Thursday, September 24, 2009

LM323K Voltage Regulator Installation



UPDATE: Feb.17.2010 - Please note that the A14F recitifier diodes are installed backwards in the above and below images.
I fixed this soon afterwards, before I applied power. See my later posts!



Tonite I installed the LM323K voltage regulator (5v / 3a).
A pair of magnetized wire strippers came in handy to drop the screws into place. Needle nose plyers would have worked fine too I guess. I used a tiny amount of masking tape to tape the washers to the screws so that I could drop them into place easily. The area is too tight to get your fingers into (maybe you can, but I could not).
This was a bit more frustrating than I thought it would be, but everything is now soldered into place. There are 2 insulating washers in the upper left of the image above. You do not need these insulating washers - Just bolt the LM323K as is, to ensure a good grounding connection to the PCB.

1 comment:

  1. Quick question about grounding the 323K regulator to the motherboard. Are the washers under the head of the screws insulating? I am not sure where the 323 is getting ground from. It is insulated from the heatsink so I am guessing it is grounded by the mounting screws to the underside of the motherboard. I've seen 323K pictures with it totally isolated from everything. I just smoked the circuit's 22uF capacitor so something is not right. thanks... -Paul

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