Jinx wrote:
>
> > 85na watts for each diode. It is not lossless but at the
> > currents involved it will probably be negletable
>
> However in this case, the losses from the dropping
> diodes are the same as the circuit consumes, so 50%
> of the battery's power is gone as heat
>
> That would be true for any supply that's reduced to half
> by diodes. Perhaps not important for mains-powered
> supplies, but a definite consideration for low voltage, ultra-
> low power battery circuits


Maybe you should be thinking cost per mWh
more than being concerned with waste? Or even
simpler, if you can be sure of a few years use
before failure, it becomes an issue of total
manufacturing cost. I don't think all that
heat from the "wasted" nW is going to annoy
your user too much. ;o)
-Roman

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