4 ms·

What you call UBEC is just a switch mode DC-DC buck converter. They are used everywhere in electronics, and you could probably save money buying general puprose

What you call UBEC is just a switch mode DC-DC buck converter. They are used everywhere in electronics, and you could probably save money buying general puprose 5V buck converter modules instead of modules made specifically for RC. Anyway, that's very interesting info about supply voltage affecting Raspberry Pi speed and timekeeping, thanks!

Kadin 7y ago
This is true, although UBECs are also packaged with some filtering caps, and are in a nice heatshrinked package usually -- so I look at it the other way around; packaged UBECs are so cheap, if you can make do with them, it's too easy to just grab them off the shelf and move on with life rather than DIYing it from components. All depends how many of whatever you're building, I suppose.
- peteforde 7y ago
  I did a quick search and wasn't able to find anything even close to the price of the UBEC we used: http://www.banggood.com/External-Brushless-BEC-UBEC-3A-5V2-5S-Receiver-Power-Supply-p-949258.html http://www.banggood.com/External-Brushless-BEC-UBEC-3A-5V2-5... However, I cannot state enough that the price of this small component was simply not where the costs accumulated on this project. We geeks have a nasty tendency to over-optimize things that just don't matter in the big picture. You totally nailed it when you mentioned that this device is a packaged (and QA'd) product. The fact that it just slips right onto a Pi's GPIO pins without requiring any further modification is what makes this such a win. If you have to do anything to [70 units of] a component to make it work, you're blowing up any miniscule price arbitrage anyhow.
peteforde 7y ago
As @Kadin suggested, the UBEC we purchased in bulk was, at the end of the day, a packaged product that had two things going for it. First, it had undergone some degree of QA and we found the results to be consistent, which was a huge deal for us. Second, it came with a 3-pin connector that could not have been more perfect for plugging directly onto the GPIO pins. For anyone attempting something similar, here's my boy scout good deed for the day: http://www.banggood.com/External-Brushless-BEC-UBEC-3A-5V2-5S-Receiver-Power-Supply-p-949258.html http://www.banggood.com/External-Brushless-BEC-UBEC-3A-5V2-5... It's entirely possible that you could get a cheaper buck converter, possibly for pennies. However, this was not where the money was being spent in our project... and if we had to do literally anything to it to prepare it for use (such as soldering on a pin socket) it would have destroyed any cost advantage.

Kadin 7y ago

This is true, although UBECs are also packaged with some filtering caps, and are in a nice heatshrinked package usually -- so I look at it the other way around; packaged UBECs are so cheap, if you can make do with them, it's too easy to just grab them off the shelf and move on with life rather than DIYing it from components. All depends how many of whatever you're building, I suppose.

peteforde 7y ago
I did a quick search and wasn't able to find anything even close to the price of the UBEC we used: http://www.banggood.com/External-Brushless-BEC-UBEC-3A-5V2-5S-Receiver-Power-Supply-p-949258.html http://www.banggood.com/External-Brushless-BEC-UBEC-3A-5V2-5... However, I cannot state enough that the price of this small component was simply not where the costs accumulated on this project. We geeks have a nasty tendency to over-optimize things that just don't matter in the big picture. You totally nailed it when you mentioned that this device is a packaged (and QA'd) product. The fact that it just slips right onto a Pi's GPIO pins without requiring any further modification is what makes this such a win. If you have to do anything to [70 units of] a component to make it work, you're blowing up any miniscule price arbitrage anyhow.

peteforde 7y ago

As @Kadin suggested, the UBEC we purchased in bulk was, at the end of the day, a packaged product that had two things going for it. First, it had undergone some degree of QA and we found the results to be consistent, which was a huge deal for us. Second, it came with a 3-pin connector that could not have been more perfect for plugging directly onto the GPIO pins. For anyone attempting something similar, here's my boy scout good deed for the day: http://www.banggood.com/External-Brushless-BEC-UBEC-3A-5V2-5S-Receiver-Power-Supply-p-949258.html http://www.banggood.com/External-Brushless-BEC-UBEC-3A-5V2-5... It's entirely possible that you could get a cheaper buck converter, possibly for pennies. However, this was not where the money was being spent in our project... and if we had to do literally anything to it to prepare it for use (such as soldering on a pin socket) it would have destroyed any cost advantage.