Battery supply with linear regulator?

I'm not an electronics guy so I'm hoping you guys can tell me if it
would be possible to replace the switching voltage regulator in either
the BeagleJuice or the Beaglebone Battery Cape with a linear
regulator? My application would benefit from as little EMI as
possible.

- Grant

Not sure about the juice. On the cape, replacing it will not be that easy. You would be better off wiring up your own cape using one of the proto capes and the linear regulator of choice. You can get your own battery holders. But you need to use lithium batteries as a linear regulator cannot work below 5.3V to 5.7V and still give you 5V out, depending on which regulator you use. That is what theswitcher is for.

Then there are the three switchers on the BeagleBone itself.

Gerald

Not sure about the juice. On the cape, replacing it will not be that easy.
You would be better off wiring up your own cape using one of the proto capes
and the linear regulator of choice. You can get your own battery holders.
But you need to use lithium batteries as a linear regulator cannot work
below 5.3V to 5.7V and still give you 5V out, depending on which regulator
you use. That is what theswitcher is for.

Then there are the three switchers on the BeagleBone itself.

Gerald

I'm not an electronics guy so I'm hoping you guys can tell me if it
would be possible to replace the switching voltage regulator in either
the BeagleJuice or the Beaglebone Battery Cape with a linear
regulator? My application would benefit from as little EMI as
possible.

- Grant

Hi Gerald, could you tell me more about the 3 switchers on the
BeagleBone? What are they used for?

Should the BeagleBone transmit a small amount of EMI relative to most computers?

- Grant

They are used to generate the 1.8V for the processor, the ARM voltage, and the Internal voltages required to make the processor run. They are part of the TPS65217B Power Management IC. The board satisfies the FCC requirement as it relates to emissions.

Gerald

They are used to generate the 1.8V for the processor, the ARM voltage, and
the Internal voltages required to make the processor run. They are part of
the TPS65217B Power Management IC. The board satisfies the FCC requirement
as it relates to emissions.

Gerald

Are any of those boost regulators?

- Grant

No they are all buck. They all take in 5V and drop it down.

Gerald

I would suggest looking at the current rating of the linear regulator you plan to use. The beagleboard takes max of 510mA. A switching regulator is always a better option when you need currents above 500mA. (doesn’t heat up as well)