Powering a micro air pressure pump

Thread Starter

Physnano

Joined Aug 18, 2015
17
I am trying to power a micro air pressure pump similar to the one seen here:
http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/micro-battery-pump-diaphragm-air-pump_60216515523.html

The specific one I have is 3V, 320mA. I want to power the pump using a power supply from sparkfun, (and eventually a battery 3.7V, XXXX mAH):
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13032

I need to step down the V to ~3V from the selectable 3.3V from the power supply. I am using an XC6210 LDO regulator:
http://www.torexsemi.com/products/voltage_regulators/data/XC6210.pdf

I t should be more than adequate with 700mA - 800mA output I measure roughly 3V output from the LDO regulator @3.3V input but the micro air pressure pump is not turning on. What am I missing?
 

dannyf

Joined Sep 13, 2015
2,197
1. do you know for sure if the pump works?
2. do you know for sure if the regulator(s) works?

If any of those questions is answered with "no", make sure that your answers are "yes".
 

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
17,496
When you hook it up and the pump fails to start, measure the voltage across the pump's power input. As dannyf suggests, you need to learn whether it's the power supply, the pump, or both.

I'll throw out a guess that your LDO cannot supply 3V from 3.3V once you put the load on it.
 

Thread Starter

Physnano

Joined Aug 18, 2015
17
1) Yes, I verified the pump using a benchtop power supply and it draws ~300mA
2) I have not used the XC6210 before, It seems to be working, i.e. with input of ~3.3V I see ~ 3.0V at output
 

MaxHeadRoom

Joined Jul 18, 2013
28,619
Use 3.7v cell and series a rectifier, you should have a suitable voltage for that application, no need to be that precise need for small motor.
Max.
 
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