Looks like the regulator on my Particle is faulty. When powering it with 5v on the VIN pin, it only manages to get the 3v3 up to 2,9v. Powering it with 3.3v directly on the 3v3 pin, it works as expected.
Anyone else having had problems with the on board regulator? And if so, what was the fix?
Photon or core? Is it defective since you unbox or failed after some usage?
It’s a photon, was like that out of the box.
I will recommend powering via the USB port and see what is the voltage on the 3V3 pin first.
Ping @corey
thanks @kennethlimcp
@mikey: we are looking into your issue now! Expect a reply by 6pm PST today (Tuesday, Sept 8, 2015)
I can give it a go, but according to the schematic, both vin and usb is connected to the same pin on the regulator, with the exception of a diode between usb and the input.
The possible difference might come from the quality of the provided DC.
USB sources tend to be cleaner by default, while any arbitrary 5V source might only provide unfiltered, (“single” or bridge) rectified, pulsing DC.
@Mikey i recommend using @ScruffR 's tip
I don’t see why it should fail, but there are plenty of reasons why it could (broken inductor, cold solder joint, too much load on 3V3 pin)
Powering it from usb gives same result. Load on the 3v3 is around 90mA, so well within the regulators 600mA spec.
Load on 3V3? How are you measuring that?
Does the Photon behave normally and connects to the 
?
When powering it directly on the 3v3 pin, both my Extech multimeter and bench supply reports it drawing around 90mA. It does behave normally when powered directly on the 3v3 pin, and running and responding to the tinker app just fine. When powering it on VIN or USB, all leds turns on dimmed, and nothing else happens.
Got it working. Replaced the regulator, and 3v3 went up to an expected value. So now it both works with 5V on VIN and when powered from USB.