Whatever the methods or even then financial means you have to make your circuits work, the power supply should rank high if not Number One in your considerations. The design block simply called “power supply” is hugely underrated both in electronics creation and repair. Yet, the “PSU” has enormous diversity and comes in wildly differing guises like AC/DC, generator, battery (rechargeable or not), PV panel, benchtop, linear or switch-mode, to mention but a few. The output ranges are also staggering like nano-amps to kiloamps and the same for voltages.

This special covers the features and design aspects of power supplies.

Contents

Basics

• Battery Management
  What to be aware of when using (Lithium) batteries.
• Fixed-Voltage Power Supply using Linear Regulators
  The best result right after batteries.
• Light Energy Harvesting
  A small solar panel is used in an energy harvesting project to manage and charge four AAA cells.
• Mains Powered Adapter Design
  Basic circuits and tips for transformers, rectification, filtering and stabilization.
• LM317 Soft Start
  The high inrush current pulse should be avoided.
• Controllable Rectifiers
  Some suggestions to keep the power loss in the linear regulator as low as possible.

Components

• Worksheet: The LM117 / LM217 / LM317 Voltage Regulators
• Supercaps
  Low voltage but lots of current… or not?

Reviews

• JOY-iT RD6006 Benchtop Power Supply Kit
• Siglent SDL1020X Programmable DC Electronic Load

Projects

• Balcony Power Plant
  DIY solar balcony = speedy payback!
• DIY LiPo Supercharger Kit
  From handcrafted to mass market
• Dual-Anode MOSFET Thyristor
  Faster and less wasteful than the old SCR
• Battery Juicer
  Do not throw away, squeeze!
• High-Voltage Power Supply with Curve Tracer
  Generate voltages up to 400 V and trace characteristics curves for valves and transistors
• High Voltage Supply for RIAA
  For RIAA tube preamps and other applications.
• MicroSupply
  A lab power supply for connected devices
• Phantom Power Supply using Switched Capacitors
  Voltage tripler using three ICs
• The SMPS800RE Switch-Mode Supply for the Elektor Fortissimo-100
  Reliable, light and affordable
• Soft Start for PSU
  Be nice to your power supply – and its load
• UniLab 2
  0-30 V, 3 A compact switch-mode lab power supply

Tips

• Soft Start for Step-Down Switching Regulators
• Low Loss Current Limit
• Powerbank Surprise
• A Virtual Ground
• Battery Maintainer
• Battery Pack Discharger
• Connecting Voltage Regulators in Parallel