Voltage Limit

M

Thread Starter

Marcus Mills

I'm trying to find the best way to limit (not regulate) a voltage input to +5VDC.

Working with a signal input that will fluctuate from 0 - 19VDC (250 mAmps) but I want to insure that if the signal goes over 5V it stays at 5V. My sensor doesn't like voltages over that but I don't want this to just go to zero.

Linear regulators all want to produce 5VDC. No matter what changes are implemented.
 
I need more information.
What IC is looking at the signal? What is it's supply voltage. Are you measuring the voltage from 0 to 5.000V? Or is it a "TTL" signal, 1 or 0 situation?
Part of what I want to know is how close to 5V do you need the signal limited to. Example if you are looking at the signal with a ADC that is measuring 0-2.5V but the supply voltage is 5V then this is easy. But if you need to measure 4.99 or 5.00V but you want to clamp at 5.001 it is hard.
Any data will help. Schematic?
 
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