HOW to make a 6 volt voltage regulator!

[nd4spdbh]

OK i was sort of pissed when i found out that my Lrp runner (ITS A POS) only put out 4.8 volts soo i started thinking. I looked around at Mpi voltage regs. and was not impressed with the price. Then yesterday i was looking around at radioshack and i found a 5 volt 'fixed voltage' regulator. and i was screaming in my head VOLTAGE REGULATORS ARE NOT FIXED YOU CAN CHANGE VOLTAGES. N e ways i got home and i was like DOH i could use that to make a 6 volt regulator for my hitec 645mg.

OK now on the HOW TO.
Intro:
OK i will be explaing how to build a 6 volt regulator. it actually will come out to be about 5.83 + - .07 volts. One little unit will have a current of 1 amp. this may not seem much but you can line 2 or 3 or as many as you want in a parallel format to get the more amperage. ( this will be explained later). One unit will cost 5.36 without tax! alot cheaper than 30 bucks for a Mpi reg pluss you will have parts left over to make more!

NOTE: i would recomend a heatsink ( even if its just a little piece of metal ) if you are going to encase your regulator in something like i did:




Materials:

+5V Fixed-Voltage Regulator 7805

22 ohm 1/2W 5% Carbon Film Resistor pk/5

150 ohm 1/2W 5% Carbon Film Resistor pk/5

Dual Mini Board

Also you will need some wire and connectors for you servo wires unless you are willing to solder them right on. And of course you will need a soldering iron, solder, pliers... the necessary tools for electronics working.

Procedure:
OK now that you have got the materials its on to building.

Ok you need to kno what the legs on the regulator do. so if you set the regulator Flat side down from left to right it goes: IN Ground OUT

So like this:


Now wire it up like this:


MAKE SURE YOU GET ALL CONNECTIONS RIGHT!!. Then test it with voltage meter just to make sure its at or under 6 volts.

NOTE: if you plug it into you battery and it gets excessivly hot UN PLUG IT !!!


Now for thoes ppl who want to kno how to wire in parallel
Do this.



... Upping the voltage on ur servos works wonders... JUST DONT OVER VOLT THEM!!!! NOTHING OVER 6 volts PERIOD!... He he my hitec 645mg acts like its on sterioid compared to 4.8 volts. I hope this helps ever one... if you have n e questions reply to this post!


Here is my voltage regulator: It doesnt get all that hot after runnin for an hour it just get a little luke warm!

[romeo26]

kool but i dont get it!!!
where do you plug in the servo??
can you show a pic of the servo and bat pluged in?
looks like the place you plug in the servo has only the neg and positive on it! am i correct?
so you plug in the other wire to the other hole and conect it to the recever right?

[nd4spdbh]

OH ok let me make anoter diagram of how to plug ur servo in.


You actually have 2 connectors for the servo.. one just the signal wire going to the reciever and the 2 others + comming from regulator and - from bat.

[kennydow]

hey that solves my problem.
question: what did you incase yours in?

[krawlr]

Just so ya know the 78xx series fixed voltage regs are available in a 6Volt version. The last 2 digits denote the voltage output, as in 7806= a +6Volt reg. http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...artnumber=7806

They call for a couple caps too. RS used to put that info on the packaging. But the battery DC may be clean enough to go without them.

Thyere's a 79xx series the does it on the neg. side too. But no use to us.

Oh yea, these devices are rated at 1amp with a heatsink. But I'm pretty sure they self protect and shut down before they burn up.

[nd4spdbh]

Well c these 7806 regulators arent as readily available as a 7805.

PLUSS the 7806 has to have a voltage above 8 volts for it even to work where as the 7805 only needs 7.... a 6 cell battery is only above 8 volts for a little of its decharge time. ALSO the capaictators that you have to use are alot bigger than a couple of resistors!

I encased my regulator in hot glue... nice and shock resistant.

and yes i kno the thing about the end numbers...

[Brute_Crawler]

this is awsome, ty. its so simple. i'm making a crap load of em today.

[nd4spdbh]

ha ha really for what servos and how many. and not a problem

[Brute_Crawler]

Originally Posted by nd4spdbh

ha ha really for what servos and how many. and not a problem

i have some experience with electronics, but have never made my own voltage reg before, i have many projects i's like to use these for... and adjustable, this i must experiment with.

i want to make one with multiple regs in parallel and some heat sinks so that i can make a heavy duty one for a future crawler i'm planing, it will have many high torque servos(4 wheel indepentend brakes)

[nd4spdbh]

Hey i did some calculations and i came up with some voltage sligtly higher than 5.83... here is what you could to (CALCULATIONS AREnt EXACT +- .1 volts due to the fact that resistors have a 5%+ tollarence)

AND I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGHT USE A VOLT METER TO MEASURE!!!

IN place of 22ohm......in place of 150 ohm.....output voltage
22ohm........................150ohm............... ........5.83 volts
47ohm........................330ohm............... ........5.947 volts
47ohm........................270ohm............... ........6.105 volts--------TEST WITH METER MAY BE LOWER THAN 6 VOLTS
68ohm........................470ohm............... ........6.063 volts--------TEST WITH METER MAY BE LOWER THAN 6 VOLTS
68ohm........................560ohm............... ........5.947 volts


YOU can also put the resistors in a series to get more resistance. like this


SOOO
IN place of 22ohm......in place of 150 ohm.....output voltage
10ohm+33ohm...........270ohm...................... .6.011 Volts--------TEST WITH METER MAY BE LOWER THAN 6 VOLTS
10ohm+15ohm...........220ohm...................... .5.97 volts


BE CREATIVE....

[nd4spdbh]

thats pretty cool brute crawler

[chafey]

why bother when you can run straight battery voltage to the servos? more speed and torque with alot less hassle.

[egdinger]

Because most servo's will burn up if you run them on 7.2 volts.

[nd4spdbh]

UMMMM one of the best servos out there the 5995tg is only rated for 7 volts... a fully charged 6 cell pack puts out in upwards of 8.3 volts!!!! most normal people run servos that can only handle up to 6 volts.... u want to fry ur servos go ahead!

I guess you dont actually read the specs on the servos that ur runnin!

HEY chafey what servos are you running!!!

[JamisonWorkshop]

Believe me after one of the resistors in my CS80 1/4 scale came unsoldered from the heat of full battery voltage last night. I am running to radio shack today to pick up parts to make a few of these.

Burning them up is better than stripping gears, but still not fun. Thanks for the info.

[nd4spdbh]

Not a problem

[JamisonWorkshop]

Seeing the specs of the CS-80 I am running has a no load 700ma. and my Novak having a BEC of 3 amps, and these allowing 1 amp continuous.

My esc can power one no problem. Do you think 1amp will be enough for 1 servo or go ahead and parallel 2 of them. Like to get away with just one for space sake.

[nd4spdbh]

u could mabey run one just watch the heat... make sure you put a heatsink on it.. but why are u even making one of these? if your ESC puts out 3 amps (if its a super rooster it puts out 6 volts) you dont even need one of these...

[JamisonWorkshop]

Cant handle 2 1/4 scale servos. Was shutting down with no reciever pack.

[chafey]

hitec 645, 5995tg and jr z650 with no problems.