5V 3A Power Supply Designing using MP1584 for All Your Projects

5V 3A Power Supply:

5V 3A Power Supply Designing using MP1584 for All Your Projects-Using this 5V and 3A power supply, you can power up all your controller boards, like Arduino, ESP8266, ESP32, Raspberry Pi Pico, ESP32 Camera Module, STM32, and so on. Besides this, you can also use this 5V 3A power supply for charging your cell phones. You can power up your Portable Displays, you can power up your robots, servo motors, LED strips, and so many other input and output modules. In this article, I am going to share with you every bit of information like for example in which software I designed this PCB, How I generated the Gerber files, How I placed online order ON JLCPCB website, from where I purchased all these tiny SMD components, how I did the soldering, and in the end, I will practically test it with different loads.

Amazon Links:

MP1584 IC

SMD Components Kit

Andonstar Digital Microscope

ESD Tweezers

PCB Holder

Mechanic Solder Paste

Solder Flux

Top SMD Rework Stations

PCB Cleaning Liquid

*Disclosure: These are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Let me tell you in detail why I needed to make this 5V 3A Power supply module. Right from the beginning, I have been using 7805 voltage regulator for powering up my development boards.

This is the Arduino Nano development board which I use for testing my Arduino based projects and you can see, it has this 7805 voltage regulator. The same exact 5V power supply you will also find in my ESP32 WiFi + Bluetooth module development, I also used it with Nodemcu ESP8266, and the same exact voltage regulator I also used in my ESP32 Camera development board.

It’s not like that 7805 voltage regulator is the best or it has outstanding performance. I used it only because of its cheap price and its easy availability. You can get it from any local electronics shop and moreover it’s easy to use. So, it’s good for testing prototype models but in the long run it’s really a bad idea to use 7805 voltage regulator. Because, after only 5 to 6 minutes of use, it really gets hot and this is because of its low output current. And sometimes even during performing the tests; the controller boards are freezed. I am sure you might have faced this weird situation when the Arduino, or ESP32, or ESP8266, or any other controller board suddenly stops working. And then you would go and manually reset the controller board or you would disconnect the supply and connect it again. So, that’s why in battery-powered devices and in high-end user products you won’t see 7805 voltage regulator.

Anyway, since I am starting a new series on products designing; so its time to say bye bye to 7805 voltage regulator. And I am going to start with MP1584 3A, 1.5MHz, 28V Step-Down Converter.

Just look at the size difference, using MP1584 we can tremendously reduce the PCB size. Anyway, it accepts a wide range of input voltages from 4.5V to 28 volts. Its output is completely adjustable. Only by changing one resistor, you can get 1.8V, 3.3V, 5V, 9V, 12V, and so on.

In the MP1584 datasheet, output typical application circuit diagrams are given. So, first I decided to start with this 5V output typical application schematic. Using the same exact components I designed this PCB in Altium Designer.

Anyway, when I checked the output voltage, it was greater than 6 volts. You know in this circuit diagram “given above” the resistors R1 and R2 sets the output voltage. If we divide R1/R2 we get 5.2 volts. But on my circuit, I got the wrong voltage. So, what I did, I checked the MP1584 module developed by SunFounder and what I found was they were using R2 = 8.2K ohms. So, using this formula V = R1/R2, I calculated the value of R1 while keeping R2 = 8.2K and as I am doing this calculation for 5 volts output so I selected 5. So you can see R1 = 41K ohm. Now, if you divide 41K by 8.2K you will get exactly 5 volts. But to compensate for any losses I selected 43K ohm resistor. This way I expect to get 5.2 volts.

V = R1 / R2

R1 = V * R2

R1 = 5 * 8.2K

R1 = 41K

V = 41K / 8.2K

V = 5V

V = 43K / 82.K

V= 5.2V

Now, using the same exact method, you can do it for any voltage. But remember to keep R2 = 8.2K ohms. Otherwise, you may end up getting a wrong voltage at the output.

For 3.3V

R1 = V * R2

R1 = 3.3 * 8.2K

R1 = 27K

For 12V

R1 = 12 * 8.2K

R1 = 98.4K

Next, I switched over to Altium designer for creating the Schematic and designing the PCB. Before creating the schematic and PCB design, first I started off by searching the components on the world’s fastest components search engine Octopart. I selected the desired components with footprint models and used them for creating the schematic as per the recommended circuit diagram.

I made only two changes, I changed R1 to 43K ohm and R2 to 8.2K ohms. I already have a very detailed video on how to make a schematic and PCB using Altium Designer.

Anyway, then I switched over to the PCB designing document, I defined the PCB board size and re-arranged all the components.

Using Altium Designer you can automatically route all the wires. But I did it manually. Finally, before generating the Gerber files, I activated the 3D layout mode by clicking number 3 on the keyboard.

I double-checked all the connections and once satisfied. I again activated the 2D layout mode by clicking number 2 on the keyboard.

Finally, I was ready to generate the Gerber files. I have already explained this in my previous video on Ebike battery control circuit designing, you should definitely watch this video if you want to learn how to charge 36V, 48V, or 72V Ebike batteries using 12 volts. Anyway, after generating the Gerber, finally, I was ready to place an online on the JLCPCB official website.

