How many BECs does CubeOrange+ need?

How many becs do i really need to powers the cube orange +?
I have two from mauch. Primary and backup. Do I really need one for each gps and airspeed sensor? The picture wiring diagram shows a bunch of becs.

It depends on the level of redundancy you require and it depends on the components you use.

Do you use a gimbal? Do you use a lidar? Do you use high power RF modems (telemetry)?
Then you should use independent BECs for them.

The standard BECs used to power the autopilot should be enough for normal GPS, airspeed sensor, etc. High powered radios (such as RFD900s) should often have their own 5V supply. It all depends on what you are connecting to the autopilot and if it will brown out those regulators. It is important to note that unlike how some folks treat their autopilots - the Cube’s purpose isn’t to be a higher power distribution board :laughing:

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Ok. So for the dual gps and airspeed the mauch5.3v 3a bec and the backup bec on power 2. 5.3v 3a. That shoud be enough. Im using a 1000mw 433mhz dragon-link radio also. So i should add a bec to that? My walksnail video is getting a 12v bec.

I think the Mauch should be able to support the autopilot, dual GPS (hard to say without knowing what GPS it is), and an airspeed sensor. I would definitely power the dragonlink with its own 5V regulator though.

Holybro m10 the standard gps1 version and the gps2 version

Looks like its rated at <200mA draw at 5V - so that means the following add-up:

GPS 1: 200mA
GPS2: 200mA
Airspeed: 10mA (Very low, but I am guessing)
Autopilot: 2500mA

Which puts you at 14.5W (2.901A @ 5V) which is within your 15.9W (3A @ 5.3V) regulator. However, as you can see this is very close so it is probably your “limit” in terms of safely powering all of these items off of the same regulator. Moving the Dragonlink (and any other peripherals you may add to the future) to their own regulator would be the recommended action item here.

Does the 2nd regulator help or is that only a backup? I have two 5.3v 3a. one on power 1 the other in power 2.

As far as I understand the 2nd power serves as a backup and is not used for load splitting.

Also, note that the 2A draw from the autopilot would be a peak draw and probably something that you won’t actually experience continuously. Would you be fine running the Dragonlink directly off of the Cube, probably - is it recommended, probably not.

Each of PowerA and PowerB inputs are treated in an identical manner with identical hardware and circuitry within the Cube - each BEC should be able to supply all required current used within the Cube and by the connected accessories.
As previously stated high power accessories should have their own BEC.

Telem1 port has it’s own isolated 1.5A 5v supply.
All other accessories and ports (serial ports, CAN etc) are supplied by one shared 1.5A 5v supply.
So it is possible to safely run a RFD900X from Telem1 - in the radio you can set the TX power to 27db (half power) and range would still be good for quite a number of kilometers - I’ve never had a problem doing this.

The servo + rail does not supply the Cube but it is measured.