Quote:
Originally Posted by rds 
I guess I'm missing something here, but when the r3 and r4 values in the schematic set the lm317 output to ~10V how are you supposed to get above 10v output? The build guide recommends not changing r3 and r4. I'm trying to get 30V output and my r10 and r11 values are 3.32k and 1k respectively.
As I would have expected I get about 7.7V regulated since the 317 is putting out 10v. Should I just ignore the instructions not to change r3 and r4?
EDIT it seems having about 2.5k on r4 would fix things. Does that sound right?
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The LM317 floats above the regulator output voltage. As you can see in the schematic, ADJ is connected to Vout rather than ground as would normally be used. As written, the schematic keeps the LM317's output at ~2.3V above the regulated output at all times. This is the design mentioned by Jung in the 'Improved Positive/Negative Regulators' article on his site. It also appears in the National LM317 datasheet in the 'typical applications' section as a 'tracking preregulator'.
Because the prereg tracks the output, there's no need to adjust the resistors, it will always be 2.3V above the output, which gives enough headroom for the pass device to do its job.