Great price for 10. Compact and handy to have around. Output is adjustable to within 0.1 Volts.

Summary:

- Drops 14-12v to 6.5v and holds the output at the set point across that range.

- This board is cheaper than the switching voltage regulator component alone.

- Can it really be an authentic LM2496S - who knows, do we care?

- Basic reference circuitry with an adjustable potentiometer - right for more, left for less.

-- For fixed applications (like mine) you could nuke that pot and slap in a fixed value resistor.

- For low power functionality - delete the LED and 102 (1,000 Ohm) resistor.

-- You'll lose the 'on' indicator LED and its companion resistor, but Ohms law doesn't lie.

-- Post operation, no load power use dropped from 0.010A to 0.007A - no puns, that's a 30% improvement.

- Dodging name brand over pricing.

- There are probably better ways to do this, don't be hatin'.

Using this device to step down 14-12v to 6.5v to power remote trail cameras with slightly more available 12v deep cycle batteries vs the 6v alternative. Testing on the bench, no-load showed this device was capable of performing as advertised. I don't have a scope so I can't comment on output noise, still chunked a MLCC (better capacitor) on flipside of the board across the existing output cap - it was 'used' so whatever, gave myself an 'E' for low-ESR. - I'll digress.

Generally speaking it makes sense from a user/support perspective to go with the manufacturer 'name brand' accessories for these remote units. But I couldn't resist the penny pinching backside of mine to not go DIY on this one - and you'll see why if you choose to hang in here for another paragraph (or so).

For a quantity of 10x at this time, these boards are $1.35/each - the LM2596S alone, is $2.50+ component from the component superstores mouser or digi-key. Most likely this is a ghost shift LM2596S, thank you (big semiconductor corp here) for doing business with China and/or letting the design slip, now I'm doing business with them. I only feel slightly guilty, but you're a bunch of penny pinching trolls too so don't even.

Now that the ethics, China, and money bag corporation rants are set aside my fiscal justification for going this route:

- OEM part (connectors, cable, regulator, and plug) cost $14.99+TAX

- This part, some janky-as copper clad aluminum cable, and the wrong sized plugs resulting in a direct connect plus battery spades, cost <$3.00/each.

Most likely the OEM did the same thing, but with some ill volume discounts, meaning they're taking your $12 after materials straight to the bank.

Keeping my $12, doing this thing - forgot to indicate - yes the battery side will be fused, I don't need a big-as forest fire on my conscience.

Works great! I use them to reduce 15V voltage to power LED post lights, which require 1.2V. The output resistor needs to be adjusted to reduce voltage because by default the output voltage it too high.

These work well. However have very high ripple voltage .. over 100 mV, and need about 1000uF added to the output to be acceptable.

I powered two of these so far and as the other users state it takes many turns to get down to 1.5 to 5 V. At low power these will run discontinuous and generate a noisy output that causes the reading on my Fluke DVM to be unstable. TI recommends some kind of filter where a clean output is needed. Adding a 1 ohm resistor in series with a 47 uF 16 V tantalum caused the DVM readings to stabilize.

A second concern is the ability of the power source to stand up to the switching current. This device comes with a 100 uF 50V aluminum capacitor on the input which is rather small. When powering from a transformer, rectifier and filter the capacitor must be large enough to keep the 120 Hz ripple low. During most of the 8.3 msec cycle only the filter capacitor is providing current. I recommend the green high frequency low ESR kind for this switcher to draw from. For a 1.5V output I powered from a 7.5 V DC input from a puny 12 Vct 0.5 A transformer. I needed 10,000 uF to hold up the input voltage at 2 A load. As the input voltage drops a buck converter will draw more current, causing 120 Hz ripple to increase to the point the buck converter stops working. A 2200 uF capacitor could not deliver 2 A load.

Bought these to use with my 3d printer and Octopi, turns out they work well at converting solar too. The little buck converter steps down the 18V-22V solar panel and keeps the voltage at a constant 5v to charge my Ring doorbell. It was a pain to have to take the door bell in the charge every few weeks. Been about 2 months since I put this in and it is still going strong. I used a spare solar panel laying around for this, recommend using a much smaller solar panel as this one only takes about 1.5 hours of indirect sunlight to fully charge the doorbell from 85% to 100%. Do not put this size solar panel directly in the sun for this project.

It works as described. Some things you need to know. I removed the input capacitor and tested with a laboratory capacitance meter. The capacitance was measured at several frequencies. The measurement revealed the capacitance of 89uf up to 1khz. From there on it began to dive as the frequency went up ending the test at 200khz at only 7uf from the advertised 100uf. Why is this important? Noise can be easily transmitted through the device. That is the first weak point. I ended the test there since this device is so inexpensive it would be unfair to beat up on it. I will remove input and output capacitors and replace them with better ones. Otherwise this device works . FYI I didn’t get to test the amps output vs temperature. I wound recommend to source a small heat sink for the IC and keep and eye on the diode temp. Just a gut feeling since I haven’t tested it yet. Amazing Price!! Perfect for small projects. I will buy it again it after my updates the board hold up.

Used these to lower voltage in order to install led lights in my HO scale passenger cars and cabooses.

I use these to lower voltage and power consumption from the propane solenoid switch on our camper. Lowers amp consumption from 21 amp/ day to 8, and solenoid does not get burning hot. I use 5 volts. I must have given or installed dozens of these things to camper friends.

Llego muy rápido y funcionan a la perfección, muy buena atención.

They work as stated. Just take your time and adjust

Je les ai retourné mais la livraison fut rapide

I read some reviewers complain that several of the regulators they received were defective, or couldn't be adjusted. So when I received mine, I tested all 10 right away, adjusting them all down to 3.3V from a 12V input. I had one that had an extra sensitive pot and was somewhat difficult to adjust accurately, but I was able to do it, just an extra few seconds of experimenting with turns on the pot.

From a 12V DC input, I had little to no trouble getting the 5V and 3.3V output supplies I was wanting. I didn't try a higher input voltage than 12V. I think some of the bad reviews are people using 20V or 24V.

Maybe I got lucky and received all 10 good ones. Or maybe they don't work as well with voltages higher than 12V. But I'm happy and would buy again if needed.