High Current DC Regulated Power Supply Circuit With LM317 – 5 Amp Current

with Voltage Control

Lets make a High Current power supply with LM317 Voltage Regulator which can supply upto 5 Amp. LM317is one of the oldest,
most used and wonderful linear voltage regulators. I personally love this IC (yes, it’s not a transistor) a lot, not because it server it
purpose well, but because it’s cheap, easy and never disappoints you while making a regulated DC power supply. In this blog we
will make a High Current power supply with LM317 Voltage Regulator and a couple of Power Transistors

I am an IT guy, as you know. Electronics is my hobby, and as a hobbyist I need custom made power supplies more often than others.
It’s because, I can’t afford a lab bench power supply worth several hundred dollars. So I prefer to make my own power supply as
and when required. And that’s where the problem started appearing. Yes, surprisingly enough, Electronics experts prefer to buy a DC
Power supply module than making your own. Trust me, that’s what I gathered as experience while knocking the door of several
Electronics forums and Bulletin Boards. By then I was already upset by the callousness of the Electronics Blogs for their several
hundred pages of untested, not working and intentionally mis-made circuits. NONE of them works seamlessly – sorry to say!

And suddenly you ask your a question on how to make a simple high current power supply with LM317 on StackExchange, and they
come up with bagful of suggestions to use a Switch Mode Regulator. Yaak! I hate it. It’s complex, you often need inductors, high
power rated ones are rarely available, Ferrite Transformers – virtually impossible to find one in local market (unlike from Chinese
sellers on Ebay or AliExpress). Remember, Switch Mode Power Supply is NEVER your first choice when working on a hobby project
or college project. It you take half of your entire project’s time to make the power supply itself. You need a quick, easy and cheap
solution. And LM317 serves the purpose more perfectly than anyone else. I will tell you why experts on the Electronics forum always
recommends using SMPS. They are not geeks, they are agent of Industries. And SMPS is the only solution if you are making a
commercial product in the Electronics Industry. They are no-doubt power efficient. But who cares about power efficiency for a
College project. It’s overestimation, mate!

Ok, that’s enough of the introduction. Let’s come to point. In this blog post I am going to share a FULLY WORKING, TESTED High
Current DC Power Supply Circuit. I have created the circuit on a Bread Board today and tested. It worked just perfectly. Since my
2N3055 Transistor was hanging on the wires without proper heatsink, I couldn’t test it with 5 amp current. However, given the ratings
of 2N3055 is well above 5 Amp, this circuit should work just fine at 5 Amps. I have tested upto 2.5 Amps and everything was perfect;
I didn’t notice severe voltage drop at 2.5 Amp load which is awesome.

This circuit is not original, it’s copied from the Datasheet of LM317 (Section 8.3.12 High-Current Adjustable Regulator Circuit).
However, I have done little adjustments to the circuit to make sure that you do not get stuck with unavailability of components. For
example, it uses a 500 Ohm resistor. Do not worry, 500 Ohm is not mandatory, you can simply use a 470 Ohm in its place. When
470 Ohm is really easy to find, 500 Ohm is very very hard to find. If you are a hobbyist and do not have much knowledge on each
and every components of a circuit and their functions, these values will often bother you. Any author, not intended to confuse the

reader should NEVER use such components. I wonder why the datasheet of LM317 is not as perfect as the IC itself !

LM317 based Regulated High Current DC Power Supply Circuit Diagram

Let’s see the Circuit Diagram first. To see a larger version of the image click on the circuit diagram below.
Nothing hectic here, a small explanation of the working principle of the circuit. LM317 does its usual job here. With the help of voltage
divider created by the resistor R5 and series resistors R4, R7 voltage at the Adj pin of LM317 is controlled. This helps LM317
regulate the output voltage and keep it constant at the desired level. R4 is a potentiometer (preset if on board) which helps you to
adjust the output voltage. The 2N3055 transistor (Q1) along with TIP2955 (Q2) in the schematic allow higher currents to flow at the
output which is beyond the capability of LM317 (1.5 Amps). In combination, LM317 controls the output voltage and the NPN-PNP
Transistor pair allows most of the current to flow from Input to Output. Makes sense? Let me know in comments.

