<div dir="ltr">Funny, I was just talking with a friend yesterday who was using a much more expensive pololu regulator. This may save him quite a bit of money since he sells the things.</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Jan 7, 2013 at 1:19 PM, Garrett Mace <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:garrettmace@gmail.com" target="_blank">garrettmace@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><div><div class="h5">
<div>On 1/7/2013 11:47 AM, Anders Nelson
wrote:<br>
</div>
</div></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><div class="h5">Hey all,
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<div>I found some awesome DC-DC non-isolated convertors on
Digikey, perhaps you can benefit from my toils in their search
fields. They are all really compact and handle a buttload of
current. Input and output voltage ranges vary, but these were
the cheapest and most available units I found.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>You may ask "Why would I pay ten bucks for a switching
convertor when I can pay fifty cents for an LDO?" The answer
is heat dissipation and efficiency. If you don't want to burn
people/things and/or literally reduce your battery life by
half (in the case of 12v -> 6v conversion), you should use
a switcher.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>-3A: <a href="http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/PT6304N/PT6304N-ND/278552" target="_blank">http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/PT6304N/PT6304N-ND/278552</a></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>-10A: <a href="http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/OKR-T%2F10-W12-C/811-2180-ND/2199630" target="_blank">http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/OKR-T%2F10-W12-C/811-2180-ND/2199630</a></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>-6A: <a href="http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/OKR-T%2F6-W12-C/811-2179-ND/2199629" target="_blank">http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/OKR-T%2F6-W12-C/811-2179-ND/2199629</a></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>-3A: <a href="http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/OKI-T%2F3-W32P-C/811-2287-1-ND/2708573" target="_blank">http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/OKI-T%2F3-W32P-C/811-2287-1-ND/2708573</a></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>And here are some enclosures sized well to protect them:</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><a href="http://www.boxenclosures.com/category/category_product.html?cats__id=612" target="_blank">http://www.boxenclosures.com/category/category_product.html?cats__id=612</a></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>You can, of course, build your own DC-DC convertor much
cheaper. But when you haven't the time these can save
your potato.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>=]</div>
<div>--<br>
Anders Nelson<br>
<br>
<a href="tel:%2B1%20%28517%29%20775-6129" value="+15177756129" target="_blank">+1 (517) 775-6129</a><br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.erogear.com" target="_blank">www.erogear.com</a></div>
</div>
<br>
<fieldset></fieldset>
<br>
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</blockquote>
<br>
Actually, these are a fairly good deal even compared to building one
yourself. In order to build one yourself (on the spur of the moment,
anyway) you're pretty much limited to DIP components, which means
chips like the LM2576 which are fairly low frequency and a few bucks
on their own. And due to the low switching frequency, you need a
pretty large external coil and capacitors. Overall, a self-built
DC-DC converter will end up several times larger and heavier than
these small DC-DC modules. I've used some of these as stopgap
measures, before getting time to redesign with an on-board
converter.<br>
<br>
--- Garrett<br>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre></pre>
</blockquote>
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