Customer Reviews

DC Power Supplies: A Technician's Guide

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I purchased this book by Carr to refresh a few things I learned several decades in the past.
When I received the book I glanced through it and thought about returning it because did not appear to be what I wanted. I did not return it and it laid around for a couple of months and I thought I would then donate it to the local library.

I decided to glance through it one last time. This time I hit several of the right pages and am very glad I had not returned the book.

It was just what I was looking for to refresh. This book would also be very good for someone just out of school with little experience.

I have several Carr books and found each valuable.

Early electronic devices needed a high voltage supply to power their thermionic valves. The invention of the transistor changed that as they required low voltages to operate. While many devices were battery powered, for many applications a low voltage, DC power supply is required. In order to select the right power supply for a given application one must understand how these devices operate.

This book covers all the background theory in addition to being a practical guide to building your own custom power supplies, be they high or low voltage, portable or stationary. One word of caution, however, the chapter on batteries does not include lithium-ion or lithium polymer cells. Lithium cells behave significantly differently from Ni-Cd cells, and the amateur would be wise not to attempt to construct chargers for this category of cells based on the circuitry described in Chapter 5 of the book. Perhaps the author will consider this for the next revision. Then this review can be upgraded to all five stars.