What is the smallest cheap AC (110v) to DC convertor available for Arduino. I want this to be embeddable in a box along with Arduino without taking more space.
Thanks in advance
2 Answers
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The smallest might well be a cellphone charger such as this one:
From this site
You can either embed the entire charger into your enclosure, or if you are comfortable and qualified for working with mains voltages, extract the actual charger circuitry inside and embed that.
Such chargers typically output 5 Volts DC with line isolation, so the output can be used to directly drive the Vin line of the Arduino board, rather than going through the 7-12 Volt DC input and the on-board regulator.
answered Mar 5, 2013 at 7:48
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\$\begingroup\$ With such gadgets, first check whether they really output 5V, especially under light loads. I have openeded some that were small SMPSes with no feedback at all. Probably no problem when you are charging (with the charging intelligence in the phone), but potentially lethal for a microcontroller. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Mar 5, 2013 at 8:04
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You need Transformer less power supplies. Which are Smallest in size and perfect for this kind of application where space and unit cost is more important. For a detail description you should check this Microchip's Application note on Transformerless Power Supplies. Hope it helps
answered Mar 5, 2013 at 8:01
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\$\begingroup\$ These kind of transformerless power supplies can't deliver much power. Might not be enough for an Arduino. \$\endgroup\$– m.AlinCommented Mar 5, 2013 at 8:08
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\$\begingroup\$ capacitive transformer less power supplies can provide enough current to drive microcontrollers. One example is in this application note provided by Atmel. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Mar 5, 2013 at 8:22