Hi all.
Trying to fix my home made 12V power supply that uses a SCC 1813-0093 (SIX amperes TO-3 regulator from 1991 when I built it).
I obtained that regulator canibalizing something then and put it to use; has been great for 20 years. A power company surge/spike may have killed it yesterday.
Very well known for decades, with different current capabilities : 78L12; 78M12; 7812; 78T12; and now I found there is a 78H12
How many more types are there in the industry standard ?
Hmm, never took notice of that. At the top of each "section" where the title resides, that title itself is
a link to the active posts within that section. Learn "sumthin new" each day, huh?
On another unrelated sidenote: The names for the individual magazines in the masthead are still not
linked back to the respective websites (http://www.nutsvolts.com and http://www.servomagazine.com). Since they
are text, all it would take would be a quick href in the master file to fix. After all, wouldn't you like the
members here to be able to go to those sites easily?
As for those regulators... too many to even think about right now.
Per the side note: you probably hit one of the buttons at the top of the page "View New Posts" or "View Unread Posts" or "View your posts"
Those devices you listed are primarily the TO-220 package 1A versions. generally there are TO-3 versions with higher current or larger voltage drop (higher wattage)
LM317 is varaible and can be set in the 12V range, likewise LM337 for negative supplies
We use the LT338 or LT1038 is also a good choice.
Just search for LDO regulators on the web or at Digikey.com or mouser.com. those search tools will let you search by parameters too. There really are many devices in this class.
how about V7812-500, V7812-1000, R7812-0.5, 7812SR-C, V7812W-500, and the list goes on and on
Digikey lists 10 LDOs with 7812 in the part number and Mouser lists almost 100 devices with varying prefixes and suffixes. Even more come up when you start inserting the alphabet in between the 78 and the 12. I see a bunch of different packaging options and currents from 100mA to over 2A
Letters mean who knows what; as too many others that someone came with and never told. Probably invented by the same guy with clothes sizing S, M, L, XL,...
In my mind I relate them to amount of current capability, not to the package...
L is for Low; M is for Medium; no midfix is for the original standard 1Ampere; S for 'Super' ; T for 'top?'; H for Highest
Usually the letters in the middle refer to the semiconductor process used to manufacture them or to the fundimental transistor technology used. However sometimes they are just variants thrown into the part number by manufacturers to distinguish their part (and presumably process). Sometimes they translate into different specifications, sometimes not. Too many examples to even consider listing.
L often does mean Low in some parameter or another but the rest I wouldn't guess.
Prefixes usually denote the manufacturer but not always and suffixes denote options especially the package.
The only way to know is to read each datasheet and decode the numbers and summarize across multiple manufacturers. A pain in the neck and what I stopped short of doing.
I found some at alldatasheet.com. I was pointed there by google.com.
78L** 0.1 Amp TO-92 pkg
78M** 0.5 Amp TO-220 and SMT
78** 1 Amp TO-220
78H** 5 Amp TO-3-like pkg
78S** 2 Amp TO-3 TO220
78T** 3 Amp TO-220 (I found the Motorola mfg data sheet.)
I suppose 3 Amps is the most that they want to squeeze out of a TO-220 package. I didn't try the whole alphabet, but if you are interested, try punching in likely values like "78X**".
