Arduino UNO regulator capacity?

Since using the manufacturers datasheet didn't seem to satisfy some, I decided to make some measurements.

I setup a load which would draw ~400mA. I tried with 200mA, but even up to 16V I wasn't getting a thermal shutdown.

All measurements done with a brand new Uno R3.

With an input of 12V on Vin the regulator did not shut down. I measured ~100C on the regulator package. This is the hotest the package would reach as when I went to 14V the regulator finally started thermal shutdown. This was evident by two things 1) VCC started dropping and 2) the package temperature starting dropping as well.

So 71mA is far (far) below what the regulator can handle at 12V. 200mA is still below what it can handle, but probably a good limit to keep the board from getting hot enough to burn yourself.

Going back to the original poster's question. The change to SOT-223 does have an impact. Same setup using a "R1" with a DPAK, no thermal shutdown occured with the same load up to 16V on Vin.