Im working on a project where I need to downlink video to a handheld video monitor. I have the 7" monitor working with the battery that was included with it but id also like to run the wireless video receiver off of it as well. Does anyone have any advice on how I could do this?
The monitors battery has a 12.6-10.8V DC output at 3800mAh.
Im not totally sure how much current the monitor draws but it lasts about 5 hrs
The video receiver unit is 12V DC power consumption at 1.2W
I didnt know if I would need a voltage regulator to regulate the amount of mA's going to the receiver or not
You never really need to regulate how much "current" is available with a regulator unless you are talking about a Laboratory Power Supply for testing purposes.
A Voltage regulator regulates... well... voltage. The Current it can handle is a combination of power source (Wall-Wart) and current handling capability without overheating. So using a 1.5A regulator with a 2A transformer is just fine for say a circuit that draws 1A. If your circuit pulled 3A from your power source... well, then... it would likely overheat and shutdown or blow a fuse. So a 1.5A regulator is not regulating the current to be 1.5Amp... that's it's capability rating. Beyond that, it won't work well.
Based on your numbers... your "unit" probably draws about 500mA. I use the word "draw" to depict "load" or the act of "pulling current" from power source.
Do you think that I could wire the battery to the monitor and then have a parallel wire going to a 12v regulator and then power the receiver. I just want as little weight as possible and dont want to add another 12v power source.
