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What is this cirquit used for?

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Markus Zingg - 28 Dec 2006 19:40 GMT
Hi group

I bougt a toy in the US which is operated by a lippo cell. The wall
wart that came along wiht it is obviousely a US version alas working
with 110V whereas where I live we have 230V.

The wall wart output is rated DC 5.5V 280 mA and is definately only a
transformer with a rectifier, a coil and an electrolytic capacitor to
flatten out the DC hence unregulated.

It plugs into a little box which holds a cirquit acording to the
drawing available on the website below.

http://mypage.bluewin.ch/mzingg/

From there the wire goes to the toy. I haven't opened the toy since
it's difficult to do it without damaging it. I therefore don't know if
before the lippo there is more cirquitry or if the box more or less
directly connects to the lippo cell.

I'm aware that I have to replace the wall wart with a localized
version and that I'm fine with one also outputing 5.5V DC @ at least
280mA. I do wonder however what above cirquit does (I figure sereves
to cut the wall wart from the lipo once it's full?) and wether it
would work to use a 6V wall wart instead cause this is what I would
have as a spare one laying around. Getting a wall wart that outputs
exactly 5.5V otherwise seems quite difficult. I also wonder wether it
would be ok to use a wall wart outputing say 9V and then use a linear
regulator and have it output 5.5V DC or if this could negatively
affect the loading of the lippo cell. I'm asking cause I don't have
much experience with lipo's and know that they can be dangerous if not
treated well.

TIA

Markus
Homer J Simpson - 28 Dec 2006 21:02 GMT
> I bougt a toy in the US which is operated by a lippo cell. The wall
> wart that came along wiht it is obviousely a US version alas working
> with 110V whereas where I live we have 230V.

Should work OK if you run it from 100 VAC on 50 Hz. It won't survive 120 VAC
at 50 Hz.
petrus bitbyter - 28 Dec 2006 21:37 GMT
> Hi group
>
[quoted text clipped - 32 lines]
>
> Markus

Markus,

It's Lipo from Lithium Polymere, a relative new type of battery.

The circuit is a simple voltage regulator keeping the output voltage at
about the zener voltage. As LIPOs require carefull charging, there should be
more electronics inside.

You can never count on the stability of unregulated wallwarts. Output
voltage is almost 1.5 time the nominal voltage with no- or small load. When
you draw the nominal current, they tend to become (too) hot and the voltage
drops to - or even below - the nominal voltage. That's why they need the
regulator. For the same reason, a 6V wallwart will do fine. A 9V type is not
safe as the regulators transistor has to dissipate the excess power and may
become too hot.

petrus bitbyter
Markus Zingg - 28 Dec 2006 23:06 GMT
[snip]

>The circuit is a simple voltage regulator keeping the output voltage at
>about the zener voltage. As LIPOs require carefull charging, there should be
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
>
>petrus bitbyter

Thanks for the help so far. I made a little test and turned my lab
power supply to 5.5V and went up to 9V like the 6V rated spare wall
wart I have outputs without load.

Behind the formentioned regulator cirquit the voltage drop get's a bit
smaller (starting at ~5.2V) the higher the input voltage, but it still
goes up to 6V (at 9V input). So it apears to me that this simple
voltage regulation cirquit is not doing so well. Lacking a 110V AC
power source I can't know what the original wall wart really would
output, but asuming it would be lower than my 6V supply, I can savely
asume that the output voltage would also be lower.

I therefore ask if it's not better to completely replace the cirquit
with a low drop fixed voltage regulator (LM2940CT in it's standard
configuration acording to the datasheet) and feed it from the 6V wall
wart I have? I have the regulator and the two capacitors needed here
so that would be a quick solultion. Is this a good or bad idea?

TIA

Markus
petrus bitbyter - 29 Dec 2006 00:17 GMT
> [snip]
>
[quoted text clipped - 38 lines]
>
> Markus

The circuit is not very good and your results seem worse while measuring
without load. Guess even a load of - let's say - 1k will show some better
results. Nevertheless, a real regulator like the one you mentioned will do
better. Think you can even use the existing board and capacitors. When going
to 9V input you don't even need a low drop regulator (assuming the smoothing
capacitor is big enough). Keep an eye on the heat the regulator has to
dissipate.

petrus bitbyter
jasen - 29 Dec 2006 09:34 GMT
> Thanks for the help so far. I made a little test and turned my lab
> power supply to 5.5V and went up to 9V like the 6V rated spare wall
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> wart I have? I have the regulator and the two capacitors needed here
> so that would be a quick solultion. Is this a good or bad idea?

get a 6V regulated wall-wart off the shelf an stick a 1n4001 in series
with the output (get approx 5.4V)

or a 7805-based  5V one rated for a little more current than you need
and bootstrap it by putting a 1n914 in series with the gournd leg of
the 7805. (result about 5.6V)

either way should beat the specifications of your original...

Bye.
  Jasen
Michael A. Terrell - 29 Dec 2006 15:13 GMT
> > Thanks for the help so far. I made a little test and turned my lab
> > power supply to 5.5V and went up to 9V like the 6V rated spare wall
[quoted text clipped - 25 lines]
> Bye.
>    Jasen

  The 7805 needs TWO volts more at the input than the output voltage. A
small unregulated supply at 9 volts no load will sag below the required
voltage, and the output voltage will drop below  what you need.

