BEC Considerations

The 5.4V output includes overcurrent and short-circuit protection by default. When the load current exceeds 2.7A, the output will shutdown. The load must be power-cycled to reset the shutdown. Note that the state of the 5.4V output is not monitored by the nanoDRIVE 4LPi firmware i.e. telemetry will not indicate that a fault has occurred.

Peripherals with a large amount of capacitance, therefore inrush current, can accidentally trip the overcurrent protection. Therefore, a maximum capacitive load of 60uF is recommended. Larger capacitive loads can possibly be used if careful testing is performed.

We recommend that you test if your connected load can start-up and run without activating the overcurrent protection, noting that high board temperatures can lower the time-to-trip.

Caution must be given when vital and non-vital to flight peripherals are both powered by the same 5.4V output. If the output is shared, any overcurrent faults in the non-vital to flight peripheral will result in the vital to flight peripheral also being shut down.

The overcurrent protection can be disabled by soldering a 0603 sized 0R resistor between the pads shown in the image below. Note that the nanoDRIVE 4LPi and connected motors may shut down if a overcurrent fault occurs with the protection disabled.