Hy ... Is there any efficient and not too expensive way to generate the ~5V for the PIC and some other devices out of the 230V AC Voltage from the net? Using a 7805 and other linear regulators is IMHO much too inefficient ... I need about 2 - 150mA at 5V to drive my PIC 16c84 based IR-remote receiver that will run 24 hours a day ... I thought of switching regulators e.g. TOP210 but I don`t know where to get the transformer (TDR1) mentioned in the data sheet and the TOP210 itself, because I need only a few peaces for my project ... Does anyone know how efficient normal transformers (230V => e.g. 6V) with diode based rectifiers are? If it is high enough so that a DC/DC switching regulator like the LM2574-5.0 (only about 77% efficiency :-( ) could be used? This would be pretty easy, because the mentioned inductors are very easy to get ... PS. Does anyone know about audio preamplifiers with digital Volume control? Or is it better to use e.g. the TDA 1524 with digital potentiometers? PPS. Sorry for my bad english, but school is far away now ;-) -- CU. -|-\_ Internet: embo@bse.netestate.de -|+/ PGP key available on request