Line and Load Regulation
The LM317 IC is a reliable regulator with typical line regulation of 0.01% and load regulation of 0.1%. It also has internal short-circuit current limiting and thermal overload protection.
Heat Dissipation
The circuit regulates voltage by turning all input/output difference into heat (effectively dissipating all the excess power). If it gets too hot it may damage the board or cause unexpected behaviour.Because of that, the boards operating range is defined by two factors.
- Maximum input voltage and current (should not exceed 20V/1A).
- Maximum wattage arising from current and I/O voltage difference (should not exceed 2W, measured as I x (Input V - Output V).
SPI Interface
The board also carries a MOSFET chip to toggle the output on and off. The VReg Click Board™ communicates with the target board MCU through the SPI interface (CS, SCK, MISO, MOSI). The board can use either a 3.3V or a 5V power supply. It is also possible to use the boards power supply as the Input, by resoldering the on-board INPUT SEL jumper.