When to use a buck regulator

[Mark Osborne]

Hi there,

I have been learning electronics and blogging what I learn in my spare time.

A project of mine was dropping 12V to 5V at around 250mA and my linear regulator was getting a little toasty without a heat sync, so I switched to a buck converter, first a cheap Chinese one, and then I built my own using a TI TPS560200.

My latest post focuses on when to choose a buck converter over a linear regulator (mostly based on heat dissipation).
It was a interesting topic to get up to speed on and try and summarize. So I'd love some feedback from anyone familiar with thermal resistance.

http://becomingmaker.com/powering-circuit-linear-regulators-buck-converters/

[Brumby]

I suggest you watch this for starters...

[Mark Osborne]

Thanks for the link, I remember watching that - but it was a while ago.
It was the first time I had come across the concept that thermal resistance could be treated much like electrical resistance.