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i was fiddling around the other day with a potentiometer/big transistor to act as a volume adjust thing for an amp i'm trying to make and thought it might be useful in portablizing stuff too. here's what it is:
it works great with getting whatever voltage i want but how efficient is it? would it's efficiency be more like a linear regulator or dc-dc convertor?
If you look inside a linear regulator you'll baically see an op-amp controlling the current in a BJT to keep the output voltage constant, sort of similar to that you have there.
The efficiency of the DC-DC converter comes from the fact that it switches. It's not on 100% of the time like a linear regulator is. It changes dynamically with the load to improve its efficiency.
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