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need some help here.
I built a voltage regulator to drop 16 DC V to 8.25 DC V using a LM 317 but I am losing to much power to the heat sink. this is a portable unit.
Any ideas...?
Thanks for any info.
Lory johnson
I was just hoping their might be a more efficient voltage regulator out there. the device I am using draws about 800ma and it seems like nearly the same amount of current is going into the heat sink. I was just hoping for a little more run time.
I will just keep the second battery on the charger and do it that way.
As MikeMI said, the power dissipation in any linear regulator is (Vin - Vout) * Iload. All linear regulators must follow this relationship.
The options are to reduce the voltage drop across the regulator or reduce the current. And use a big heat sink.
The alternative is to use a switching regulator. With the linear regulator, you're dissipating as much power in the regulator as in the load. A switching regulator can improve efficiency to 80 - 90%.
Hi Jon
I looked at #LM2596 and it seemed to output 5 volts only but I need 8.25 volts so I googled ( #LM2596 ) and looked around the net and found (#LM2576/LM2576HV ) which seems to have adjustable output voltage....looks good to me ..?.as long as it comes with instructions. at least it would be good for an experiment.
Lory
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