DigiTan
New Member
I'm working a miniature battery-powered project this summer and one of my biggest constraints is power consumption. Part of the circuit requires dropping the battery's 12 Volts down to a regulated 5 Volts to power a microcontroller. Since space is also a limit, I'm looking for the smallest (non-surface mount) 5-Volt regulator possible.
At first, I wanted to try a zener shunt regulator like the kind pictured here, but a friend of mine talked me out of this because of leakage currents, so I chose the LM2931 regulator instead. But, I'm still curious to know how big this zener leakage would have been.
What is the typical leakage current for these types of regulators when there is no load? Are there any good strategies I can use to limit it?
At first, I wanted to try a zener shunt regulator like the kind pictured here, but a friend of mine talked me out of this because of leakage currents, so I chose the LM2931 regulator instead. But, I'm still curious to know how big this zener leakage would have been.
What is the typical leakage current for these types of regulators when there is no load? Are there any good strategies I can use to limit it?