[SOLVED] switching regulator in battery applications

[ashugtiwari]

Hello All,
I have an application where a sensor updates its output periodically with a small 8 pin PIC MCU and it runs well. I will be running this application with small coin battery or pencil cell for 3V. The overall current taken at any time does not increase beyond 1.7mA. So, do i need a switching regulator to save power to let the device run for longer time or is switching regulator not required as it wil be redundant?
Sorry for newbie question.

thanks for answers
Ashutosh

 

[barry]

If your processor runs directly off of 3V, and you've got a 3V battery, you certainly don't need a regulator. Many of the PICs will run down to 1.8V, which is probably the point where the battery is dead. Unless you need to maintain a specific supply voltage (for your sensor, for example) the regulator would only make things less efficient.

 

[eiphan]

there are some low voltage MCU you can consider from TI or renesas so that you won't need regulator.

 

[ashugtiwari]

as u guys (barry and eiphan) suggested, i found total current consumption over a day and its very small, even a small pencil cells is better fit, and sensors can operate over wide voltage range. So, I concluded after my experiments that voltage regulator is not required.
There are PIC MCU, which have even less power consumption than msp430 and as 8-bit MCU's they are very easy to program, just like some USB plug and play drives