Electronic – Switching Regulator

pcb-designswitching-regulatorvoltage-regulator

I am fairly new to tinkering with electronics and wanted to ask for some help.

I am undertaking a small project where I have approximately 20V input into a PCB and want a 5V rail as well as a 3.3V rail with a maximum of 100mA per rail. I want the ability to turn off the 5V rail when the battery supply gets low. I want to use a pure switching regulator with an enable pin where, using a microcontroller, I can use the enable to signal the regulator to shut off the 5V rail. I also want high efficiency. Any tips on how to get started?

I have been researching a lot, but don't really know where to start. Any tips or guideline would be greatly appreciated.

Best Answer

Designing switching regulator is not trivial task, especially if efficiency is important.

If you want to achieve your goal fast and cheap, I would suggest to you to buy already available modules, that are able to step down voltages to 5 and 3,3V. You can order such modules with maximum current of 300mA for around 50cents.

You can focus on circut for battery voltage detection. Simple voltage divider on base of NPN transistor, which will cut off power to step down module would be simplest solution. For more complex/efficient ways to cut off power to module, consult Mr. Google, he has plenty of knowledge on this topic. For example this is one of fancy solutions.