My 12V LDO isn't working as expected, can't figure it out
I bought a few of these 12V LDOs for a project. Here's the relevant part of the PCB it's in. Pardon my crappy phone camera, but here it is soldered in place.
For some reason, when I give the circuit 14V, the output of the LDO is 14V when it should be 12V. I adjusted the voltage and the LDO output stayed the same as the input. I have 3 of them, so I replaced it on the circuit with another, and it did the same thing.
Trying to troubleshoot, I then soldered wires to all terminals and tested it again, and again the output was the same as the input. (Again, sorry for the crappy camera as well as the messy soldering.)
What gives? the output isn't shorted to the input, and it definitely shouldn't be acting like this. I double checked the configuration to the datasheet, and it should be correct. Anybody have any ideas?
Edit: I tested my 3rd one with my power supply, no soldered wires or anything, just alligator clipped to the leads. The output is still the same as the input.
Edit 2: Solved! The LDO wasn't regulating without a load (overvoltage with load <7mA), but when I tested it with a 12VDC fan, it regulated as expected. Thanks you guys!
Posted Jun 16, 2017, 7:27 PM UTC · edited