepdown) on an analog pin to make so it doesnt go below 9.6V (the LiPo 3S cutoff, code will shut down all bot functionality) so I wont have to worry about ever dropping below the minimum 7V.
I guess my last semi-related question is if there is any advantage whatsoever a base Nano has over a Nano Every?