Electronic – VREG output circuitry

power supply

I am making a PCB and I want the ability to have multiple power sources for it. One is a DC barrel jack and another is a transformer/rectifier.

In the past I would use jumpers to allow one power circuit to be totally disconnected while the other connects, or vice versa. I'm wondering if this is necessary though because I will need to break up some power planes and have less optimal routing on my current design to accomplish this.

My board has a separate regulator for each power source. I would like to have the outputs of each regulator tied together and have either one or the other power the circuit. Is it bad for a simple linear regulator or LDO to have voltage present at its output while the regulator input is left floating/disconnected?

I have seen some other designs use Schottky diodes in series with the outputs, but I'd rather not lose the 0.3V after the regulator output.

I will never have a situation where it is powered by both sources at once, so one regulator will always be off (its input floating). Is it bad to tie the regulator outputs together in this situation or should I use jumpers to totally isolate them from each other?

Edit: Initial searches only led to discussions of paralleling regulators for increased current, but I recently saw this post:
Can the outputs of 3 different voltage regulators be tied together?

It has been stated in that thread that the regulators could be damaged, but not much explanation why.

Thanks in advance,
Pansy

Best Answer

Your architecture doesn't make sense from what you are saying. Combine the two power sources before the regulator, not after. The transformer with full wave rectifier already can't be back-driven due to the diodes. All you need is a Schottky diode in series with the DC barrel connector. That's a good idea anyway to avoid damage when someone plugs in a wall wart with different polarity.

Combine the output of these two power sources right there. Now you only need a single regulator, which gets around the awkward combining of the power after it's already at the final voltage. If the wall wart and transformer output voltages vary a lot, use a switching buck converter. Those can remain efficient over a much wider input voltage range. If you really need extra clean linearly regulated final voltage, have the switcher make a few 100 mV more than what you need and use LDOs at the point of use.