Voltage Regulator Assistant

Everyone will be familiar with the problem of voltage drop across wires, connectors or filtering components such as inductors, which force the voltage at the regulator output to be set higher than the circuit operating voltage. If the current drawn falls then the operating voltage rises above its nominal value; when the current rises, the voltage falls.Assistance here comes in the form of the four-input MAX1804 Feedback Integrator, a novel product from Maxim (www.maximic.com). The device can be connected to your favourite voltage regulator and will intervene in its feedback loop if any of its four inputs is fed with too low a voltage.