After looking over all the Pololu buck converter families, I am a bit overwhelmed. In terms of criteria, I have an ultra-low power application running a bare bones Atmega 32U4 . Most of the time, the micro is asleep, but when woken, it can generate a max of 400mA. I have been running off my bench supply and would now like to move it to a battery-operated fixture. From a power source perspective, it will run off 6 AA batteries in series, for a total of 9V.
Usage:
- Power min: ~3.3v
- Power Max: ~9V
- Max current: 400mA
I am trying to find a suitable buck converter to step down the ~9V power supply to a steady 3.3v, with maximum efficiency in mind. I am looking for a possible recommendation based on the criteria above. I have picked out two, namely the S7V8F3 or the D24V5F3, but maybe there’s another one out there that I missed.
Note that I did look at dropping the bare 32U4 idea and just using the A-Star 32U4 Micro, but I think that uses a linear regulator opposed to switching. Also, I would have to mod the board to pull out unneeded LED’s and such. It’s still an option, if that makes more sense.
Thanks!