Power For Your Electronics Projects - Voltage Regulators and Converters

Learn about voltage regulators and buck converters that you can use to power up your electronic projects.

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Today we are going to look at the somewhat mundane but absolutely essential subject of supplying power for your electronic projects. Trust me, this stuff is important!

Electronic devices typically require either 5 or 3.3 volts, sometimes both. Other common voltage requirements include 6 and 12 volts for motors and displays. Some complex designs (ie. a robot) require several different supplies with different current capabilities.

When you build your latest robot or IoT device you’ll need to consider how you'll supply these voltages in the real world. On the workbench you can use a bench power supply if you have one, a USB adapter, or even the USB port on a computer (just like with the Arduino).

But when your creation needs to exist on its own with a line-powered or battery power supply you’ll need to figure out how to get all of those voltages delivered to your components, preferably easily and inexpensively.

I have nine, yes nine methods of doing exactly that. Today I’ll show you a number of different voltage regulators and converters ranging from the classic 7805 3-pin voltage regulator to a tiny device that can supply a steady 5 volts even when your battery is about to die.

Check out the following Table of Contents to skip ahead to the power supply solution of your choice. Or just sit back and enjoy the show.

INTRO

00:00 - Introduction
03:00 - Breadboard power supply module
06:28 - Power Supply Basics

LINEAR REGULATORS

11:42 - LM7805 - 5 Volt linear regulator
14:32 - LM317 - Variable linear regulator
17:52 - PSM-165 - 3.3 Volt linear regulator module
19:47 - AMS1117 - 5 Volt linear regulator module
21:43 - L4931CZ33-AP - 3.3 volt low voltage-drop regulator

VOLTAGE CONVERTERS

23:51 - Buck Converter Intro
24:41 - MINI-360 - Variable buck converter
26:46 - Boost Converter Intro
27:37 - PSM-205 - USB boost converter
29.07 - MT3608 - Variable boost converter
31:06- Buck Boost Converter Intro
33:06 - S9V11F5 - 5 Volt buck boost converter

That last module is the one I was referring to earlier, it really is an amazing device and is perfect for your battery-powered projects.

As with all of my videos, there is an article where you will find more details regarding all of the voltage regulators, buck converters, boost converters, and buck-boost converters mentioned here.

Now go power something up!