3.3V Micro?

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Barry914
 
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3.3V Micro?

Post by Barry914 »

Has anyone tried running a 16MHz Micro at 3.3V? And has anyone tried replacing the regulator with a 3.3V part?

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: 3.3V Micro?

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

I haven't tried that specifically, but the general behavior will probably be the same as the comparison of a 5v and 3.3v Trinket.

Atmel microcontrollers are designed to work at VCC levels as low as 1.8v. They're only rated to work at 16MHz when VCC is more than 4.5v though. That doesn't mean you can't run the chip at 16MHz from a 3.3v supply, just that Atmel doesn't guarantee it will work.

Odds are good that it will work perfectly, but datasheets are legal documents so they tend to err on the side of being conservative. If you see strange errors or glitches, you'll know you have a chip that doesn't want to run that fast at that voltage.

If you're willing to clock it down to 8MHz you should have no trouble at all.

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Barry914
 
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Re: 3.3V Micro?

Post by Barry914 »

Well, I tried it - just connected a LiPo to the 5V pin and ground, and it worked just fine. I guess since there is no protection diode with this setup I really have to remember to disconnect the battery before I connect the Micro to a USB cable.

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