nzoomed
Member
Im wanting to build a lab power supply using a variac to control the voltage going into a stepdown transformer to give me the option of variable AC voltage in addition to DC fed through a rectifier.
I will probably have 50V on the secondary or something near enough from the UPS transformers i have floating around.
I dont know if this is the most practical means of building a lab power supply, but I dont really want to go down the path of using an LM317 which dissipates alot of heat.
I would want to also add current regulation, so dont know how you would go about doing this by means of a variac.
Am I better using a switching regulator? I like the idea of building a variable voltage power supply and a variac makes it easy for AC power especially.
If i want lets say 0-50V and current limiting, with the ability to change between AC and DC, whats the best option?
TIA
I will probably have 50V on the secondary or something near enough from the UPS transformers i have floating around.
I dont know if this is the most practical means of building a lab power supply, but I dont really want to go down the path of using an LM317 which dissipates alot of heat.
I would want to also add current regulation, so dont know how you would go about doing this by means of a variac.
Am I better using a switching regulator? I like the idea of building a variable voltage power supply and a variac makes it easy for AC power especially.
If i want lets say 0-50V and current limiting, with the ability to change between AC and DC, whats the best option?
TIA