wuchy143
Member
Hi All,
Currently I have a board which has a 15.5 volt to 5V regulator(LM317M / To-220). I'm going to change it to a 15.5V to 3.3V output to change to a cheaper micro. I know that I can just populate the parts and see if the heatsink gets too hot for the part but I am not familiar with the calculations and would like a more theoretical approach.
I looked online to try and find ways of doing this but most examples require the current and currently I don't know that and am not sure what it'll be.
I thought about measuring the current(lifting a leg of the to-220 LM317) to see what the power dissipation currently is and maybe that would help me...
Anyone have a trick up their sleeve on this one? Or what would you do in this situation?
Currently I have a board which has a 15.5 volt to 5V regulator(LM317M / To-220). I'm going to change it to a 15.5V to 3.3V output to change to a cheaper micro. I know that I can just populate the parts and see if the heatsink gets too hot for the part but I am not familiar with the calculations and would like a more theoretical approach.
I looked online to try and find ways of doing this but most examples require the current and currently I don't know that and am not sure what it'll be.
I thought about measuring the current(lifting a leg of the to-220 LM317) to see what the power dissipation currently is and maybe that would help me...
Anyone have a trick up their sleeve on this one? Or what would you do in this situation?