Regulated Power Supply

[AlistairW]

Hello,

Looking at this site power supplies :

https://www.esr.co.uk/electronics/products/frame_powersupplies.htm

Can someone tell me if they are linear or switching mode supplies ? - I am not sure what "Regulated" means - but judging by their size I am guessing they are linear.

Thanks

Alistair

[RayD]

15 minutes ago, AlistairW said:

Hello,

Looking at this site power supplies :

https://www.esr.co.uk/electronics/products/frame_powersupplies.htm

Can someone tell me if they are linear or switching mode supplies ? - I am not sure what "Regulated" means - but judging by their size I am guessing they are linear.

Thanks

Alistair

That page shows both.

Regulated just means the output is fixed and won't change with fluctuations in the supply.

[Cornelius Varley]

Regulated means that the psu will always supply the same amps and volts no matter what the load is applied to it (this is good). An unregulated supply will drop the volts if the amps load increases (this is bad)

[AlistairW]

Actually I think these are switch mode - I was after a linear - will keep looking - thank all :-)

 

[iapa]

You haven't said why you are looking for the PSU.

Linear power supplies are significantly less efficient the switch mode, i.e you are paying more to heat the surrounding air than with a switch mode PSU.

Unless you have a specific need for linear (e.g. for powering analogue circuitry) you may be better with the, smaller, more efficient, switch mode supplies.

PS the link is to the home page of the site, not a specific device. So, not sure which PSU you are specifically looking at. A quick look and they supplies linear and switch PSUs.

[AlistairW]

Iapa - it's just one of those things. I have both linear and switching. For some reason (not based on physics) I seem to get less issues with my equipment when using linear. My CCD 'seems' to work better (less lines). Some says this is voltage, but linear seems to work for me. Not scientific I know, - maybe it's the high frequency of the switching, but I haven't really a clue.

[RayD]

Just now, AlistairW said:

Iapa - it's just one of those things. I have both linear and switching. For some reason (not based on physics) I seem to get less issues with my equipment when using linear. My CCD 'seems' to work better (less lines). Some says this is voltage, but linear seems to work for me. Not scientific I know, - maybe it's the high frequency of the switching, but I haven't really a clue.

This is not uncommon.  As iapa notes sm supplies are very efficient and don't produce so much heat, so can be packaged much smaller, but the down side is that they are often noisy (electrically) which can cause problems with sensitive kit.  Many, me included, tend to use sm for "dirty" items such as heaters etc. and a decent linear unit for sensitive kit like cameras and mount.

[Louis D]

Seems like you should be able to filter the output of a switched power supply through an appropriate RC network to filter out the high frequency noise associated with them.

[fozzybear]

Hi,

Maplin sell linear power supplies 5v-30v if this helps, otherwise maybe a call to the seller and pose the question.

hope this helps

[Mikea]

A linear supply will just have output ripple at mains frequency which is relatively easy to manage. A switcher will have the additional HF noise at the switching frequency (E.g. 20kHz) which is rather more difficult (but not impossible) to eliminate. If it's got a chunky looking toroidal transformer, it is probably a linear supply.