Powering Atom Lite with 5V pins



  • Re: Can the Atom accept external regulated 5V power?

    I tried to power the Atom Lite modules from 5V groove pin and failed miserably (if I connect same power supply to USB-C connector - everything works.

    Is there more detailed schematics how is the powerline connected?

    Atom lite schema

    On this schema only 0.5A fuse is shown, but I have nothing else connected, so I shouldn't trigger that.



  • @pacaj2am You can power the Atom via the 5V in pin on the back of the atom.



  • I connect a Li-po battery (3.7V) directly to bottom pins GND, 5V and atom lite works. But usb2uart and neopixel led may not work or works incorrectly depends of battery voltage. In my case i need only esp32 to works.



  • I have too experimented powering both Atom Lite and the Atom Matrix via the groove connector or via the headers pins and I noticed a weird thing. If the voltage is a little below 5V, for example 4.6 or 4.7 Volts it works fine. If the voltage is a little above 5V, for example 5.2V it power up but it never connect to internet.



  • Hello guys

    from the schematic there should be no difference whether you power M5Atom via 5V on the Groove connector or the 5 V pin in the back. Measuring for continuity between Groove and the respective pins in the back also shows they are connected 1:1 and are the same.

    Running a simple sketch on my M5Atom Matrix, which only connects WiFi and is showing that by changing the LEDs from red to green, I see that working ok with voltages from 2.8 V to 5.2 V.

    BTW: I am getting the same results with an M5Atom Lite.

    Thanks
    Felix



  • To run devices like this from an external supply I'd recommend a little Buck regulator board such as the one Youmile does (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07TTH6C3J). You can then set the output to fixed 5V and drive the input from anything - USB 5V from a breadboard, a 9V PP3, 12V or 24V car, truck or boat battery etc. - with no worries about blowing anything in the Atom.