The documentation on-line for LM317 regulators recommends a value of 240 ohms between the Vout pin and the Adjustment pin.
What would be the detriment of changing this value to something other than 240 ohms ? Will the regulator not respond correctly or lag in its response ?

Thanks

On Tue, 28 Dec 2021 15:15:28 -0800 (PST), Sid 03 <sidwelle@gmail.com>
wrote:

>The documentation on-line for LM317 regulators recommends a value of 240 ohms between the Vout pin and the Adjustment pin.
>What would be the detriment of changing this value to something other than 240 ohms ? Will the regulator not respond correctly or lag in its response ?
>
>Thanks

It's no big deal. The 240 ohm value dumps enough current to satisfy
the minimum load requirement. If you have a decent load, that's taken
care of.

Very high values, many K ohms, might affect dynamics. Or make some DC
error; the adjust pin current is typically 50 uA.

Try it!

--

If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end with doubts,
but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties.
Francis Bacon

Sid 03 wrote:
> The documentation on-line for LM317 regulators recommends a value of 240 ohms between the Vout pin and the Adjustment pin.
> What would be the detriment of changing this value to something other than 240 ohms ? Will the regulator not respond correctly or lag in its response ?
>
> Thanks
>
Two issues. First, you usually want the voltage divider to sink the
datasheet minimum load current. That prevents the output from floating
up out of spec and maybe blowing up something downstream.

IIRC the minimum load for the guaranteed performance is 10 mA, so you
want a 120-ohm resistor on the top of the divider unless you're sure
you'll always have enough of a load to maintain regulation.

Second, the 317's ADJ pin sources a reasonably-constant 50 uA, so you
want the voltage divider impedance low enough that this won't limit the
voltage accuracy. In order to achieve that value, the 317 dumps all its
quiescent current (used for biasing internal nodes) into the output pin,
which is why the minimum current is so high.

The LM78xx series works well down to zero load current, because its
quiescent current goes out the ground pin.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs
Principal Consultant
ElectroOptical Innovations LLC / Hobbs ElectroOptics
Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510

http://electrooptical.net
http://hobbs-eo.com

sidw...@gmail.com wrote:
=====================
> The documentation on-line for LM317 regulators recommends a value of 240 ohms
> between the Vout pin and the Adjustment pin.
> What would be the detriment of changing this value to something other than 240 ohms ?
> Will the regulator not respond correctly or lag in its response ?
>

** The choice of 240 ohms means a tad over 5mA flows in the path to negative common.
This swamps the approx 50uA flow from the " adj" pin itself by 100 to 1.
The output voltage will then be as calculated to within 1%.

Using lower values for both resistors would improve the error margin slightly.
While making the values higher would do the opposite.

...... Phil

On Tue, 28 Dec 2021 15:15:28 -0800 (PST), Sid 03 <sidwelle@gmail.com>
wrote:

>The documentation on-line for LM317 regulators recommends a value of 240 ohms between the Vout pin and the Adjustment pin.
>What would be the detriment of changing this value to something other than 240 ohms ? Will the regulator not respond correctly or lag in its response ?
>
>Thanks

240 means 5.2mA nominal from the regulator. Worst-case minimum to
maintain regulation is 10mA (Vi-Vo = 40V) but typical is 3.5mA so it
is usually enough under sensible conditions. With a (more sensible)
Vi-Vo of 10V or less, minimum load current is in the 1.4-1.7mA
typically, so 5.2mA is pretty safe.

The current flowing out of the ADJ pin is nominal 50uA so it will have
an effect on the voltage even if the minimum load current is made up
elsewhere. It typically varies from 40 to 57uA or so over the
military temperature range for the original NS part.

