Power supply requirement for ESP32

I know this is a little OT, but in designing a power supply for an ESP32 - no particular project board, just a general question:

  1. Should I power via 3v3 or 5v?

  2. What current requirements, assuming i am using BLE but no external sensors?

You’d think this stuff would be simple to find, but it really isn’t!

Are you talking about the ESP32 chip/module?

The data sheet has a peak of 260mA listed for that under some specific conditions.

This video is pretty comprehensive (link starts at conclusion table): https://youtu.be/8NDq6hC9KJo?t=624

I made some measurements on a nodemcu esp-32s board when I was building my gate monitor. I saw peaks (while wifi tx) of 700mA. This was under worst case conditions of max wifi power and my analogue to digital sensor working.

I reckon if you shot for a 300mA average and had a good sized output filtering capacitor you should be ok.

As for 3.3. vs 5v:

5V will give you an extra layer of protection at the expense of reduced efficiency (may be important in battery powered applications).

Some ESP32 boards have a Vin of up to 20V.

Yes, ESP32 requires 3.3 V, well, unless you have a development board with a voltage regulator on it.
About current requirements, the best document about it is its Datasheet
The page 21, 35

Yes, I was talking about the development type board rather than a bare chip. My soldering and PCB skills are not up to that!

I am thinking of using an IRM module (meanwell) and I think the IRM series 3 at 3v3 will do the trick - rated at 900mA. https://www.meanwell.com/webapp/product/search.aspx?prod=IRM-03

That should be more than enough.

The ESP32 board I use has a 3.3V AMS1117 LDO rated at 1A.

Thank you, and to all the contributors to the thread. Much appreciated.