[sci.electronics] Sources for 7-volt regulators

dana@lando.la.locus.com (Dana H. Myers) (03/17/90)

In article <844@gold.GVG.TEK.COM> grege@gold.GVG.TEK.COM (Gregory Ebert) writes:
>You can 'fool' a 78L05 into working as a "78L07" by putting 3 1N4148
>(or your favorite Si diode) in series with the ground terminal of the
>regulator. Basically , the regulator only cares that the "out" terminal
>is 5 volts above the "gnd" terminal. The 3 diodes will give about 2.1
>volts drop, thus Vout = 5.0 + 2.1 = 7.1 volts ~ 7.0 volts. Be sure to
>put a bypass capacitor from the "gnd" terminal to the "out" terminal,
>as well as across the diodes.
>
>	If that doesn't satisfy you, try using an LM317L -- it's fully
>adjustable.

   Using the diodes like that makes the output voltage become quite
temperature sensitive, I'd advise against it. The LM317 isn't terribly
different from the 7805, it just has a low "output" voltage, very close
to the internal 1.2V reference. The output voltage is boosted by using the
device quiescent current to raise the "ground" pin to a higher voltage. Most
configurations also feed some current from the output to the ground pin,
I believe to swamp out the effects of device current variation. Either use
the LM317 or the 78L05, in either case use the "variable output" configuration.
The LM317 comes in handy when the desired output is below 5V (since floating
the ground pin only raises the output).

   BTW - using diodes as a voltage reference used to seem pretty tricky to
me, but then I remembered the -.21%/degree C variation in output voltage.
Take a standard 1N4148, measure the forward voltage at 1 mA, it'll be around
.6V at room temp. Try heating the diode up with a blow drier or just breathe
on it. The voltage starts dropping. Now shoot some freon "Component Cooler"
on the poor diode. Voltage suddenly jumps up. Now, the only time I use a
diode for the voltage drop is when I'm compensating some other part of
a circuit for temperature sensitivity.
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* Dana H. Myers WA6ZGB		| Views expressed here are	*
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straka@cbnewsc.ATT.COM (richard.j.straka) (03/21/90)

In article <5598@oolong.la.locus.com> dana@locus.com (Dana H. Myers) writes:
>In article <844@gold.GVG.TEK.COM> grege@gold.GVG.TEK.COM (Gregory Ebert) writes:
>>You can 'fool' a 78L05 into working as a "78L07" by putting 3 1N4148
>>(or your favorite Si diode) in series with the ground terminal of the
>>regulator. Basically , the regulator only cares that the "out" terminal
>>is 5 volts above the "gnd" terminal. The 3 diodes will give about 2.1
>>volts drop, thus Vout = 5.0 + 2.1 = 7.1 volts ~ 7.0 volts. Be sure to

I thoought that the commonly accepted way of doing this was to simply put
the ground terminal of the regulator at the middle of a 2-resistor divider
between the output and ground.  The extra current coming out of the ground, as
I recall, is either quite repeatable, or negligible.  Anyway, the divider
circuit is found all over the place in the old National Semi data books.  At
worst, it would be a little trial and error with the resistor values.
-- 
Richard Straka                  AT&T Bell Laboratories, IH-6K311
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