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Re: Power Supply using pt6302a

From: Doug Sutherland <>
Date:

Several people have sent me offline emails asking
how I connected my PT6302A regulator to my system.
I am sending this reply to list so it can make it 
into the archives ...

Patrick Bennet wrote:

> I believe you said you used a pt6302a ISR

Yes.

> The only problem is after reading various faqs 
> and tutorials on how to use the chip, I still 
> am confused, and unwilling to proceed as such, 
> not wanting to fry my new board...

Hookup is easy (see below). If you use a multimeter 
(voltmeter) to test the output voltage before hooking 
up to your board you shouldn't be concerned about 
frying anything. If you don't have a multimeter, get
one now and always use it whenever you add or change
power wiring.

> I have been told I need a 100 uf Resistor. 

No, it's a capacitor not resistor. According to the 
PT6302A data sheet it should be a 100uF Electrolytic
Capacitor. You can find these at Radio Shack or any 
electronics components shop. You can order both the 
PT6302A and 100uF capacitor in single quantity from
Digikey (http://www.digikey.com/)

> Is this all I need?

Yes. The only other parts I use are banana jacks for
hooking up the power source (highly recommended), and 
I also mount the regulator on "soldered breadboard" to 
make the wire connections easy and solid. Soldered 
breadboards are laid out like the plastic (temporary 
prototyping) breadboards but they are thin metal and 
are made to permanently solder components on the board. 
I use these for the regulator and for microcontroller
circuitry on my wearable. I highly recommend them.

> Steve Mann suggested being "paranoid" and adding 
> electrolytic capacitators and the works

According to the PT6302A datasheet the 100uF cap is
required, not optional. I noticed that Steve does a 
bunch of redundant connections, but these are not 
really necessary.

> but I'm looking for safe and simple...just enough.

All you need is the PT6302A and one 100uF electrolytic 
capacitor. Using the permanent (soldered) breadboard 
material makes soldering wires much easier since you 
solder onto the board instead of onto the regulator 
pins. Banana jacks have proved to be reliable for 
connecting power sources to the system.

> How can I determined exactly what I need to do to 
> get my 5v @ 1.5a avg for my 5822 using this chip

The regulator will produce the 5 volts, but it has 
nothing to do with the current draw, that depends 
on what other peripherals are attached and how much
load is on the CPU etc. Keep in mind that the 1.5A
average is for the CPU board only, your total amount
will be a lot more when you add on the HDD and other
peripherals.

> Whatever specifics you can provide me would be 
> greatly appreciated

First take a look at the PT6302 data sheet at 
http://www-s.ti.com/sc/psheets/slts031b/slts031b.pdf

You will see the following pinouts in the data sheet:

  1) Inhibit
  2) Vin
  3) Vin
  4) Vin
  5) GND
  6) GND
  7) GND
  8) GND
  9) Vout
 10) Vout
 11) Vout
 12) VoutAdj 

You are only concerned with the Vin, GND, and Vout 
pins. Ignore the Inhibit and VoutAdj pins because 
they are for adjusting the voltage to something 
other than 5 volts. You will notice that there are 
multiple pins for each of Vin, GND, and Vout. You 
only need to connect to one of each of these, but 
it won't hurt to attach to all of them (like Steve
recommends). On my system I am only connecting to 
one of each of these.

Take a look at the "standard application" schematic
on the PT6302A data sheet. Since you only need 5 volt 
output (not adjustable voltages) you should ignore 
the VoutAdj, INH, and Q3 parts in the diagram. The 
diagram also shows an optional 1uF capacitor between 
Vin and COM (ground) but I am not using this. 

If you ignore these parts that are not applicable 
for 5 volt only operation, you will see that there 
isn't much to hooking this up:

1) The positive lead from your power source (Vin)
   connects to any of the Vin pins (2,3,4) on the 
   PT6302A regulator.

2) The negative lead from your power source (COM)
   connects to any of the COM pins (5,6,7,8) on 
   the PT6302A regulator, and also passes directly 
   to the board as the ground lead.

3) You will see that the schematic shows item C2
   (100uF electrolytic capacitor) connecting between
   the Vout pins (9,10,11) and COM (ground) signals.
   The positive lead on the capacitor (always the 
   longer of the two leads) connects to Vout and the 
   negative (shorter) lead connects to COM (ground).

4) Before you attach the CPU board, test the output 
   voltage with a voltmeter. The red (positive) probe
   on the voltmeter connects to Vout and the black 
   (negative) probe connects to COM (ground). It 
   should read within +/- 0.05 of 5 volts.

5) If you are getting 5 volts, you are done, just 
   connect the Vout and common to your board. Don't 
   ever skip step number 4!

> I also wanted the ability to run from a power outlet
> (I don't need charging however), I don't believe that 
> the pt6302a can handle this voltage, can it?

No! The PT603A is 9-30 volts DC input with 5 volt DC
output. It is NOT and AC/DC adapter. What you need is 
an AC/DC adapter to plug into the PT6302A.

> If not...what would you suggest? Do I need to make a
> whole nother power supply?

Don't make one, just buy an off-the-shelf AC/DC adapter.
Note that you need high amperage (approx 2.5 amps), most 
of the adapters you will see on the shelf aren't anywhere 
near high enough amperage (most are 300 or 500 or 800 mA). 
I am using a 2.5 amp 12 volt AC/DC adapter. I got mine 
from EMJ embedded who sourced it from Parvus. But there 
are many other sources for these. I chopped off the plug
on the adapter and replaced it with banana jacks. Make 
sure you do the voltmeter test before attaching! I have 
multiple adapters so I can have one at home and at work
or wherever and just plug in the wearable. The AC/DC
adapters are cheap.

The other thing I did was buy a cigarette lighter plug 
with cable from Radio shack and put banana jacks on the 
end so I can run from my auto power system. You don't 
need (or want) a cigarette lighter cord with a power 
adapter, just the plug and wire. Your vehicle power 
system is already acceptable voltage and amperage to 
hook directly up to the PT6302A regulator.

> I'm very anxious to have all the parts I need so I
> can play with it over Christmas...

If you order the PT6302A and 100uF capacitor from 
Digikey you should have it within a couple of days. 
Try to find some permanent breadboard material (I 
got mine at Fry's electronics), some banana plugs
and jacks, and a cigarette lighter plug with cord 
(got mine at Radio Shack). If you don't have a 
multimeter (or voltmeter) now is the time ... 

Happy Wearing
Doug

------------------------------------------------------------
  Grow your own Wearables: http://wearables.los-gatos.net
 What I'd like is to have you call me and my jacket answers
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