Help with 5200's Voltage Regulators

[thomas3120]

Hi,

I'm Installing the 5200 UAV mod and a few other things.

One is I purchased (x2) 3Amp (adjustable) switching voltage regulators from dimension engineering.  (They have the typical 5V switching ones but are 1Amp.)

Here is the product page:

https://www.dimensionengineering.com/products/de-swadj3

The oem ones on the 5200 I believe were 1.2A or 1.5A.

The Ones I got (3Amp vers) I can dial them to get the 5v np.

I was wondering If:

- I could just use one of the 3A switching voltage regulators (joining together the inputs, outputs & GND's)

- If the above won't work I can use 2 of them...

- Should I be seeing 5v when installed powering the M/B components (and not a sum of 2 voltage regulators, say 10v?)

Most of the time it's 5v but since the 5200 has 2 just wondering what to look out for. I'm guessing it's a need for more amps but same 5V...

 

BTW, It's a 2 port 5200 & a new power supply I got from Best Electronics.

thanks 

 

t

Edited December 15, 2021 by thomas3120

[+x=usr(1536)]

12 hours ago, thomas3120 said:

One is I purchased (x2) 3Amp (adjustable) switching voltage regulators from dimension engineering.  (They have the typical 5V switching ones but are 1Amp.)

Just curious: what led you to believe that these should be used?

 

Running modern 2A 7805s will work fine, as will using a generic 12V, 3A switching power supply.  This is the tack I've taken with mine (also a 2-port) and it works great.

 

Be aware that the markings on the silkscreen indicating which legs of the VR go where are wrong.  As long as your VRs are the correct type and are mounted to the PCB with their backs toward each other, you'll be OK.

 

I realise that this isn't immediately-helpful, but it seems as though you're going down an unnecessary path with the switching VRs.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

I've got 2 Tracos installed into my 5200. Kinda nice to have that space opened up without the heatsinks in the way and no heat from the console in that portion anymore.

 

But.. what you need to know is that each of the VRs essentially handles half the system operations more or less. It was likely cheaper and easier to design the 5200 around a pair of 7805s vs what was available back then. So from what you are suggesting, as long as the VR you install can provide up to at least 1.5A output you should be okay with this. And yes, basically just run the +5 output from one of them to the +5 output of the other to power both rails in the system. If you never plan to use a VCS adapter (And you likely won't be able to since you are installing the UAV), then 1A is likely more then enough as my testing with my bench supply has shown that the 5200 by itself only takes a little over 700mA. Using a switching regulator will likely reduce that by nearly half.

 

[+x=usr(1536)]

32 minutes ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

I've got 2 Tracos installed into my 5200. Kinda nice to have that space opened up without the heatsinks in the way and no heat from the console in that portion anymore.

Good points.  The modern 7805s are a lot cooler than the ones I took out, but, yeah, the extra real estate is definitely a plus and any heat out is good heat out.

[thomas3120]

13 hours ago, x=usr(1536) said:

Just curious: what led you to believe that these should be used?

 

Running modern 2A 7805s will work fine, as will using a generic 12V, 3A switching power supply.  This is the tack I've taken with mine (also a 2-port) and it works great.

 

Be aware that the markings on the silkscreen indicating which legs of the VR go where are wrong.  As long as your VRs are the correct type and are mounted to the PCB with their backs toward each other, you'll be OK.

 

I realise that this isn't immediately-helpful, but it seems as though you're going down an unnecessary path with the switching VRs.

They (can be up to) 96% more efficient than the linear voltage regulator such as the 7805's.  They don't get as hot, no need for big heat sinks.

From the site:

"It can process 3A of current, typical ripple is 25mV and under ideal circumstances the regulator can be up to 96% efficient."

It may have less 'noise'.  I've even used them just to power some UAV mod boards.

 

BTW, thanks for the heads up on the In & Out pins did not know!! ?

 

t

Edited December 16, 2021 by thomas3120

[+-^CrossBow^-]

9 hours ago, thomas3120 said:

It may have less 'noise'.  I've even used them just to power some UAV mod boards.

If you are already adding these in specifically to power the UAV (Which doesn't need much power btw), then why not just replace the original VR in the first place and be done with it? That is what I do with 7800s is to replace the original 7805s with 2A output variants to ensure there is enough power. With a UAV in place a stock 7800 with a pokey game only requires 720 - 750mA of current according to my bench supply. So even just a 1A output 7805 is enough to handle it with ease. 

 

But for those clients that want the works done, then I replace out the 7805 with a Traco 2-2450. I was using the 1-2450 but many of them required a +12 input voltage to kick into 5v output mode properly. Found this the hard way when the dragonfly cart was released. So I've since switched to only using the 2-2450 as those will operate on as little as 7v input.