3 ms·
That's not entirely true. Reverse polarity protection is very common, and often only requires a single diode in series with the +V line, so that current can on
by X-Cubed 11y ago
That's not entirely true.
Reverse polarity protection is very common, and often only requires a single diode in series with the +V line, so that current can only flow in one direction.
- marshray 11y agoA diode will drop about 0.5-0.6 volts, which could eat 10% of your energy, so reverse polarity protection is usually used in devices where someone could plausibly install the batteries backwards. I think it's probably rare on something on a highly controlled standard connector like USB.
- rrmm 11y agoIt's fairly easy to do it without the diode drop if you use a mosfet, but you do incur the cost of a more expensive part.
- yardie 11y agoIt's usually common in low voltage, low current devices. I have a massive inverter charger on our boat that has in giant letters "NO REVERSE POLARITY PROTECTION". It typically handles up to 200amps at 12V.