Battery input
The board takes power straight from a 5S–12S LiPo battery, 18–52 V. The absolute maximum is 60 V. A fully charged 12S pack is 50.4 V, which leaves a margin; a 14S pack (58.8 V) is above the 52 V operating limit and is outside the range.
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Battery | 5S–12S LiPo, 18–52 V |
| Absolute maximum | 60 V |
| USB | USB-C; bench work on USB power alone |
| Peripheral 5 V | 1.9 A total, 0.75 A per port (PTC) |
| IMU heater | 1.8 W, PWM controlled |
The battery can come in on two kinds of port. The POWER port (J1) is a 6-pin JST-GH: pins 1–3 are battery positive and pins 4–6 are ground. Pin 8 of each ESC port (J2, J3) is also battery positive, so a 4-in-1 ESC can power the board through its signal cable. All of these pins are joined on the board. Connect them to the same battery only.
Battery voltage and current
The board measures battery voltage itself, on the battery input. Current comes from the ESC: pin 7 of each ESC port is an analog current input, one for each port. With two 4-in-1 ESCs you get one current reading for each. See Pinout for the pins.
Our ArduPilot build sets up the battery monitor for the board's voltage input and the two ESC current inputs.
Other power sources
The board cannot be powered from a 5 V BEC or a power module. In flight it needs the battery, 5S–12S. USB power is for bench work only.
Power use
| Condition | Power | At 5S (18.5 V) | At 12S (44.4 V) |
|---|---|---|---|
| IMU heater off | about 2.5 W | about 0.14 A | about 0.06 A |
| IMU heater at full power | about 4.5 W | about 0.25 A | about 0.10 A |
The 5 V peripheral budget
The 5 V rail for peripherals gives 1.9 A in total, and each port has its own 0.75 A PTC fuse. Add up what your GPS, telemetry radio and other 5 V devices draw. Stay under 1.9 A in total and 0.75 A on any one port, or power heavy devices from their own regulator.
Nine ports give 5 V on pin 1: GPS, I2C, CAN1, CAN2 and the five serial ports. The SAFETY port gives 3.3 V. The ESC ports give no 5 V.
Every external port has ESD, PTC and eFuse protection. A short on one port trips that port's PTC; the rest of the board keeps running. A PTC resets itself once the short is removed and it has cooled.