Thanks a lot! That datasheet doesn't mention anything about caps. I
take it that they would smooth out the DC. What values and types would
you recommend? Are they very necessary?
Thanks again!
Dear "Acoustic Bass" (or is it "Electric Bass But Temporarily Without
An Amp"?),
You should probably take a look at something like
the LT1084 datasheet, at
http://www.linear.com, just
as an example of an explanation of how and why
the capacitors should be used,
with a three-terminal voltage regulator.
I'm a bit surprised
that you have a three-terminal voltage regulator datasheet
that DOESN'T mention using the capacitors! They are usually
considered to be quite necessary, for stability, at the very least, as
well as for smoothing.
You could also download the free "LT-Spice" (aka "SwitcherCAD III")
software, from the linear.com site. It includes a relatively-large
library of Linear's "power supply" types of ICs and regulators,
et al, and ready-made circuit simulations for various switchmode
power supply configurations (and lots of other stuff), and a
pretty-handy built-in power-supply-IC selection tool
("File"-->"Switch Selector Guide"), along with suggested circuits and
simulations that are based on your specs, that you can run,
and modify and run.
And there's a thriving and very valuable discussion group and
file libraries that are devoted to LT-Spice, at
http://www.yahoogroups.com .
(Of course, LT-Spice is also an extremely-wonderful
GENERAL-purpose circuits (and more) simulator, which I think
everyone here should at least "have on hand", especially since
it's a free download, and is, for those still using dialup, mercifully,
the last time I checked, at least, less than 1 MB.
It also doesn't screw-around with WIndows' system settings, etc.,
as far as I know.) [And, for those blessed-enough to be running
Linux, LT-Spice runs great under WINE ("WINE Is Not an Emulator").
[Wait a minute! That acronym is recursive!] (Actually, I think that
I remember hearing that it runs faster with WINE than under Windows,
which doesn't surprise me. Everything probably does.)
Good luck.
Regards,
Tom
Tom Gootee
tomg at fullnet.com
http://www.fullnet.com/u/tomg
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