Best A/C adapter to use with YBox2 - 3.3V regulator question

[brianez21]

The YBox2 uses a TO-220 3.3V voltage regulator. I noticed that mine gets very hot after only a few minutes of being powered on. I was wondering if this is because I am using the 9VDC regulated power supply (purchased from adafruit) and if using a lower voltage regulated power supply (5VDC) will have any noticeable heat reduction. Also, I looked in the datasheet and could not find a minimum voltage requirement to operate the regulator, only a maximum. Does anyone know what this might be?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[adafruit]

the 9V adapter is a tiny bit high but it is within the temperature range of the package (we tested it)
that said, if you have a 5V adapter - that would probably be way better.

[brianez21]

Okay, thanks for your input on this. The reason I was asking about the 5V adapter is because the silkscreen on the board says "6V" and I wanted to make sure 5V would not be too low.

You wouldn't happen to have a suggested place to buy a 5V or 6V DC power supply from?

[baobrien]

Be careful with the supply, though. I did something stupid and used a 12v router supply. The regulator got hot (obviously) , so I put a coin on it to act as a bit of a heatsink. The coin slipped, crossed the Vin and Vout, and blew up my propeller! I had another one lying around, and all of the other components still seemed to work, but be careful!

I'm now using a 5v recycled cell phone charger.

[brianez21]

From what I've read on the forums, the metal clip on the regulator in the ybox2 is connected to VDD and not ground, which makes it difficult to heatsink it to the case. I wonder if someone came up with a good heatsink idea for it. By the way, 12V is probably a bit too much.

[baobrien]

I found that out

[brianez21]

Oh, we all have at one point or another. It's always good to learn lessons on $10 components than to make mistakes on $100+ components I'm going to try the 5V adapter after I buy it (and wait for shipping, etc.), will probably report back here if anyone is interested but I fully expect it to work fine.

[bradk]

I use one of 6VDC @ 500mA Regulated Power Supply : MW41-650A. As there is a store close to me, I was able to easily pick one up.

It runs warm, but not hot-to-the-touch or OMG-keep-the-baby-away-from-it.

I really need to mount the thing into a box ...I just can't drill altoids boxes to save my soul ...

[brianez21]

Sorry it took so long for me to post back my results, but I just wanted to let you all know that a 5V/1A DC adapter from Polulu seems to be working great. The regulator stays completely cool to the touch!

[njbair]

I have one of those adjustable AC adapters with a whole set of plug tips. Works fine at 4.5V.