Regulator | Renewable Energy

Some Homemade Power Supply Ideas and Green Energy Use

Homemade Power Supply

This is also good for voltage regulation/stabilization of some “green energy” voltage sources that may fluctuate/vary a bit and you need a stable/steady voltage souce for a project.

I will put more text here soon, and check often.

The LM317 chip allows for a low number of parts (maby 7 parts, plus cords and.or boxs) to be required to make a fixed or variable voltage/power supply. There are similar chips and I will try to put some numbers up. For the power supplies in the video, the chip is rated at about 1.25V to about 25V and 1.5 Amps of Current. There are some LM317 versions that will allow more or less current also.

You can get just about all the parts at Radio Shack, but their prices are high it seems. Radio Shack is good if you need something right away. You can order the LM317 IC chip from major suppliers, and on Ebay for a deal – some already heat-sinked on a board and ready to go. If you can pick up several at a time to save on shipping, etc. They are only about $1 US now. You can even use machine screws or speaker-jack screws for the input and output terminals.
Radio-Shack also does have some nice electronic “kits” with easy hook up springs for the wires. These are the popular “100 in 1″ or “200 in 1″ , or “300 in 1″ type kits, they are very affordable and have all sorts of endless learning and projects that somene can learn and do, and even use for prototyping your electronic designs and circuits.

If you cant find a transformer or get one cheap enough, a computer power supply is a good option – then can provide many amps of current at fixed 5V and 12Vdc.

I crammed the parts into the box, so it is a good idea to get a box with some extra space, and for additional ideas you may come up with – for instance, having 2 supplies in the same box, or adding meters, or other circuits. A wooden box is also highly possible.

Here are some schematics for using the LM317 chip, or do your own search – most of these circuits are similar, but some have some advantages:

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=lm317%20basic%20circuit&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

You need a power supply if you plan on designing circuits and making projects. You can get by with a “wall-wart” transformer if it supplies enough current, but those are usually at a fixed/non-adjustable voltage. You can also purchase premade supplies from many electronic parts distributers, check online.

Here is a nice site that explains the LM317 and has some circuits for you, like for solar battery rechargers, etc: http://www.reuk.co.uk/LM317T-Voltage-Regulator-Chip.htm

Here is a similar IC chip with a lower voltage loss “dropout”: LM2941 : http://www.reuk.co.uk/LM2941-1A-Low-Dropout-Adjustable-Regulator.htm

I know the vid. isnt the greatest it can be, I actually didnt want to do it because I’t been a while since I made it (around 1994) and I’m loose on all that is in it, etc, so I just decided to do a quick vid. that should have been made a while ago so that others can have the opportuniity to make/work with voltage regulators, fixed and/or variable voltages. Anyway there is some vids on similar power supplies made previously here on YouTube.

Duration : 0:4:37

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