That's a good question. I might have to try that when I get home tonight as well. I am also anxious to try a switching regulator like retrolefty mentioned. After reading a bit about them, I learned that the output is noisy and something along the lines of a low pass filter is needed. According to the data sheet for the following switching regulator, no additional external components like decoupling capacitors are needed. Can anybody confirm or refute this? http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/OKI-78SR-5%2F1.5-W36-C/811-2196-5-ND/2259781