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I was wondering if I could use a IN40007 diode (or Zener diode) instead of a 3.3V voltage regulator. I plan to power the module using a 3.7V LiPo. Since the battery would be 4.2V when fully charged, my understanding is with the diode voltage drop the voltage at the Vcc pin of the nrf24l01+ module would be ~3.3V.

I've also tried using a voltage divider instead of a diode but found that this setup wasn't stable. So my question is whether using a diode over the voltage regulator would suffice?

Thanks.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Besides that I am sure it runs on more than 3.3V, exact voltage drop of the diode depends on current and moon phase and is rarely a good idea. \$\endgroup\$
    – PlasmaHH
    Mar 20, 2015 at 14:11
  • \$\begingroup\$ The supply voltage range for the nrf24l01+ is 1.9V to 3.6V. Though I've mostly seen people power it with no more than 3.3V. \$\endgroup\$
    – SidharthM
    Mar 20, 2015 at 14:16
  • \$\begingroup\$ see this related question, but the short answer is no, definitely not, as if the board isn't drawing much power, the voltage will go up and break it. electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/225162/… \$\endgroup\$
    – BeB00
    May 7, 2017 at 20:45

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The short answer is yes, but your voltage is going to track with the voltage of the battery. A slightly more elegant approach is the basic linear regulator shown below.

enter image description here

edit: just to be clear, this will still track with the battery voltage when the battery voltage is less than the breakdown voltage of the zener. If you can get away with a Vout of about 3V, you could select a zener with a breakdown voltage of 3.6V and get a steady output voltage over a relatively large section of your battery SOC.

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