Hi,
I'm attempting to build a voltage divider to connect a 3.3V sensor to an Arduino MKR 1000, which has a 5V pin. Below is a schematic and pictures of my circuit. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong unless I have the Vin and Vout confused. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Schematic.pdf (181.0 KB)
If you're doing what I think you're doing...
A voltage divider doesn't work as a power supply because the resistance of the load is in parallel with the "bottom" resistor (the resistor connected to ground). That lowers the voltage, usually by a lot depending on what you are trying to power.
A voltage divider only work for low current "signals" and "references".
If you want to bring 5V power down to 3.3V power you need a voltage regulator.
Okay, thank you. Is a voltage regulator something I could build on a breadboard?
You need something like an L78L33, although with a suitable zener diode a transistor and resistor, one could build a regulator:
^https://maker.pro/forums/threads/series-transistor-voltage-regulator.286519/
Probably easier to just use the L78L33.
Good point. Not familiar with that board and should have checked. Was assuming the voltage divider was being added because the board didn't have an on-board regulator and/or present the output on an external pin. Since it does, there is no reason why not to use it.
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