Internal Regulators Nrf9160

[RicFlair]

Hello All,

Does the module have internal regulators that can be used to power connected peripherals? There is the 1.8V output for Sim_1V8. Is this strictly dedicated to the sim card VCC pin or can this also be used to power external components. Can other pins be configured to output the 1.8v as well?

There is VDD_GPIO. But the datasheet confused me a bit as I originally thought this was an output pin that could be configured for 1.8v -3.3 but i believe it is input supply for GPIO's. So it appears that Power would need to be supplied to VDD (3-5.5) and then to VDD_GPIO (1.7-3.6)

Can anyone clarify a bit on this?

Thanks.

[Andreas]

Hi,

 

No, there is no internal regulators that can be used to power connected peripherals. The SIM_1V8 card should not be used for anything but the SIM card. You can source some power from the GPIOs themselves, but not a whole lot. Previously we've recommended to not exceed 15mA, I expect this to still be valid.

 

VDD_GPIO is the input of the GPIO power supply as you say, you can provide it with 1.8V-3.6V depending on what you want as logic high. VDD is the system power, and can be determined independently from VDD_GPIO (as long as they are both within their respective range), but obviously if your supply is 3.0-3.6V you can supply both VDD and VDD_GPIO in parallel.

 

Best regards,

Andreas

[apruikko]

Hi Andreas,

The nRF9160 OPS v0.7.1 defines IO_SUPPLY output (pin number 13). This pin is defined as "Reserved for Nordic use". I was told by some Nordic engineer that this pin will provide supply voltage for peripherals but is not fully implemented yet. However you stated that:

Andreas said:

No, there is no internal regulators that can be used to power connected peripherals.

Can you confirm what will be the final status for this IO_SUPPLY pin when the production release will occur in April 2019? Will it support IO_SUPPLY output so that it is possible to power VDD_GPIO pin and other external peripherals from this pin 13? Or is it necessary to have external supply for the VDD_GPIO and peripherals?