H Bridge for microcontroller power management?

Question

Is it fine to use L298 N Dual H Bridge Stepper Motor Driver Module to control power of other ICs in a multiple microcontroller setup?

I intend to reduce power consumption in by powering communication ICs through the H bridge to allow switcching them off if not needed. Does a L298 based H bridge module like shown below supply clean stable DC current to someting like the ESP8266?

Module shown below contains condensators, i assume to reduce ripple effect created by L298.

enter image description here

Answer 1

While it may be possible to bend one of those to your proposed usage, it's far from ideal, for a number of reasons:

1. It's far more expensive than the single P-FET that you need to get the job done
2. It's risky: you can easily reverse the current through your components and blow them up
3. It imposes a ground offset which can cause you communication problems.

All you need is a single P-channel MOSFET (assuming you are switching 5V with a 5V logic signal) and a single resistor (10kΩ would be fine, but any large value is ok).

schematic

^{simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab}

Pull the GPIO LOW and the power switches on. As simple as that.

If you want to switch a higher voltage then simple use an N-channel MOSFET to pull the GPIO line LOW for you - which you then switch with your GPIO signal.