Use a 11.1V LiPo directly on 12V electronics

batteriespowervoltage

I'm considering using a TS351 video transmitter (6.5-12V) and a 700TVL camera (8-13V) on an RC aircraft where a 3S LiPo battery (11.1V) is used as the main power source. The rest of the electronics on board use a 5V source that I tap off of a brushless motor's ESC (via the included 2A BEC). What is the best way to power the transmitter and camera? Is it safe to tap a line directly off the battery for each or do I need regulators of some sort? I'm thinking one common regulator to both would be best.

A fully charge 3S LiPo outputs about 12.6V.

The vehicle currently has 4 20A ESCs for 4 brushless motors and the flight control electronics run off 5V. Currently I am running the flight controller and RC receiver from the 5V tap from the ESCs, but I probably need to separate the two power busses, or do I?

Best Answer

Is it safe to tap a line directly off the battery for each or do I need regulators of some sort?

"Tap off the ESC" probably refers to a BEC; it is designed to, at least minimally, protect its own load from the inductive loads. Wiring a resistor between the battery and your camera is not wise, but also (I'm assuming) not what you really meant.

A common BEC(regulator) between them is fine; consider using a buck-boost type to keep a steady 12V regardless of Vin.