🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <erk.1356@americ.UUCP> erk@americ.UUCP (Erick Parsons) writes:
>This is a pretty basic circuit but works well as a regulator. After all
>this though, I would have to agree with about everyone else in saying ...
>Get a 9V regulator chip ! I mounted one for my Watchman TV (actually 6V) into
>a cigarette lighter plug. I heat sinked it through the metal contact clips
>which contact the lighter receptacle *AND* drilled 8 holes in the thing
>for some air flow. The thing gets warm but not half as warm as it did when
>it wasn't heat sinked !! Worked from Sacramento to Las Vegas without a
>hitch, about an 8 or 9 hour drive.

I have to second the comment about using a regulator chip.  Anything you hack
together from discrete components probably won't compare.  Those little guys
have lots of transistors, so duplicating their functionality would be costly
and take up a lot of space.  Their performance is generally very good, with
wide input tolerance and very low output impedence.

But the more important issue is what happens under abnormal conditions.  Most
regulator chips have current foldback and thermal shutdown so they won't burn
out or fry your device when things get bad.  This is what distinguishes a good
circuit from a hack.