If you want really low power, the Iq of a switching regulator can still be too high. I've used the MC78LC50 (yes, 50, not 05, also 40 and 33) from Motorola in the past. It has an Iq of 1uA. Hard to beat that. I tried to download the data sheet again, but Motorola site doesn't seem to have it. Can still buy them though. Otherwise I see microchip has released the MCP1700 range, with 1.6uA quiescent current. Regards Roland MC78LC33HT1 At 07:50 AM 16/03/2004 -0500, you wrote: >> Not stupid in the least. In fact a lot of novices brag about using low power >> parts with a battery. But further into the discussion you realize that they >> are using a linear regulator that's sucking down almost half the battery's >> power. > >So which are the better regulators to use? As a non EE I generally stick >to what I know, and I have used the 78l05 in my project, but if that's >not the best (and it strongly sounds like it) I would like to educate >myself in the better devices. > >The thing I like with the 'l05 is that it works great with a handful of >caps, in a 'cookbook' solution, if I want 12v just use the 'l12. Are >there other devices with similar recipe solutions, I'd like something >that's in the manner of do this, do that and feed volts in here and get >smooth volts out there. > >I don't really need the recipe as I realize the datasheets are out >there, but which datasheets should I read and why. > >Thanks >-- >Anthony Toft > >-- >http://www.piclist.com hint: To leave the PICList >mailto:piclist-unsubscribe-request@mitvma.mit.edu > Regards Roland Jollivet JeM Electric cc PO Box 1460 Kloof 3640 Kwazulu Natal South Africa Tel: +27 31 7024412 Fax: +27 31 7011674 Cell: +27 83 255 6017 Email: enquiries@caon.co.za -- http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads