[NotInControl]

Originally Posted by Gdeaver

Those are raw chips. Can you as a DIY project buy the BOM and make the boards? If you have boards made is the cost and time less than a COTS automotive power supply? There seams to be a void with small modules at about .5 amp and cheap and > 10 amp and expensive in the buck boost auto motive grade modules. I found a 12 volt 10amp module for 57$ singe output but nothing less till the low power stuff at 8$. If you are going to make your own, TI has some reference designs with everything figured out and ready to make. I think most teams would just want to buy the power supply and not get in to custom made power supplies.

Im sorry if what I am doing is not clear. Below is my approach so it is clear what I will try to accomplish, and the information I will try to make available to the community during my efforts.

The Beta Test equipment comes with a Voltage Regulator Module (VRM), it has four different outputs simultaneously. The VRM supports 2 channels of 5V@2A, 2 channels of 5V@500mA, 2 channels of 12V@2A and 2 channels of 12V@500mA simultaneously.

It can maintain constant output with input voltages ranging from 4-24VDC. The VRM gets 12V input power from a dedicated port on the 2015 power distribution panel. I believe most teams will use the VRM for many of their applications. I am not sure if you were aware of this module.

The only reason I would venture into the DIY route for power conditioning is:
1. running the TK1 at 12V@2amp was limiting full performance of the GPU
2. and it is not possible to sink 4amps from the VRM by combining output pins in parallel as is possible with other embedded devices (I need to confirm this with CTRE first). (Even if this is possible, it may be illegal to do against 2015 FRC rules)

I was jumping the gun by saying that for the very few teams, that may need to run this guy using full 60W performance, as was indicated by previous posts in this thread, (i.e running SATA drives and such) there is a way out by making your own Buck-boost converter. If I got that far with my very limited time, I proposed a solution I would take based on my comfort level with electronics. There are many DIY plans available on the net already for DIY buck-boost regulators. But I think a very small number of teams will need to go that route

I believe running the TK1 at 2amps using the 2015 VRM provided in the kit of parts will be more than sufficient for most teams if they wanted to venture and use this board for off-board processing. The small percentage of other teams needing to push the board to the limits can venture into the DIY route, or buy their own power supply. I will make available what ever I do with regards to this board during the off-season. My previous statements of "I believe some sort of Boost converter would be required" if it wasn't clear, was assuming the user required full performance power and was drawing more than 2amps continuous from the VRM, in which case the VRM could no longer work and another solution is required.

Hopefully this clears it up for everyone.
Regards,
Kevin