Mysterious voltage drop when ESP32 board is connected

[Albert]

I'm powering my Node MCU ESP32 board by implementing a voltage divider on a 12V supply and then feeding to a 7805 regulator and using the output of the regulator to power the board.

When i connect the output of the regulator to the board, there is a mysterious voltage drop from 8V to about 4V at the voltage divider. This voltage is in turn fed to the regulator so the output of the regulator is now about 2.5V instead of 5V.

I'm using a 330 ohm resistor(R1) and 680 ohm resistor(R2) for the voltage divider with a supply voltage of about 12V. Also im powering the board from the 5V breakout pin of the board.

Anyone please help me understand what is going on??

Albert.

[loboris]

Nothing Mysterious:
Ohm's law
or this one

[Albert]

Loboris,

I dont understand this. Why should i get 4V at the voltage divider instead of 8V??

[krzychb]

Hi Albert ,
Check https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxLKfAZrhbM
This is among my favourite from Afrotechmods
For this particular issue the explanation is at 2:08

[Albert]

Thanks krzychb. This is definitely my problem. Afrotechmods has just explained the problem but now i wonder what the solution is!
Here is my circuit. How can i get 5V to my ESP32 ??

20171123_183227.jpg (1.67 MiB) Viewed 1938 times

[loboris]

Thanks krzychb. This is definitely my problem. Afrotechmods has just explained the problem but now i wonder what the solution is!
Here is my circuit. How can i get 5V to my ESP32 ??

Just connect +12V directly to the 7805 input. If it gets too hot, mount the small heatsink.
If you have problems understanding basic electronics, I would recommend to simply use 5V power adaptor.

[krzychb]

Depending on particular producer of 7805 regulator, the maximum DC input voltage is either 25 or 35V - http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/lm340.pdf

Therefore you can connect 12V directly to the "In" of 7805 shown on your schematic

[ESP_Angus]

Hi Albert,

I've edited your post title to not use ALL CAPS. Please do not use ALL CAPS when posting on the forum.

Angus

[Albert]

Thanks and sorry for that.

Albert

[Albert]

Hey krzychb,

Im very grateful for the help. I was actually worried about the heat because i do not have much space for a heat sink but i realised that the heat dissipation will be 1.06 W so i dont know if i will need a heatsink if i connect the 12V directly.

Im powering the ESP32 from the circuit board of a controller so a 5V adapter will not be suitable.

Albert