Power Requirements for the BeagleBone Blue

Question

Hi, I am using the BeagleBone Blue for a robotics project, but I have no intention of using the recommended 2-cell Lipos recommended in the documentation, as they don't have enough voltage or power output for the application. I would much rather use a step-down converter to power the board from the 3-cell Lipo that I am using for the robot. However, this begs the question: what are the power requirements? The documentation is surprisingly vague about this. The recommended battery has 7.4V and 20 amps burst, but there's also a 9-18V power jack...

What are the voltage and current inputs that are enough for the BeagleBone Blue to run all four motor drivers and some other pins, but not enough to damage or brick it?

jomoenginer · Answer

locknutbushing wrote: What are the voltage and current inputs that are enough for the BeagleBone Blue to run all four motor drivers and some other pins, but not enough to damage or brick it? I was using the EduMIP kit ( 2-cell LiPo) with my BB Blue along with an LCD when it died. For barrel jack power, I was using a 12v power supply, but the battery seemed to have enough power for the whole system when fully charged. The BB Blue has built in voltage regulators which create the 5v and 3.3v for the board, but someone else found the GPS header has voltage active on it even when the power is off on the board. Depending which connection you are using on the board, you want to ensure it is not self powered and does not stay powered even with the board off. However, based on my experience with the BB Blue, there is no guarantee that you will not brick it; it seems to be a common thing with this board. Schematic and docs can be found at the boards GitHub repo: https://github.com/beagleboard/beaglebone-blue

Power Requirements for the BeagleBone Blue

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