Power: a question of resistance?

Feb 9, 2019 at 7:14 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 4

Paul Staples

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RE: Dropping a Sbooster BOTW LPSU from 6v to 5v.....

I see that I can use a resistor based "voltage divider circuit", but don't understand the algebra in order to determine the resistors required to drop the voltage from 6v to 5v?

Therefore can anyone with algebra skills determine what resistors I need to buy? (they need to be of equal value to achieve half the voltage)

Many Thanks!

Impedance_voltage_divider.jpg

formula for voltage divider circuit.jpg
 
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Feb 9, 2019 at 9:21 PM Post #3 of 4
Application Dont’s
As tempting as it may be to use a voltage divider to step down, say, a 12V power supply to 5V, voltage dividers should not be used to supply power to a load.

Any current that the load requires is also going to have to run through R1. The current and voltage across R1 produce power, which is dissipated in the form of heat. If that power exceeds the rating of the resistor (usually between ⅛W and 1W), the heat begins to become a major problem, potentially melting the poor resistor.

That doesn’t even mention how inefficient a voltage-divider-power-supply would be. Basically, don’t use a voltage divider as a voltage supply for anything that requires even a modest amount of power. If you need to drop down a voltage to use it as a power supply, look into voltage regulators or switching supplies.
 

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