Do you have a technical question that doesn't really fit a specific console? Want some general info on electronics, hacking, making cookies, etc? Here's the place to ask! Go nuts.
I'm posting here because I'm not sure if it would really fit under any other topic. Anyways onto my question. I'm trying to get my DCP to run off the cigarette lighter in my car for an upcoming trip (to college) I'm taking, and my DCP uses a Pico Psu for power. Now I would really just like to be able to have a cable that one end plugs into my cigarette lighter and the other into my DCP, with all necessary electronic components inside either the plug that goes into the cigarette lighter if the component(s) are small enough but I more likely will have to have them in a separate box/case. This would be easier if i knew whether or not the Pico Psu could run off a car battery with no adjustments but considering that the recharge voltage of a car battery is 14v and most car batteries will put out anywhere between 12-14v, this is very unlikely for I don't wish to blow up my Pico Psu
Just for reference the screen in my DCP isn't LED modded so it sucks down a lot more amps than a single 7812 can put out. So my question is what you guys would suggest for me to use to accomplish what I'm trying to do?
Im pretty sure people use pico-PSUs in cars all the time. As it is a voltage regulator, it should be able to handle some input variation. All 12V batteries exhibit higher voltages when fully charged, I really hope they would have designed it with that in mind.
Anyways, you dont need a fancy switching reg to run something off of a carl its not like you have to conserve power or anything. You can just use 78xx regs, which cost like 50 cents each.
Yeah I expected that there wouldn't be a problem with just plugging it in directly I just wasn't sure exactly if putting higher than 12 v would do anything. About the 78xx regulator, I have already tried going that route and unfortunately it didn't work. I don't know why, I'm guessing it drew more amps then the 7812 regulator could put out because it is not LED modded. I would like to just be able to plug it in but I don't want to take any chances of it ruining my Pico Psu because I don't have the funds or time to buy a new one.
Running any 78xx in parallel is usually worse-off than just a single one. They seem to mess with each other in that configuration.
The 12v line off a car is always a problem; when the car is off the voltage can be from 9-12v, when you're on the highwar it can get up to 14volts. The signal is also very dirty and unfiltered. The best way to solve this is to use a buck-boost regulator setup (regulates to a lower voltage and then another switching regulator boosts the voltage to 12v.)
You can run lm317's in parallel. There is a design note for a 4.5A regulator right in the datasheet. Still sounds like the best route to me, but thats just cause I have like 5 lying around.
So I think that I'm going to do what marshall said and use a buck-boost regulator. But all the Buck-boost regulators I've found only output 3.3v or 5v. Could you give me a link of one that will work for me?
I also just read that putting two diodes in series will drop the voltage 1-2v. Would this be a good temporary fix until I find a proper regulator?
