ya what he said, you can use a AC or DC input on the voltage regulator curcuit that i linked to, cause it HAS on it, a bridge rectifryer setup, that turns your ac into dc.
AND you have to have 1.5V MORE than what your outputting, so if you ran this off of a car battery, its only going to get to 11V or so.
any SIMPLE adjustable regulator curcuit thing drops at least 1V, and the simple cheap diodes can drop at least .5v .
it didnt take long after playing with them things and assembling them to realise the simplicity of the regulator thing itself, so after working with it, i was able to assemble one with just the regulator and a few parts.
like if you initially have perfect DC you can toss out the bridge, and the fat capacitor. then after you make one with only 2 parts, you realise what a few of the other parts are there for
the 3A regulator thing is HUGE compared to a 1 amp one, and depending on what your input and output is, pumping the whole 3A through it it gets bloody hot, and needs a good heat sync.
ya average 3A radio shack transformer is working pretty hard at its Max of 3A, so if you use them AT the 3A they smell funny and die, just like my aunt
oops , nevermind.
its all about what your going to try and pull out of the stuff, if you overrate , like use a 3A regulator, and a 3A transformer, to do a constant 2A , and fuse things too, then it will work for lots of time, under varing conditions.
