What’s the difference between a power adapter and a voltage regulator?

As smart devices have become more and more important in people’s lives, with the gradual increase of functions, the problem of power consumption of the devices has gradually been exposed, and people have become more and more accustomed to carrying power adapters, that is, People often talk about chargers. What is the difference between this kind of power adapter and voltage regulator? The power adapter wholesale supplier will introduce it to everyone.

It is found that in the case of no load, the voltage of the power adapter is higher than the value he marked, and the voltage regulator has always been this value. So is there any difference between the two?

Difference between power adapter and voltage regulator

1. The power adapter is a small portable electronic device and a power supply conversion device for electronic appliances. It generally consists of a casing, a power transformer and a rectifier circuit. According to its output type, it can be divided into AC output type and DC output type. It can be understood as a voltage converter, such as converting an AC voltage of 110-220 volts into a fixed DC voltage.

2. The voltage regulator is a device that stabilizes the output voltage. The voltage regulator is composed of a constant voltage, a control circuit, and a servo motor. When the input voltage or load changes, the control circuit performs sampling, comparison, and amplification, and then drives the servo motor to rotate, so that the position of the carbon brush of the voltage regulator is changed. By automatically adjusting the coil turns ratio, the output voltage is kept stable.

The voltage of the power adapter is higher without load. If you connect the load, you will find that its voltage will drop. This is due to its limitation, just to provide a suitable voltage to the load. The main function of the voltage regulator is to stabilize the voltage. It stabilizes the voltage passing through it to a certain extent. Above or below this value, it has action, and the power adapter does not have this function. These two can be distinguished according to the use situation. If the load power requirements are not high, they can be substituted for each other, but if the load has high power requirements, even a 1V voltage change will not work, then you must use a voltage regulator Otherwise, it may burn out the power.