evandude
New Member
I am doing a simple battery-backup system for the computer in my car. in other words, a schottky diode feeding the input, with a small lead-acid battery powering it. It only has to survive the few seconds of engine cranking.
Anyway, since the computer draws up to 2 amps, I can't run just one shottky. Also, the forward voltage increases with current, and I know that the computer needs as high a voltage input as possible, so less forward voltage is better. So I was planning to run several of them in parallel, to minimize current and thus forward voltage.
I know that people usually advise not running diodes in parallel, in case one passes too much current and blows up thus straining the rest.
Do you think I can get away with it? and how many diodes should I use? I have 10, I was thinking of using 5 in parallel.
I know i can buy schottkys rated at much higher currents from digikey/etc... but I don't really want to spend $10+ for shipping/handling on one or two diodes. i got these from glitchbuster for under 5 bucks.
Anyway, since the computer draws up to 2 amps, I can't run just one shottky. Also, the forward voltage increases with current, and I know that the computer needs as high a voltage input as possible, so less forward voltage is better. So I was planning to run several of them in parallel, to minimize current and thus forward voltage.
I know that people usually advise not running diodes in parallel, in case one passes too much current and blows up thus straining the rest.
Do you think I can get away with it? and how many diodes should I use? I have 10, I was thinking of using 5 in parallel.
I know i can buy schottkys rated at much higher currents from digikey/etc... but I don't really want to spend $10+ for shipping/handling on one or two diodes. i got these from glitchbuster for under 5 bucks.