i used a D24V10F5 5V voltage regulator to power a camera via a 4S lipo battery.
This worked fine for about 10 lipo cycles.
As i plugged in the lipo for another time i noticed the camera not working and the voltage regulator getting very, very hot.
Checked the voltage regulator with a multimeter and it showed full 4S power (vbat) on the output.
So the voltage regulator spontaneously and instantly died without any warning or sign of damage taking the camera with it.
The only reason i can think of apart from manufacturing defect is voltage spikes on plug in.
But then again the product page says “2 ms soft-start reduces in-rush current on power-up” and “Over-current and short-circuit protection, over-temperature shutoff”.
So it rather was a manufacturing defect.
Be careful when powering expensive components with “cheap” ones.
Even though pololu components are not even cheap.
And watch out for voltage spikes with this voltage regulator!
I am sorry to hear that your regulator and camera were damaged. If the regulator died when you plugged it in, it could have been an LC spike like mentioned at the bottom of the D24V10F5 product page, though I wouldn’t normally be too worried about spikes from a 4s LiPo unless there are other things connected to it or the power leads a long. If you are interested in troubleshooting, I would be happy to take a look at your setup. If so, please post pictures and more details.
Unfortunately, the soft-start feature of the regulator does not really provide protection against LC spikes since it slows the rise of the voltage on the regulator’s output rather than input. That is why we recommend adding an electrolytic capacitor across the regulators input in cases where LC spikes might be an issue. In addition, the regulator’s over-current, short-circuit, and over-temperature protections cannot help against LC spikes since damage from a fatal spike usually destroys the regulator’s internal logic circuits instantly.
using an electrolytic capacitor on input would’ve been a good idea i guess.
Sadly i did not think of that before (never used >3S with regs) or read the warning, maybe you can put that warning closer to the top of the page.
