I have a 2.5 - 7 volt power input to a device but in testing the device on a bench top power supply it starts to freak out at about 2.7 volts. So I am looking for a circuit design that would completely disconnect the power to the device if the voltage drops below 3 volts and reconnect the power to the device if the voltage goes back above 3 volts. Also it has to be tiny and light for my application. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
A circuit that applies and cuts off power to a load must have a maximum current rating. You forgot to say how much current the load uses.
A comparator or opamp can be used as the 3V sensor. A voltage reference is also needed. An LM10 opamp/adjustable voltage reference works from a supply as low as 1.1V and can be the sensor. If the load current is more than 20mA then the LM10 can drive a power transistor to do the switching.
If your circuit uses a PIC MCU then you may want to look into the brown out detection which is built in. Atmel or other MCUs may also have a similar feature.
3 volt "cutoff" circuit
Posted - Sep 28 2009 : 11:03:36 AM
