About switching power supply> First Contact to Load

[Sideshow Bob]

This is just a suggestion. If you have some old cell phone chargers that you do not use any more why not at least try some of them and see if they can do the job. They have an output of about 5 volt. Those chargers that are orginal with the phones tend to be better than the no branded aftermarket ones. This could solve your voltage and power power dissipation issues

Posted on: January 14, 2019, 04:44:26 04:44 - Automerged

Exactly !

The question is this: 12V wall wart is not a good thing as they have no regulation most jive out 11 to 19 volts.

Thank you pickit2!

take care,
Xo!

I would say it would depend. As many switch mode power supplies are actally specified not to only have maximum load current. But also a minimum load to be in spec, regarding output voltage and ripple. In general connecting a 2A switcher to a very minimal load would be a bad desing in most cases

[Manuel]

I had chosen 1703 since it's SOT-23.
Obviously light load will allow to work properly even with such small case, so serial resistor should not be necessary I would say.
Agree with point #4 of SIGNAL.
Fortunately there are other producer than MCHIP that realize same component with higher rated voltage up to 40V, for light loads.

Take care,
Xo!

[kreutz]

IMHO you don't need to mess with the 3.3V regulator, just get another 12V power supply from a reputable manufacturer, or better yet, feed the 3.3V regulator from a 5-6 Volts pre-regulator. Cheap power supplies are cheap for a reason, in your case, the "cheapness" could be also a byproduct of a substandard design, or maybe its intended use doesn't require a good load transient response. Capacitive loading a switching power supply could induce control loop instabilities.

See: https://www.edn.com/design/power-management/4427185/DC-DC-converters-and-highly-capacitive-loads

[Manuel]

Agree with you 120%,
apart for the fact that I need a working full functional cost effective solution with a complete introspection about issues.

 

Anyhow, just to complete the question MCP1703 is really a great product thinking about cost, dimension, quality and noise.
Talking about noise some sensors I can confirm takes advantage about this question.
This is the reason I was digging around it...

Take care,
Xo!

[Sideshow Bob]

Agree with you 120%,
apart for the fact that I need a working full functional cost effective solution with a complete introspection about issues.

Anyhow, just to complete the question MCP1703 is really a great product thinking about cost, dimension, quality and noise.
Talking about noise some sensors I can confirm takes advantage about this question.

If your power demands are quite low. But noise characteristics are more important. Why do keep flogging yourself by using a switch mode power. Google "linear power supply" and you will find that all major on line electronics stores have such wall warts. And for a low power unit the price is not that bad

[Manuel]

Dear Bob,
I agree with you also !

The noise I am talking about is related to the Voltage regulator itself, not to the power supply.
The best power supply with the wrong voltage regulator will anyway create problems for some products.

Family like 78L03 (and all related equivalent design) are really poor vs  1702/3 in terms of noise.

take care,
Xo1

[Sideshow Bob]

Dear Bob,
I agree with you also !

The noise I am talking about is related to the Voltage regulator itself, not to the power supply.
The best power supply with the wrong voltage regulator will anyway create problems for some products.

Family like 78L03 (and all related equivalent design) are really poor vs  1702/3 in terms of noise.

take care,
Xo1

But well switch mode power supply spiky noise have a nasty habit of be able to penetrate voltage regulators, allthoug in a damped form. So I would be much more consered of that kind of noise in a noise sensetive application. As the residual switing noise may very well end up in the mV range, there the internal regulator often ends up in the uV range.  Of course the internal noise generated by a voltage regulator is also part of a system design component selection

[Manuel]

YES BOB, agree.

Vreg can have an OUTnoise from INnoise with attenuation from 30db to 70db in general....frequency related...

Vin noise is important too obviously.

From my personal experience I would say that a 150mV ripple IN(put) vreg .... can be easily dumped....but vreg noise (expecially if you need pulsed current and minimum noise during pulsed current) is a different question. Always I refer to Measure field.

take care,
Xo!

[optikon]

....able to penetrate voltage regulators, allthoug in a damped form. ....

I would say NOT even in a damped form. Most the of the ringing noise tends to be so high frequency, the regulator has no gain there and it just couples right through as if it was a wire.

TI makes some good HIGH PSRR regulators that are known to be used in RF design with noisy switchers.. so while not perfect, this is the kind of thing you want. a normal jellybean linear reg wont help your noise issue.