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Step 3Assemble the power supply
Not so complicated, but some infos are required.
Female connector, voltage regulator and the electrolytic capacitor are assembled together with the only support of the wood baseplate. I used a small self-threading screw on the regulator hole to secure all.
It may seems hazardous, but regulator is largely oversized (3 leds sink about 60mA and regulator handle 1A) , have internal short circuit and termal overload protections, so it can't ignite the wood baseplate. An heat sink may be used for more safety, also an U shaped aluminium foil piece can works, pay attention to avoid terminal shorting and metal pad itself is connected to the ground terminal.
Anyway keep it away from curtain or so and (standard disclaimer) "I decline any responsibility about your use of this device and damages and other effects that can derive from it. You are responsible of your own actions".
About the leads, facing the regulator they (hanging down) are from left to right: IN - GND - OUT .
Picture made with FidoCAD http://www.enetsystems.com/~lorenzo/fidocad.asp
PS: I found some standard cellphone charger work well to power this circuit without the voltage regulator, just substitute it with a 1N4007 diode.
Female connector, voltage regulator and the electrolytic capacitor are assembled together with the only support of the wood baseplate. I used a small self-threading screw on the regulator hole to secure all.
It may seems hazardous, but regulator is largely oversized (3 leds sink about 60mA and regulator handle 1A) , have internal short circuit and termal overload protections, so it can't ignite the wood baseplate. An heat sink may be used for more safety, also an U shaped aluminium foil piece can works, pay attention to avoid terminal shorting and metal pad itself is connected to the ground terminal.
Anyway keep it away from curtain or so and (standard disclaimer) "I decline any responsibility about your use of this device and damages and other effects that can derive from it. You are responsible of your own actions".
About the leads, facing the regulator they (hanging down) are from left to right: IN - GND - OUT .
Picture made with FidoCAD http://www.enetsystems.com/~lorenzo/fidocad.asp
PS: I found some standard cellphone charger work well to power this circuit without the voltage regulator, just substitute it with a 1N4007 diode.
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Dec 12, 2009. 2:14 PMaltontoth
says:
More like recommended, not required. You could get away with NOT using it, and 99 times in 100, your projects will operate perfectly fie. They throw the capacitor in there for that 1 time that the project is sensitive enough that everything freaks out without it.
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Jul 2, 2009. 10:38 PMmeissler
says:
What's the point of using a capacitor here? What would happen without it? I know a capacitor stores charge, but I can't see why it's needed. Thanks!
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Jul 2, 2009. 11:18 PMamaze1 (author)
says:
Acting just like a tank for charges it "smooths" the output voltage from IC, and also "absorbs" electrical noise from the LEDs (they have an internal control IC that switch at high frequency). Anyway if you read IC datasheet, you can see it is required for IC stability.
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