RECOM’s first evaluation board allows engineers to effortlessly test the functionality of the R-78S switching regulator, which boosts a AA battery or external supply voltage to 3.3V for low power IoT applications. The evaluation board is equipped with several jumper headers measuring input and output current and voltage - allowing typical battery lifetime calculations in both active and standby mode.

The R-78S Evaluation Board demonstrates the performance of the R-78S which boosts single-cell AA battery voltage of 1.5V up to a stable 3.3V. This guarantees much higher energy capacities and reduces maintenance costs compared to button or coin cell batteries. This will effectively extend the operation lifetime of an application since the boost converter continues to operate at input voltages as low as 0.65V. The Evaluation Board offers the option to use external input voltage from other low voltage sources such as energy harvesting devices, which are typical in remote applications. The load can be connected either through output pins or a micro-USB port. Test points for measuring voltages and currents allow engineers to fully evaluate the wide input voltage range down to 0.65V, high efficiency and low stand-by losses, all of which extend the working lifetime of a AA battery and even make MEMS power supply feasible. RECOM also introduces the R-REF02-78S Reference Design Board, which in its compact shape is a ready-to-use design for 3.3V IoT applications. To cover more applications, RECOM has also extended the R-78S series with stable outputs of 1.8V for Bluetooth and 3.6V for LoRaWAN transmission units.