User’s Manual
87
APPENDIX D. POWER SUPPLY
Appendix D provides information on the current requirements
of the RCM3100, and includes some background on the chip
select circuit used in power management.
D.1 Power Supplies
The RCM3100 requires a regulated 3.3 V ± 0.15 V DC power source. The RabbitCore
design presumes that the voltage regulator is on the user board, and that the power is made
available to the RCM3100 board through header J2.
An RCM3100 with no loading at the outputs operating at 29.4 MHz typically draws 75 mA.
The RCM3100 will consume an additional 10 mA when the programming cable is used to
connect the programming header, J3, to a PC.
D.1.1 Battery-Backup Circuits
The RCM3100 does not have a battery, but there is provision for a customer-supplied bat-
tery to back up SRAM and keep the internal Rabbit 3000 real-time clock running.
Header J2, shown in
Figure D-1, allows access to the external battery. This header makes
it possible to connect an external 3 V power supply. This allows the SRAM and the inter-
nal Rabbit 3000 real-time clock to retain data with the RCM3100 powered down.
Figure D-1. External Battery Connections
at Header J5
A lithium battery with a nominal voltage of 3 V and a minimum capacity of 165 mAh is
recommended. A lithium battery is strongly recommended because of its nearly constant
nominal voltage over most of its life.
VRAM
+3.3V
30
31
29
32
VBAT_EXT
GND
External
Battery
J2