Help understanding Alvik's power supply and usage

Official Hardware Education Alvik
1

I'm looking to get a better understanding on how the power supply of the Alvik works, using a single 18650 to power both the microcontroller and the two motors.

There is a diagram of the power supply on the datasheet here (pg 11): https://docs.arduino.cc/resources/datasheets/AKX00066-datasheet.pdf

It describes the power from the battery going through a boost converter to get 5V, then a step down converter to get to 3.3V.

  • Do these two sources, the 5V and 3.3V from the converters, power two different power busses that all the other components get power from?

  • According to the block diagram on pg 10 of the datasheet, the Nano ESP32 is receiving 3.3V of power. However, according to its datasheet (https://docs.arduino.cc/hardware/nano-esp32/#tech-specs) it needs 6-21V of input voltage. How does this work?

2

To be certain of the wiring you really need to see the complete schematic.

The block diagram implies that the battery voltage is stepped up to 5V, which supplies all the parts that require 5V, then stepped back down to 3.3V for the parts that require 3.3V. That would be an inefficient design choice.

The ESP32 runs on 3.3V. It is typical for MCU modules to feature a "Raw" power input circuit that can accommodate a wide range of power sources, in this case with voltages ranging from 6 to 21V, which are efficiently stepped down to the 3.3V required by the processor. There is also a 3.3V power input on the MCU module.

3

So what is happening inside the Alvik would be similar to powering an Nano ESP32 with a regulated 3.3V via its 3.3V pin, correct?

4

That is my guess. A review the schematic would reveal all, but I could not find one on line.

5

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