If I wanted to build my own power supply

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rwc
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Post by rwc » Sun Apr 19, 2009 5:02 pm

calmsea wrote:Before you get in too deep, you might want to have a look at these:

http://electronics.dantimax.dk/Kits/Pow ... index.html

They're kits, so you still get to learn how it's all put together, but with less risk of catastrophic failure. And the price is hard to beat.
That looks excellent.

My D/A runs on +12, and A/D runs on +/- 15v.

I couldn't help thinking, I could have this all in one supply, if I tried to run the D/A off the 15v instead of the 12v and just changed the internals of the DAC so it expects 15v, not 12v.

That's probably the worst idea I've ever had. Beyond "I wonder what happens if I touch this part of the inside of a pultec while it's plugged in"

stupid D/A and its nonstandard 12v. D:

This isn't for a learning experience. The only thing I think there is to be learned from a DIY kit is how to solder, and I've had that down for several years. At least with PCBs. When putting stuff together part by part I really get what each thing is doing, but throwing everything onto a PCB isn't a learning experience.

I'm going to grab that, but I still need something else for +/- 15v. or maybe I should just find another D/A that is fine with running off 15v.
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nclayton
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Post by nclayton » Sun Apr 19, 2009 10:50 pm

If they can share a common ground without causing you problems, you could get the +/- 12 volt and +/- 15 volt out of the same transformer and unregulated supply. Then use a separate 5 or 6.3 VAC transformer for the 5 volt supply. Dropping a 12 volt rail (unregulated 15-16 volts minimum) down to 5 volts through a linear regulator wastes more power and is harder on the regulator than dropping the 15 volt unregulated rails down to 12 volts. Plus the 5 volt ground carries much more DC current than the bipolar grounds and it will usually be current full of digital noise. Better to have the 5 volt digital supply be on it's own transformer and ground than to have the 12 and 15 volt bipolar supplies on their own grounds with the 12 sharing a ground with the 5.

It's already been said that the 317/337 regulators are better than the 78/79 types, but I'll say it again. In addition to being trimable, they're also just quieter.

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