EPE Online Micro Power Supply Project

	+/- 5V Micro Power Supply Approx construction cost US$19

	This low-cost, low-power, mini board project will provide a regulated supply of +/- 5V. This little project first saw the light of day when it was realized that much time was being wasted in the workshop constructing regulated five-volt supplies on breadboards. With the ever-increasing use of logic and microcontrollers such as the PIC, many projects now require such a supply voltage. The introduction of new opamps capable of high performance from low supply voltages means that analog circuits can use it too, though an auxiliary negative supply is often still useful for these, especially where the negative rail of the primary supply is to be used as common or "ground". Where this is the case, it is usually preferable to generate the extra supply rail electronically, particularly when the finished project is to be operated from a battery. Also, with battery supplies in mind, it was decided that this project should use micropower components and the regulator should be a "low dropout" type. Finally, it was decided that the project should be miniaturized as far as possible so that it would take up minimum space on the breadboard or in a case used for testing a prototype. In fact, it could even be included in a finished project if desired. More details on this construction project can be found in the October 1999 issue of EPE Online, the world's first web-delivered electronics and computing hobbyist magazine. PURCHASE this issue or peruse more Projects
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