Load Balancing.

[cjdelphi]

lately I've been thinking of wiring up several regulators so I've been searching for circuits..

using this attached circuit, what keeps 1 regulator from working harder than the other?

is it a result of the 2 diodes and their vf drop? or is it due to the large capacitor(s)?

I'm just not sure how the diode/cap solves the load balancing problem... ?

 

[BobK]

That circuit pretty much guarantees unequal sharing. The regulator with the higher voltage will supply most of the current.

Bob

 

[BobK]

Here is the proof. V1 is fixed at 10V, V2 is varied from 9.9 to 10.1V. Notice that at 100mV difference, about 80% of the current is supplied by the higher voltage supply.

 

[cjdelphi]

I agree ... but that does not explain the 15,000uf (as indicated by the circuit)

maybe that was a circuit NOT to use?