Designed by collinsemasi with jharwinbarrozo

Original project on Flux: https://www.flux.ai/collinsemasi/brave-power-management-board~ft

WHAT IS THIS PROJECT ABOUT?

Brave is a versatile and efficient power board that can provide 12 V, 5 V and 3.3 V outputs for a wide range of applications. It was designed by collinsemasi, with jharwinbarrozo credited as a co-author on Flux. The board can run from a battery or a solar panel, and the battery can be recharged from solar energy. It can also be powered from a USB port when needed. That makes it a good fit for IoT projects that need reliable, stable power in very different environments, from a windowsill to a remote field site.

The design has been popular on Flux, with 21 stars and 32 forks, and it is reused as the power section of other community boards.

WHY IT IS USEFUL

Most IoT devices need more than one voltage. A microcontroller might run at 3.3 V, a sensor or radio might need 5 V, and a pump, light or actuator might need 12 V, while the only available source is a single lithium-ion cell or a small solar panel. A power board like this solves the problem in one place: it charges the battery, boosts and regulates the voltages and protects the outputs, so the rest of the project can be designed around a clean supply.

HOW IT IS BUILT

According to the project's description on Flux, the board is based on four dedicated power ICs:

• CN3063 battery charger: a constant-current, constant-voltage charger for single-cell lithium-ion and lithium-polymer batteries. It is designed for solar-powered systems because it adjusts the charge current to what the supply can deliver, and it also works within USB power limits.
• MT3608 step-up converter: a boost converter that raises the battery voltage to higher rails. It accepts 2 V to 24 V at its input and can produce an adjustable output of up to about 28 V.
• RT8059GJ5 step-down converter: a PWM step-down DC/DC converter that produces the lower-voltage rail.
• SY6280 power distribution switch: a low-loss switch with programmable current limiting and over-temperature protection, used to distribute and protect an output.

Related versions of the design on Flux list a USB input at 5 V, a solar input of about 4 V to 6 V, and a single-cell battery input of about 3.6 V to 4.2 V.

HARDWARE DESIGN

Outputs: 12 V, 5 V and 3.3 V

Power sources: battery, solar panel or USB

Battery charging: from solar or USB, using the CN3063

Boost conversion: MT3608

Step-down conversion: RT8059GJ5

Output protection: SY6280 power distribution switch

Board construction: two-layer

APPLICATIONS

Solar-powered sensor nodes, remote data loggers, battery-backed IoT devices, and any project that needs stable 3.3 V, 5 V and 12 V rails from a single lithium-ion cell, a solar panel or a USB port.

MANUFACTURING FILES

The project is published ready for fabrication and assembly. It includes a complete Gerber set covering top and bottom copper, solder mask, solder paste, silkscreen and board outline, together with an Excellon drill file, an IPC-D-356 electrical test netlist and a pick-and-place CSV for automated assembly. Bills of materials are provided in formats prepared for several manufacturers, including a version optimised for PCBWay.

CREDITS

Designed by collinsemasi (Flux), with jharwinbarrozo. All design work and credit belong to the original creators. Please visit the original Flux project, explore the design in full, and show the creators some support.