Online Order Placement on JLCPCB:

For the Online order placement, I am going to open the JLCPCB official website. They offer extremely cheap prices, you only need to pay 2 dollars for 1 and 2 layers PCBs of 100x100mm size.

For the same price, you can also order 4 and 6 layers PCBs of 50x50mm size. 5 PCBs for only 2 dollars it’s quite affordable. Besides this JLCPCB also offers PCB Assembly and 3D Printing Services.

Anyway, drag and drop the Gerber Files.it automatically detects the number of layers and the board dimensions. Select the number of PCBs you want to order, you can change other details as per your requirement, in my case I am going to change the PCB color and everything else I will leave to their default values. Now, I am going to click on Save to Cart button.

Download PCB Gerber Files:

These are the PCBs I received from JLCPCB. As you can see the quality is really great. The silkscreen is quite clear and the Solder mask looks amazing. Along with the PCBs, along with the PCBs they also sent me SMT Stencil.

Components Sourcing:

I am really thankful to SunFounder for sponsoring all these tiny SMD and through-hole components. I have been using their products and I am pretty satisfied. If you are looking for High Quality and low-cost Raspberry Pi and Arduino boards, Starter kits, Portable monitors, Robots, Sensor modules, and other tools then you should definitely visit SunFounder.

Now, that I have all the required components and tools so let’s go ahead and apply solder paste on the PCB. Since I am doing it for the first time so I need to be very careful, rather than using electrical tape for securing the PCBs, I am using screws to tightly hold these PCBs in place.

you can see my setup is completed and these PCBs are not going anywhere, as I said earlier, you can also use some kind of electrical tape to secure the PCBs in place, but as in my case I am absolutely new to this SMD thing, so I don’t want to make any mistake, As you can see everything looks perfect.

Next, align your SMT Stencil with the PCB and secure it with tape so that it doesn’t move when you apply the Soldering paste.

I am going to use the mechanic Solder Paste as most of the professionals recommended this. Personally, I have no idea if this is the best one.

Holy Cow! I can’t believe, I did it so perfectly. Next, I am going to place these SMD components on the PCB using non-magnetic ESD tweezers. And I am going to use my Andonstar Digital microscope this way I can place the tiny SMD components without putting in a lot of effort. A digital microscope like the Andonstar is one of the must-have tools.

Without a microscope, putting these tiny SMD components on the PCB would have been so difficult. You can see all the SMD components have been placed and now we will start the soldering.

Especially for this project, I purchased this KADA 850 SMD Rework station from a local electronics shop and I don’t know how well it’s going to perform. I have never used any type of SMD Rework station. So, at this time I can’t share with you my personal experience. Anyway, I set the Air flow at around 2 because I don’t want my SMD components to fly away and I set the temperature between 300 and 350.

Prior to the actual soldering, I started with an old circuit to practice for a while, but It didn’t help me, in the start, I had no idea if I was doing it in the wrong way or if there was something wrong with the Heat Gun. Anyway, I continued what I was doing and then I realized. Actually there was something wrong with the SMD Rework Station. It was quite unpredictable, sometimes the temperature would increase and the other moment more air would come out of the Heat Gun Nozzel. There is no display and I have no idea about the temperature and Air.

Anyway, I decided to start the soldering.You can see the components are bouncing and I don’t see any nice solder joints “Watch video, link is given at the end of this article”.

I tried multiple times, I increased and decreased the air flow and temperature but it didn’t make any difference.And then finally the heat Gun melted, So it was definitely this SMD Rework station fault.

Today, I am going to order a good SMD Rework station; but for now I am going to use my ATETool Soldering Station to complete the soldering.Soldering these SMD components with a soldering Iron is the hardest job. Anyway, somehow I completed the soldering and at first everything looked so messy. So, I cleaned the circuit with circuit cleaning liquid. Finally, I checked for any solder bridges and to further may sure that everything is done perfectly, I used my digital multimeter to check for any short circuits, and I also checked the continuity.

My DC 5V 3A power supply is ready and you can see I have also soldered the USA-A 90 Degree dual layer and the DC female for jack. Now, let’s go ahead and check the output voltage.

4.8 volts this is amazing, it’s pretty close to 5 volts. Now, let’s go ahead and test it with different loads.

I checked it with the following loads, for the practical demonstration watch video given at the end of this article.

Cell Phone charging:

5V digital Microwave Sensor

ESP32 WiFi + Bluetooth Module

Raspberry Pi:

This is simply amazing, if it can power up Raspberry Pi then it means it can power up all the other controller boards like Arduino, ESP8266, STM32, raspberry Pi Pico, and so on.

SunFounder’s Portable IPS monitor:

5V LED. It’s quite bright.

6V Dc motor

A pair of 6V DC motors

Using this 5V 3A power supply you can charge cell phones, you can power up different types of controllers, sensors, and DC motors, etc. In my upcoming videos, I will also test this 5V 3A power supply with some other loads. So, that’s all for now.

Watch Video Tutorial: