I want to make my own thermostat with a small micro.
I'm trying to figure the most efficient way to go from 24VAC to 5VDC to drive a microcontroller.
I understand the basics of the bridge rectifier with a leveling cap and a regulator like a 7805 or so, but that is a major amount of power to regulate down, even at low current.
I searched the forum and only found this:
http://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/showthread.php?t=17963&highlight=24vac+5vdc&page=1
which was reading a value, not driving a voltage input.
I saw this, but wasn't sure if it would be a good fit: http://www.mouser.com/new/texasinstruments/nsclm257x/
Since size is an issue (don't want a huge thing on the wall), I want to avoid a step down transformer, unless there's a common one that is small enough.
Any suggestions?
Some research talks of a "buck" regulator, but I don't know enough about them.
I'm trying to figure the most efficient way to go from 24VAC to 5VDC to drive a microcontroller.
I understand the basics of the bridge rectifier with a leveling cap and a regulator like a 7805 or so, but that is a major amount of power to regulate down, even at low current.
I searched the forum and only found this:
http://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/showthread.php?t=17963&highlight=24vac+5vdc&page=1
which was reading a value, not driving a voltage input.
I saw this, but wasn't sure if it would be a good fit: http://www.mouser.com/new/texasinstruments/nsclm257x/
Since size is an issue (don't want a huge thing on the wall), I want to avoid a step down transformer, unless there's a common one that is small enough.
Any suggestions?
Some research talks of a "buck" regulator, but I don't know enough about them.
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