What's your favorite default power supply voltages?

Thread Starter

Wendy

Joined Mar 24, 2008
23,415
Anyone who knows me knows that I like to stir a little bit in a good sort of way. My go to power supply voltage is usually 12 volts DC, 5 volts is also very common only because it is so available. When I was going through electronic school the teacher like to use ±15 VDC ( for opamps). And of course there is always 9 volts DC because of the batteries. 12 volts DC does not lend itself well to batteries IMO because it takes qty 8 1½ Volt batteries to make 12 volts. There are 12 Volt batteries but they are expensive and hard to get. Nor are they convenient, for most projects SLA batteries are not appropriate.

So what is your go to PS voltage, battery or not?
Discuss.
 
Last edited:

MaxHeadRoom

Joined Jul 18, 2013
28,619
I don't have a favourite, depends on the application!
But commonly it is 5vdc 12vdc 24vdc.
for a economical (re-chargeable) 12vdc batteries I use SLA (sealed Lead acid) small one quite reasonable from Amazon under $20.00 UB1270.
You only buy it once!! ;)
 
Last edited:

ElectricSpidey

Joined Dec 2, 2017
2,758
I don't have a favorite supply voltage, in fact I find that notion kind of silly.

But over the years I have found 12 VDC to be the most versatile and most of my projects have been 12 VDC, with the exception of when a SLA battery needs to be kept on a trickle charge, then 13.8 VDC is preferred.

Lately I've been getting into using micros and so of course 5 VDC is now becoming an option, but only one of my micro projects are 5 VDC and the rest are still 12 VDC.
 

Thread Starter

Wendy

Joined Mar 24, 2008
23,415
I don't have a favorite supply voltage, in fact I find that notion kind of silly.

But over the years I have found 12 VDC to be the most versatile and most of my projects have been 12 VDC, with the exception of when a SLA battery needs to be kept on a trickle charge, then 13.8 VDC is preferred.

Lately I've been getting into using micros and so of course 5 VDC is now becoming an option, but only one of my micro projects are 5 VDC and the rest are still 12 VDC.
I believe everyone has a bias as to what they use, be it a specific chip for a specific application or a voltage they use for logic. For example I was raised on TTL logic , but I prefer CMOS logic for obvious reasons. There are applications or a dual 1548 opamp works just fine and I picked them because of cost and availability. Even a 741 poor op amp that it is has its uses.

I have basically switched over to rechargeable batteries if you do an online search on Amazon they're getting quite common and fairly reasonably priced. There are even some 9 Volt rechargeables that look pretty decent.
 
Last edited:

MaxHeadRoom

Joined Jul 18, 2013
28,619
Bias: Prejudice in favor for or against one thing.
Well I certainly would not call my needs prejudicial, they are based entirely on the project I may be working on, many times customizing toroidal transformers to suit some odd ball or not common requirements.
 

dl324

Joined Mar 30, 2015
16,846
For example I was raised on TTL logic , but I prefer CMOS logic for obvious reasons. There are applications or a dual 1548 opamp works just fine and I picked them because of cost and availability. Even a 741 poor op amp that it is has its uses.
My preference for logic is 5V, even though I mainly use CMOS these days. By using 5V, it's easy to use CD4xxx, 74HC/T, or 74AC/T and to interface with Arduino microcontrollers.

For opamps I use whatever voltages make sense. When I use dual supplies, they aren't always symmetrical.
 

MaxHeadRoom

Joined Jul 18, 2013
28,619
Then there is the odd time you need a slightly higher voltage rail in a part of a battery fed circuit, a LMC7660 can be utilized to raise the voltage a few notches at that location. of the circuit.. ;)
 

MisterBill2

Joined Jan 23, 2018
18,179
The supply voltage for some application depends first on the application, and second on what power supply is available that can provide enough watts for the project. Most often 5 volt or 12 volt supplies are handy, while for opamp projects 15 volts, either singe or dual can be handy, +/-15 volts was used for opamps because it allowed headroom to get a good swing of +/- ten volts. That was in the era when an opamp was a small hand full of discrete components.
 

MrSalts

Joined Apr 2, 2020
2,767
My favorite supply voltage is the one that works for the project I'm working on. My favorite will likely change for the next project I'll be working on.
My favorite has mostly been between 1.35vDC to 480VAC. One project was 0.591V
 
Top