One of the drawbacks of a threepin
voltage regulator is that the
input voltage needs to be
2.5–3 V higher than the output
voltage. This makes these integrated
regulators unsuitable for
battery power supplies. If, for
instance, the output voltage is
5 V, a 9 V battery could be discharged
to 7.5 V or thereabouts
only. On top of this, most of
these regulators draw a current
of about 2 mA. Special low-drop
versions sometimes offer a solution,
but they are not ideal
either.
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