ESP8266 Community Forum

After using generic DC-DC switching modules for all my projects so far, I would now like to advance to making my own integrated boards with on-board power management.

After playing around with TI's WebBench, I am trying to decide between the following choices

TPS54302

TPS62177

TPS62291

Ideally, I would like to have a solution that works efficiently for a voltage range of 4.5~12v, while being most efficient at ~5v.

What are the main characteristics I should look for in the design, leading to an efficient converter for the ESP8266?

From the voltage range you specified it looks that you are not going to be using a lithium battery. While you want high efficiency you didn't indicate why. As it is unclear about how you want to use it it is hard to make any suggestion on a prefered part other than the one with the wide voltage range. That is the only one that meets the 12 volt wish.

The typical use case for this is for lighting controller. I would like to have something capable of either 12 or 5v operation.

Mornsun has a line you might want to check out . They have regulate and unregulated outputs , in milliamp ranges.....I've used the A0512s 5vin +/- 12 out , note they need a small load to work...
your input range is rather limited ..