unregulated supply to BS1usb?

Paulo

After having much fun with my standard BS1, I eventually fried it with a misplaced I/O connection. Tried to replace the regulator but it seems the damage is far more extensive.

Time for an upgrade, so I ordered the new BS1usb to avoid using serial adapters. This week I received the cute little circuit, but got confused about how to connect it to an unregulated power supply, as I used to do with my old friend (RIP) when operating stand alone, disconnected from the PC.

Sure I can use an external regulator to Vdd and Vss, but wondered if there is some way to take advantage of the embedded regulator, assuming there is one, of course. I found no information about this neither here in the forum nor in the BS1usb-v1.1.pdf document.

I would appreciate any comments by the experienced people. Thanks in advance,
Paulo

Mike Green

There is no embedded regulator. The BS1USB is designed to operate from the +5V supplied by the USB connection. If you want to use it when it's not plugged into a PC, use one of the little USB power supplies for devices designed to recharge via the USB port. I'm not sure whether the Vdd line is directly connected to the USB plug. Often there's a fuse between the USB plug +5V terminal and the +5V buss on the board.