Kempachi343
New Member
Hi guys,
I have been working on a low voltage, high current Variable PSU, and I have a question about the rating of the resistors in my circuit.
If my PSU is supplying a 12v Load, drawing 5A, then each of my '0.1ohm 5W' Resistors will be dissipating 30W of heat (12X2.5). I read that the wattage rating is:
*It's the maximum power the resistor can _continuously_ dissipate for a
given set of ambient conditions to achieve a possibly unspecified
reliability rating.*
But every circuit I've seen that I'm basing this off only uses 5w or 10w resistors, yet they can supply up to 10A? I'm a little confused by this, and any light you can shed on this would be much appreciated.
Cheers,
Dan.
*I've added a circuit diagram so you can see the use of R3 and R4.*
I have been working on a low voltage, high current Variable PSU, and I have a question about the rating of the resistors in my circuit.
If my PSU is supplying a 12v Load, drawing 5A, then each of my '0.1ohm 5W' Resistors will be dissipating 30W of heat (12X2.5). I read that the wattage rating is:
*It's the maximum power the resistor can _continuously_ dissipate for a
given set of ambient conditions to achieve a possibly unspecified
reliability rating.*
But every circuit I've seen that I'm basing this off only uses 5w or 10w resistors, yet they can supply up to 10A? I'm a little confused by this, and any light you can shed on this would be much appreciated.
Cheers,
Dan.
*I've added a circuit diagram so you can see the use of R3 and R4.*