Collaborate Disseminate
Perhaps the simplest way to regulate a DC voltage is using a voltage divider and/or an active device like a Zener diode. Besides simplicity, they have the additional advantage of …read more Continue reading Drop-In Switch Mode Regulators
“They don’t build ’em like they used to.” There’s plenty of truth to that old saw, especially when a switch-mode power supply from the 1940s still works with its original parts. But when said power supply is about the size of a smallish toddler and twice as heavy, building them like the old days isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be.
The power supply that [Ken Shirriff] dives into comes from an ongoing restoration of a vintage teletype we covered recently. In that post we noted the “mysterious blue glow” of the tubes in the power supply, which [Ken] decided …read more
It never fails — we post a somewhat simple project using a microcontroller and someone points out that it could have been accomplished better with a 555 timer or discrete transistors or even a couple of vacuum tubes. We welcome the critiques, of course; after all, thoughtful feedback is the point of the comment section. Sometimes the anti-Arduino crowd has a point, but as [Great Scott!] demonstrates with this microcontroller-less boost converter, other times it just makes sense to code your way out of a problem.
Built mainly as a comeback to naysayers on his original boost-converter circuit, which relied …read more
Continue reading The Pros and Cons of Microcontrollers for Boost Converters
Few pieces of gear are more basic to electronics than some kind of power supply. It might be a box of batteries, or it might be a high-end lab supply. [Andreas] took a DPS5005 power supply module that has USB and Bluetooth and used it to build a very capable switching power supply which he then used to build a source measuring unit.
The user interface on the diminutive module is simplistic, so [Andreas] appreciated the PC-based software that can control the supply remotely. The module can output up to 50V, but you should plan accordingly as it does need …read more
Switch-mode power supplies are ubiquitous. Standard off-the-shelf modules in a consistent range of form factors available from multiple manufacturers. Globalized manufacturing and trade has turned them from expensive devices into commodity parts, and they long ago replaced iron-cored transformers as the go-to choice when a high-current low-voltage mains supply is required.
[Lindsay Wilson] faced a power supply problem for a motor he was working with, it required 7.4V and no off-the-shelf power supplies were to be found with that voltage. His solution was to take a 12V supply and modify it to deliver a variable voltage so he could dial …read more
Continue reading Making A Fixed Voltage Power Supply Adjustable
