7805 Voltage Regulator Circuit

A voltage regulator is used to produce a constant linear output voltage. It’s generally used with AC to DC power supply. And also it can be used as well as a DC to DC voltage converter . To regulating low voltage, most used device is one single IC. 7805, 7812, 7905 etc. 78xx series are design for positive and 79xx series are for Negative voltage regulator.

7805 is a three terminal +5v voltage regulator IC from 78XX chips family. See 7805 pinout below. LM78XX series are from National Semiconductor. They are linear positive voltage regulator IC; used to produce a fixed linear stable output voltage.  National Semiconductor has also negative voltage regulator chips family, they indicate with LM 79XX. 78xx is used more than 79xx because negative voltage has a few usability purposes as we see.
I was previously posted a 5v regulated power supply circuit using 7805 IC, that circuit and this 7805 voltage regulator circuit is almost the same.

Circuit diagram of 7805 Voltage Regulator

Fig: 7805 Voltage Regulator Circuit

7805 pinout

Fig: Pinout of 7805

Its output voltage is +5V DC that we need. You can supply any voltage in input; the output voltage will be always regulated +5V. But my recommendation is, don’t supply more than 18V or less than 8V in input. There used two capacitors in this voltage regulator circuit, they aren’t mandatory to use. But it will be best if you use them. They helped to produce a smooth regulated voltage at output. Use electrolyte capacitor instead of ceramic capacitor.

One limitation of 7805 I have found that is its output current 1A maximum. Otherwise it is a good voltage regulator if you are happy with 1A. But if   you need over 400mA current in output then you should use a Heat Sink with IC LM7805. Otherwise it may fall damage for overheating.