Signature

Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

Ian Malcolm - 30 Dec 2006 02:47 GMT
>>>Thanks for the help so far. I made a little test and turned my lab
>>>power supply to 5.5V and went up to 9V like the 6V rated spare wall
[quoted text clipped - 29 lines]
> small unregulated supply at 9 volts no load will sag below the required
> voltage, and the output voltage will drop below  what you need.

I once mightily p!ssed off the Principal of a well known Electronics
College by proving that his first term class project *could* *NOT* meet
the specification of 5V @ 1A using a 'vanilla' 7805 and the supplied
6.3V transformer.  He tried to get out of the hole by throwing more
reservoir capacitance at it, but I was able to show by a graphical
construction that the reservoir capacitance required was ridiculously
large.

By this time, we had attracted an interested audience of the college lab
technician and the instructors for the digital and analog modules (and a
decidedly bored audience of the other students in the class).  An
attempt to demonstrate that the supply did in fact work as designed
failed miserably when the current reached about 200 mA with a slight
voltage droop which when I insisted a scope was used, proved to be the
regulator dropping out and following the bottom of the ripple.

I pointed out that if he really wanted to meet the spec, He'd need 78S05
regulators, a mimimum of 8 V rms transformers and heatsinks. Since he'd
bulk ordered the parts this did *not* go down well. It turned out that
previous classes had 'cooked' their lab reports.  As a face-saving
compromise, and knowing that we were supposed to be using these PSUs for
our digital labwork, I suggested derating the supplies to 500 mA and
fitting a much larger reservoir capacitor.

Next week, the lab notes had the title "A 5 V, 500 mA Regulated Power
Supply" and the larger caps had been purchaced :-)  The Lab tech and
myself got the assignment of upgrading the class set of these PSUs that
got used by the 'foundation' course. We were both amused that a
professional engineer could make such a goof on regulator headroom and
basic PSU design and I remained close friends with the tech till his
death a few years ago.

The moral of the story? Even with a humble 78xx series regulator *LOOK*
at the data sheet at least once in your career and preferably again
before designing it in to anything that isn't a one off project. And
*DONT* embarrass the head honcho in public unless you *enjoy* doing
scutwork . . .

Signature

Ian Malcolm.   London, ENGLAND.  (NEWSGROUP REPLY PREFERRED)
ianm[at]the[dash]malcolms[dot]freeserve[dot]co[dot]uk [at]=@, [dash]=- &
[dot]=.
*Warning* SPAM TRAP set in header, Use email address in sig. if you must.

Michael A. Terrell - 31 Dec 2006 01:32 GMT
> >>>Thanks for the help so far. I made a little test and turned my lab
> >>>power supply to 5.5V and went up to 9V like the 6V rated spare wall
[quoted text clipped - 67 lines]
> *DONT* embarrass the head honcho in public unless you *enjoy* doing
> scutwork . . .

  That is because you think too small. ;-)

  I had a Captain in the US Army who was running around the base
telling everyone that it was "Impossible" to convert our B&W TV station
to color without replacing everything, including the tower.  he was the
Base Information Officer, and ranthe base newspaper. he was connstantly
sticking his nose into the TV section, and trying to tell the engineers
how to do their jobs.

  After a week of hearing his "No color" crap, I borrowed a color bar
generator from another engineer and transmitted our new station ID in
color at the start of our live 6:00 PM newscast to be sure that a lot of
people would see it.

  He was really pissed off. He was screaming that I had made a fool out
of him, in front of the whole base. I smiled and said, Sir, You always
bragged about being a self made man, then reminded him that he was
tresspassing, and I could have him arrested for interfering with my
duty.  As he left he infomed me that he was calling the USARAL General.
I don't know what the General told him, but I never saw him in the
Transmitter / Control room again.*  He would just go to his end of the
building to cut & paste the layout for our base newspaper every week.

Signature

Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

jasen - 30 Dec 2006 03:05 GMT
>> or a 7805-based  5V one rated for a little more current than you need
>> and bootstrap it by putting a 1n914 in series with the gournd leg of
>> the 7805. (result about 5.6V)
>>
>> either way should beat the specifications of your original...

>    The 7805 needs TWO volts more at the input than the output voltage. A
> small unregulated supply at 9 volts no load will sag below the required
> voltage, and the output voltage will drop below  what you need.

That's why I mentioned excess current cabality, less sag.
in any case, given the regulation of his original a little sag is
unlikely to be a problem.

Bye.
  Jasen
Michael A. Terrell - 31 Dec 2006 01:33 GMT
> >> or a 7805-based  5V one rated for a little more current than you need
> >> and bootstrap it by putting a 1n914 in series with the gournd leg of
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> in any case, given the regulation of his original a little sag is
> unlikely to be a problem.

  A couple volts is "A little sag"?

Signature

Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

Charles Schuler - 28 Dec 2006 21:39 GMT
> Hi group
>
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
>
> http://mypage.bluewin.ch/mzingg/

It's a 5-V regulator.
Jamie - 28 Dec 2006 23:47 GMT
> Hi group
>
[quoted text clipped - 32 lines]
>
> Markus

what ever you do, get the proper charger with the correct input voltage.
 and make sure it does not deliver any more current than what you are
using now..
 Lithium cells can go up in a violent fire... be careful with current
to a LI cell.

Signature

"I'm never wrong, once i thought i was, but was mistaken"
Real Programmers Do things like this.
http://webpages.charter.net/jamie_5

BobG - 29 Dec 2006 16:31 GMT
How many wires on the primary of the wall wart? Maybe you can restrap
it for 240
 
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