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Buck Regulator Hookup Guide Datasheet by SparkFun Electronics
Buck Regulator Hookup Guide
Introduction
Who doesn't occasionally need power regulation? We certainly do, so we've designed the SparkFun Buck
Regulator Breakout and the SparkFun BabyBuck Regulator Breakout to help us with just such a task.
Starring the AP63203 from Diodes Inc, both breakout boards take advantage of the 2A synchronous buck
converter that has a wide input voltage range of 3.8V to 32V and fully integrated 125mΩ high-side power
MOSFET/68mΩ lowside power MOSFET to provide high-efficiency step-down DC/DC conversion. All of this
snuggled up in a a low-profile, TSOT26 package that's integrated into either a 1x1" or 0.4x0.5" board. For a wide
variety of power management needs - grab yourself a Buck Regulator or Baby Buck Regulator and let's dive in!
SparkFun Buck Regulator Breakout - 3.3V (AP63203)
COM-18356
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Buck Regulator Hookup Guide Wish List SparkFun Wish List
Required Materials
To follow along with this tutorial, you will need the following materials. You may not need everything though
depending on what you have. Add it to your cart, read through the guide, and adjust the cart as necessary.
Thermal Tape 4x4" Square
PRT-17054
SparkFun BabyBuck Regulator Breakout - 3.3V
(AP63203)
COM-18357
Product Showcase: SparkFun Buck & BabyBuck Regulator BreakProduct Showcase: SparkFun Buck & BabyBuck Regulator Break……
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Small Heatsink
PRT-11510
These tiny little black anodized heatsinks are perfect for cooling off small surface-mount components such as the A…
SparkFun Buck Regulator Breakout - 3.3V (AP63203)
COM-18356
SparkFun BabyBuck Regulator Breakout - 3.3V (AP63203)
COM-18357
(2) DC Barrel Power Jack/Connector
PRT-00119
DC power jack/connector. This is a common barrel-type power jack for DC wall supplies. These are compatible wit…
Break Away Headers - Straight
PRT-00116
A row of headers - break to fit. 40 pins that can be cut to any size. Used with custom PCBs or general custom head…
Break Away Male Headers - Right Angle
PRT-00553
A row of right angle male headers - break to fit. 40 pins that can be cut to any size. Used with custom PCBs or gen…
Hook-Up Wire - Assortment (Solid Core, 22 AWG)
PRT-11367
An assortment of colored wires: you know it's a beautiful thing. Six different colors of solid core wire in a cardboard …
Tools
You will need a soldering iron, solder, and general soldering accessories.
Suggested Reading
If you aren’t familiar with the following concepts, we recommend checking out these tutorials before continuing.
Soldering Iron - 60W (Adjustable Temperature)
TOL-14456
Solder Lead Free - 15-gram Tube
TOL-09163
I.
Hardware Overview
AP63203
The AP63203 is a 2A, synchronous buck converter from Diodes Inc that has a wide input voltage range (3.8V to
32V) and provides high-efficiency step-down DC/DC conversion to 3.3V. Frequency Spread Spectrum (FSS)
reduces EMI and a proprietary gate driver scheme resists switching node ringing without sacrificing MOSFET turn-
on and turn-off times, which further erases high-frequency radiated EMI noise. Full details can be found in the
datasheet.
Features:
VIN 3.8V to 32V
Up to 2A Continuous Output Current
0.8V ± 1% Reference Voltage
22µA Ultralow Quiescent Current
Switching Frequency - 1.1MHz
Supports Pulse Frequency Modulation (PFM)
Up to 80% Efficiency at 1mA Light Load
Up to 88% Efficiency at 5mA Light Load
Fixed Output Voltage - 3.3V
Proprietary Gate Driver Design for Best EMI Reduction
Frequency Spread Spectrum (FSS) to Reduce EMI
Precision Enable Threshold to Adjust UVLO
Protection Circuitry
Overvoltage Protection
Cycle-by-Cycle Peak Current Limit
How to Solder: Through-Hole Soldering
This tutorial covers everything you need to know about
through-hole soldering.
Logic Levels
Learn the difference between 3.3V and 5V devices and
logic levels.
Electric Power
An overview of electric power, the rate of energy
transfer. We'll talk definition of power, watts, equations,
and power ratings. 1.21 gigawatts of tutorial fun!
A, 00000
Thermal Shutdown
AP63203 on the Buck Regulator AP63203 on the Baby Buck Regulator
Power
For the Buck Regulator, input power can be supplied in a number of ways. There are screw terminals on the right
side of the board, solder pads for a barrel jack, which can be mounted on the top or bottom side of the board, and
the plated through holes on the left side of the board can all be used as input. Output can be obtained via the
screw terminals or the plated through holes.
The Baby Buck sacrifices flexibility for space. Use the plated through holes for input and output power.
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Both the Buck Regulator as well as the Baby Buck Regulator ratchet the output voltage down to 3.3V. Be mindful
that thermal properties change as Vin increases.
Thermal Characteristics
One of the benefits of a buck converter over a linear regulator is their superior efficiency at stepping down the
voltage. Unfortunately though, heat can still be a problem, particularly as the difference between the input and
output voltage increases.
One of the trade-offs of the small size of the BabyBuck is because there is less copper to pull heat away from
switching IC, the maximum output current available is reduced due to the thermal protections. Refer to the graphs
below to see the how hot you can expect the AP63203 to get at various loads and supply voltages.
To dissipate some of the excess heat, we've added a copper pad for a heat sink on the back of the 1" x 1" Buck
Regulator Board. Use one of our small heatsinks and attach it with some thermal tape.
Board Outline
Buck Board Outline:
Baby Buck Board Outline:
Hardware Hookup
There are three options when using the 1" x 1" Buck Regulator.
Screw terminals
To use the screw terminals, simply insert the correct wires into the screw terminal opening and gently tighten the
screw for that port. Your board should look similar to the following:
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Barrel Jack
To use a barrel jack for input, grab one of our PTH Mount Barrel Jack Connectors and solder that sucker on. It
should look something like what you see here:
PTH Pins
To use the plated through holes on either the Buck Regulator or the Baby Buck Regulator, you'll need to solder
either straight headers or angle headers to the board.
Troubleshooting
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Need help?
If your product is not working as you expected or you need technical assistance or information, head on over
to the SparkFun Technical Assistance page for some initial troubleshooting.
If you don't find what you need there, the SparkFun Forums are a great place to find and ask for help. If this
is your first visit, you'll need to create a Forum Account to search product forums and post questions.
Resources and Going Further
For more information, check out the resources below:
Buck Regulator:
Schematic
Eagle Files
GitHub Repo
AP63203 Datasheet
Baby Buck Regulator:
Schematic
Eagle Files
GitHub Repo
AP63203 Datasheet
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