We have all had difficulty testing diodes in-circuit. Most DMM’s have a diode Vf function that measures forward drop, but what is the normal voltage drop? Analog VOM’s attempt to measure resistance of ...

Welcome back to this week’s installment of Scope Noob where I’m sharing my experiences learning to use my first oscilloscope. Last week I started out measuring mains frequency using an AC-AC wall wart ...

Beware! The behavior of a part outside its operating specifications is not always predictable. Beware! The behavior of a part outside its operating specifications is not always predictable. In my ...

A major cause of losses in a conventional power supply using a 50/60-Hz transformer is the bridge rectifier. This article shows how to build a “greener” rectifier, substantially reducing losses by ...

With Linear Technology’s LT4320 ideal-diode bridge controller, power supply designers can replace each of the four diodes in a conventional full-wave bridge rectifier with a low-loss N-channel MOSFET.

Engineers often encounter difficulty when attempting to accurately rectify low-amplitude AC signals using standard diode-based circuits. The primary issue arises from the diode’s forward voltage drop, ...