Votlage Regulator on LabRat DCSSR

**imbluenote** · 01-06-2014, 06:25 PM

I have some of these SSR's that i built. I have one in use that is switching 5V, so i soldered a jumper wire as directed in the Wiki. I have others i haven't completed yet. Can i just put the voltage regulator on the board regardless of what i am going to use it for? I may control some 5V item, but may use on 12V too.

**budude** · 01-06-2014, 11:03 PM

Originally Posted by imbluenote

I have some of these SSR's that i built. I have one in use that is switching 5V, so i soldered a jumper wire as directed in the Wiki. I have others i haven't completed yet. Can i just put the voltage regulator on the board regardless of what i am going to use it for? I may control some 5V item, but may use on 12V too.

You normally do not want to do that - the regulator may become unstable and/or drive the voltage below the 5v due to internal voltage drops required. I think the pads are normal header size spacing - put in a 3x header and put the regulator OR wire on a matching 3x jumper?

**budude** · 01-07-2014, 02:37 AM

Actually - if you put in a female header, you might be able to plug in the regulator OR a wire - haven't tried it myself but sounds like an experiment to me!

**imbluenote** · 01-07-2014, 08:23 AM

Originally Posted by budude

Actually - if you put in a female header, you might be able to plug in the regulator OR a wire - haven't tried it myself but sounds like an experiment to me!

When i read your first post that is what i thought where you were going. I was thinking of trying it. Thanks for the info and inspiration.

**LabRat** · 01-07-2014, 09:55 AM

Yes, a header should work just fine. The regulator is purely to provide the 5v to the optoisolator, so there's not fear about drawing too much current through the header.