Hello All.
I have been looking and reading trying to figure out the best way to power about 24 - 28 components.
I have been thinking of two ways:
#1 10A 12v DC power supply going into two buck converters 1 at 9v to power the arduino and 1 at 5v to power sensors.
2 10A 12v DC power supply going into two buck converters 1 at 5v to power the arduino and the sensors.
From what I read you power the arduino from 7v-9v so that there is enough power to the regulator to provide clean 5v to the pins. From what I have seen using external power that is higher than 5v for digital sensors is no big deal just tie the ground to the arduino, but I am not understanding if this works for analog also?
So it made sense to me that if all my components are 5v and they are powered from buck that is rated at 5a and the arduino is also powered from that same 5v buck then I should not have any problems, I have tested the bucks up to 3A so I am sure its at least that and I doubt I will ever hit 2A
i will have:
8 Relays (digital)
8 current sensors (analog)
3 dht11 (digital)
2 DS18B20 (digital)
1 RTC
1 Wifi Adapter (Digital)
1 SPI 2.2" Display
1 20x4 LED Character Display
I will admit while I have been reading about the best way I have not added up how much current I am expecting but I would guess under 1 amp so maybe I could run all this direct from the Mega.