Electronic – Can you provide a short circuit protection circuit to use with a regulator

short-circuitvoltage-regulator

I recently shorted my AMS1117 voltage regulator while probing on a DSO. It blew off. I am wondering, is there a short circuit protection circuit which I can use with any configuration voltage regulator.

Best Answer

There are load switches that monitor the current flow. If the current exceeds a maximum for example due to a short the current get limited. If this situation persists, the load monitor will shut down and preventing any further harm.

One example of such a chip is the FPF2123 from Fairchild which I like a lot.

On the other hand the AMS1117 that you've used has internal short circuit protection, so even if you short the output the AMS1117 should be fine.

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