Given you *have* to draw the minimum load current or the output may
rise out of regulation you may as well keep to the 240 ohms or so in
most circumstances. If worst-case Vin-Vo is very high (especially with
possible very low Ta) you may wish to go as low as half that.
--
Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

onsdag den 29. december 2021 kl. 02.50.18 UTC+1 skrev Spehro Pefhany:
> On Tue, 28 Dec 2021 15:15:28 -0800 (PST), Sid 03 <sidw...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >The documentation on-line for LM317 regulators recommends a value of 240 ohms between the Vout pin and the Adjustment pin.
> >What would be the detriment of changing this value to something other than 240 ohms ? Will the regulator not respond correctly or lag in its response ?
> >
> >Thanks
> 240 means 5.2mA nominal from the regulator. Worst-case minimum to
> maintain regulation is 10mA (Vi-Vo = 40V) but typical is 3.5mA

some manufacturers, I think ST is one of them, specify 3.5mA typical, 5mA max

On Tue, 28 Dec 2021 18:03:09 -0800 (PST), Lasse Langwadt Christensen
<langwadt@fonz.dk> wrote:

>onsdag den 29. december 2021 kl. 02.50.18 UTC+1 skrev Spehro Pefhany:
>> On Tue, 28 Dec 2021 15:15:28 -0800 (PST), Sid 03 <sidw...@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> >The documentation on-line for LM317 regulators recommends a value of 240 ohms between the Vout pin and the Adjustment pin.
>> >What would be the detriment of changing this value to something other than 240 ohms ? Will the regulator not respond correctly or lag in its response ?
>> >
>> >Thanks
>> 240 means 5.2mA nominal from the regulator. Worst-case minimum to
>> maintain regulation is 10mA (Vi-Vo = 40V) but typical is 3.5mA
>
>some manufacturers, I think ST is one of them, specify 3.5mA typical, 5mA max

Looks like that's only for the LM217. LM317 is 10mA max.

https://www.st.com/resource/en/datasheet/lm317.pdf

Similarly NS has the 117 at 5mA max, but the 317 and 317A are 10mA.
--
Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

On a sunny day (Tue, 28 Dec 2021 15:15:28 -0800 (PST)) it happened Sid 03
<sidwelle@gmail.com> wrote in
<cbb8dfda-e7ed-4d42-a4ae-88a906f97551n@googlegroups.com>:

>The documentation on-line for LM317 regulators recommends a value of 240 ohms between the Vout pin and the Adjustment pin.
>What would be the detriment of changing this value to something other than 240 ohms ? Will the regulator not respond correctly
>or lag in its response ?
>
>Thanks

It is not very critical really.
It sometimes helps to use a bit different value to make a divider that
gets to the required voltage.
The reference can change between 1.2 and 1.3 V according to my datasheet.
I am using 220 Ohm almost everywhere it seems, no 240 ohm available :-)

Jan Panteltje wrote:
> Sid 03 wrote:
>
>>The documentation on-line for LM317 regulators recommends a value of 240
>>ohms between the Vout pin and the Adjustment pin.
>>What would be the detriment of changing this value to something other
>>than 240 ohms ? Will the regulator not respond correctly
>>or lag in its response ?
>>
>>Thanks
>
> It is not very critical really.
> It sometimes helps to use a bit different value to make a divider that
> gets to the required voltage.
> The reference can change between 1.2 and 1.3 V according to my datasheet.
> I am using 220 Ohm almost everywhere it seems, no 240 ohm available :-)

Although 240 ohm's a common cookbook current set resistance for a LM317
voltage regulator, LMx17 inventor Bob Dobkin often uses 120 ohms. [1]
Presumably the drawback of a lower value is less efficiency and greater
power loss.
For an LM317 current regulator, current set resistors of a few ohms
are used by both Bob and others. [2]

Note.

[1] https://www.ti.com/lit/an/snva513b/snva513b.pdf
[2] https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/126571/lm317-current-source-sense-resistor

Danke,

--
Don, KB7RPU, https://www.qsl.net/kb7rpu
There was a young lady named Bright Whose speed was far faster than light;
She set out one day In a relative way And returned on the previous night.