Powering Low Power MicroController from GPIO of Particle Boron

General
1

Hi,

For my project, I am using Particle Boron and a low power microcontroller. Is it ok if I power the low power microcontroller(Vin = 3.3V) with one of the GPIOpins of Boron?? Does that have any negative effect??

2

I would say feasible if your low power MCU total current draw is within specification of a Boron pin and overall power use. To date I would probably use a mosfet controlled by a pin to switch a 3V3 power bus to the MCU and other components.

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3

Hello @armor

I am looking for mosfets that will be compatible with the Boron. Although i have read that the gate current of mosfets are 0A, but i also read that there is current that is required or used by the gate to charge up the gate capacitance. I am looking for a mosfet that can handle 12V and 1A between the source and drain; that is able to be driven by the 14mA maximum current deliverable by the GPIO pins of the Boron. Which mosfet models would be safe to use with low GPIO output current of the Boron?

4

For Nordic NRF based chips you can pull or push 15mA from the digital IO. That should be plenty of room for most low power micros like ATTINY and ATMEGA. No mosfets needed.
The ATMEGA328P @ 8MHZ draws 3.5mA at full chootch. Put in some sleep and idle states and your golden.