I've strangely noticed that my voltage regulator doesn't seem to
work under low current loads . . . Meaning, if I don't connect a
few LED's to the power line, my microcontroller just doesn't
work . . . so confusing! I design my circuit to be ultra
efficient, and it rebels at me! Anyway, I always thought
regulators just 'always worked' but apparently not . . . This is
what I am using:
L4940V5http://www.st.com/stonline/books/pdf/docs/2141.pdf So,
I'm guessing I should throw a resistor or LED between output and
ground to fix it . . . so how do I calculate this resistor
value? Looking at the datasheet, I see something called
''quiescent current" . . . google and wikipedia don't know what
it is, but I found something that said: "The operating point of
a device, also known as bias point or quiescent point (or simply
Q-point), is the DC voltage and/or current which, when applied
to a device, causes it to operate in a certain desired fashion."
The datasheet says 90mA is required . . . what a waste of power!
If this i