Vintage 6 volt car, would like to bump it down to 5 volts for smartphone.

[marksch]

I have a problem Im looking for some help on. I have a old VW bus that is still 6 volt... I want to be able to charge my phone with it but dont want to fry it by connecting it directly to the system. I tried making a 7805 circuit with a couple 10uF capacitors (radio shack) but that only produced 4.7v or so which didnt power the phone.

Can anyone recommend a way to do this?

 

[Harald Kapp]

The 7805 requires a minimum input voltage of 7V.

Use a low drop regulator like e.g. the LM2940 (or any similar one) which requires only 5.5 V to 6 V.

 

[CocaCola]

Use a low drop regulator like e.g. the LM2940 (or any similar one) which requires only 5.5 V to 6 V.

The L4940V5 is another one of those LDO options...

 

[marksch]

Awesome, thanks for the help. I've got 1 of each on order.