How to build a good voltage regulator

[John1397]

I want to make a .00 to 1.00 volt dc voltage regulator with a pot that goes full circle like 0 volt way to left and 1 volt way to the right I can either power this from a 1.5 AA battery or 12 volt car battery how is the best way to go about and what components would be needed? What I am trying to accomplish is I want to replace the oxygen sensor with a pot on the dashboard in a computer controlled car so when I am driving down the road at full speed I be able to lean out my fuel mix and when driving in the city I can make it richer the oxygen sensor will be disconnected permanently and power will come from the variable power supply.

John

 

[Ryoko]

Not sure if you're going to be able to do that. Oxygen sensors work by charge balancing. The voltage output is a side-effect from that. Your ECU may not like a raw voltage being fed into it because the charge balancing circuits are not going to behave properly.

 

[Okefenokee]

The LM317 is a simple solution for voltage regulation.

You can buy it on Digikey. http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/LM317LZX/LM317LZXCT-ND/3042640

If you look in the application notes of the data sheet you'll see an example design that gives you an adjustable output from 0V to 30V. Notice that it requires a negative voltage reference for the output to go all the way down to 0V. You can get a negatvie voltage reference here: http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/MC79L05ACLPR/296-31456-1-ND/3504857. All you have to do is change component values to change it from 0-30V to 0-1V.