Component List
Following is the list of components. Almost none of the Electronic Blogger care to write component alternatives while publishing a

schematic. That seemed the most fishy part. I am not doing that mistake

Component ID Part Number Alternatives

IC U1 LM317 TO-220 Package LM338 will work too (not verified)

Transistor Q1 2N3055 Metallic TO-3 Package TIP3055, TIP41 (Large Heatsink), TIP73

Transistor Q1 TIP2905 TO-247 Package MJE2955, TIP42, BD140

Resistor R1 4.7K Ohm 0.5 Watt 5K Ohm

Resistor R2 22 Ohm 1 Watt 18 Ohm

Resistor R3 470 Ohm 0.5 Watt 500 Ohm

Resistor R4 4.7K Ohm Potentiometer 5K Potentiometer, 4.7K Preset

150 Ohm, 220 Ohm will work too, regulated voltage range
Resistor R5 120 Ohm 0.5 Watt
will vary

Resistor R7 2.2K Ohm 0.5 Watt 1.8K Ohm

Capacitor C1 4700uF, 50V Electrolytic 2 x 2200uF, 50V parallel will work too

Capacitor C2 10uF, 50V Electrolytic 22uF, 50V

Capacitor C3 47uF, 50V Electrolytic 100uF, 50V

Rectifier BR1 GBU808 GBPC606 or any 6 Amp Bridge Rectifier

Diode D1 1N4007 1N4001, 1N4002 or 1N5402

12-0-12 Center Tapped 5 Amp Step Down

0-18 or 0-24 Transformer of 5 Amp or smaller current limit
Transformer Transformer. Leave center tap unused, use the 2 end
(120 or less VA Trafo)
terminals

Heatsinks Large TO-3 Heatsink + LM317 Heatsink

correccion

You can buy power supply components online from Jujubuy.com or Ebay.in.

Assembling the Circuit

I must say, it’s not safe to test the circuit on a breadboard at higher current. Breadboard connectors and jumper wires are not
adequate for 5 Ampere current. So, assemble the circuit on a Dot Vero or Transistor Vero Board. Optionally, if you are familiar with
the process of PCB Fabrication you can use the following PCB Layout for printing the circuit on a Copper Clad board and assemble
the circuit on PCB.

LM317 Based High Current Power Supply PCB Layout

Click on the image below to download the PCB Layout in printable PDF format (A4 Page). You can also download the doc file of the
power supply layout.
 NOTES:

 JP1: Solder a thick wire between the 2 holes of JP1.

 2N3055: Solder 3 thick wires on the holes designated for 2N3055. Solder the Transistor to the end of the 3 wires off the PCB.
2N3055 must be mounted on a large TO-3 compatible Heat Sink and can’t be soldered on the PCB. So, it has to be connected to the
PCB using wires.
 4.7K POT: Solder 3 wires on the holes designated for 4.7K Pot. Solder the Potentiometer to the end of the 3 wires off the PCB. It is
connected to the PCB using wires, which allows you to attach the potentiometer on the front panel of power supply cabinet.
 I/P and OP: Use 2 screw terminals or solder thick wire on holes designated for AC input and regulated DC output. The I/P is directly
connected to the 2 end terminals of CT Transformer.

Testing the Regulated Power Supply

Ideally in order to test such a voltage regulated high current power supply you must attach a load to the output. However, keeping the
output terminals open, doesn’t harm the circuit itself. However, if you try to measure output voltage with a Multimeter, you might get
undesired results. Output of the circuit is across C3 Capacitor. Attach a 2.2K Ohm 1 Watt resistor across the capacitor and measure
voltage or current of the output. The lesser the load resistance is, the higher the current reading would be. This circuit is not well
protected from short circuit. Hence measuring current on close circuit without a suitable load is never recommended. It will take the
circuit current to absolute maximum limit of the transformer (often above 5 Amp for a 5 Amp Trafo) and would damage several parts
of the circuit.
I am very keen to see your responses and suggestions. Please let me know if you need help to make this High Current Power
Supply. I will be glad to help.

Credits: Thanks for help www.electronicspoint.com