# What am I doing wrong with this voltage regulator?

I have this to try to get a regulated -15V DC:

simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab

But my 7915 outputs a (positive) low voltage in the 1-3V region.

I've checked the input voltages and they are good. I've tried two 7915s and they operate the same way. I've tried a higher input voltage and get the same behavior.

Datasheet excerpt:

What am I doing wrong?

Update: pics (the 7915 is the reg on the right)

• Strange that you measured positive voltage. Do you have a picture of your setup? Have you triple checked pinout? What's the voltage at the input of the regulator? – Andrés Sep 30 '17 at 10:00
• –38VDC at the input when powered by 24V AC; -18V when powered by 12V AC – buildsucceeded Sep 30 '17 at 10:10
• Check datasheet for minimum load requirement. – user133493 Sep 30 '17 at 10:12
• @next-hack: I was addressing the failed measurement in general, whether he was measuring with the leads reversed is up to him to say not for us to guess. Minimum load requirement is a typical attribute of voltage regulators and varies from device to device. If the device is insufficiently loaded, it won't regulate. He hasn't linked the datasheet for his device so we can't say for sure. Implying that the internal resistors act as a sufficient load is nonsense. Read some datasheets. You are assuming all 7915s of all generations from all manufacturers are equal in this regard. That is untrue. – user133493 Sep 30 '17 at 11:41
• Don't insult people, it only makes you look bad. The OP posted a schematic without a load so I posted a comment - not an answer - about the load's importance. That should not be controversial. You are jumping to conclusions about how the OP made his measurements, just wait for clarification. You need to understand that an insufficiently loaded regulator can oscillate. Don't look for the words "minimum load" in the datasheet, look for the minimum current at which the device is specified. An insufficient load means the device is being used out of spec. – user133493 Sep 30 '17 at 12:00

Therefore you're measuring $V_{OUT}-V_{IN}$, which is about $-15\ V-(-18\ V) = 3\ V$.