No. A zener diode alone will not work. If the voltage exceeds the zener voltage, the zener diode will die a quick death followed by the gauge. You need to put a resistor ahead of the zener diode and the gauge. The gauge will still read the zener voltage, not zero.
Izk is the knee current of the zener diode. When the current flowing into the zener is larger than the specified knee current, it will permit significant current flow in the reverse direction. Izm is the maximum zener current the diode can handle without breaking. It is often found by dividing the power rating (Pz) by the breakdown voltage (Vz).
A zener diode voltage regulator is the very least efficient scheme possible, in addition to being a poor regulator . A 12 volt zener can work quite well as the reference source in a simple series pass regulator circuit.
Your 1N4733A zener diode is 5.1V (plus or minus 5%) only when its current is the "test " current of 49mA and the zener diode is cooled somehow to 25 degrees C. Less current reduces its voltage and more current increases its voltage. Higher temperature increases its voltage. Then why do you want to spoil its voltage regulation by using low and high current? Use a voltage regulator IC instead.
Looking for advice on how to correctly identify those tiny, glass, red/black diodes. Like these: I have a couple small projects where I need a zener, I have several suspects but with no visible identifying marks I'm not sure if they are Zener or regular. (the first pic has ID marks.. ignore...
If you don't want to edit the standard.dio file you can get a reasonable 3V zener model thus :- Place a diode symbol on your schematic. Click 'Pick new diode'. Click on an arbitrary low voltage zener diode. Copy the highlighted text. Paste it as a command on your schematic. Edit the BV value to 3.0. Bear in mind that a real-world 3V zener diode doesn't have a very sharp voltage knee.
Hello, I have used a Zener diode-based voltage divider to create a negative bias for a gate driver supply but I noticed that the series resistor is getting...
Zener diodes must be protected by an external resistor in all cases or the user risks a blown zener diode. I disagree with Wayneh to a small degree, the zener voltage varies with the zener current, and thus a zener makes a poor regulator unless the zener current is fixed as is done in reference applications. The zener voltage is temperature sensitive, so beware.
The Zener diode as a reference is like a seesaw at the balance point where voltage and current are in a stable configuration. If you try to draw current away from the Zener diode you will upset the balance and loose the relationship between voltage and current.
Trying too different circuits producing noise, I get 0 Volts output running the circuits in LTspice. One circuit obtains noise from a Zener diode, and the other one from the reverse-biased emitter-base junction of a NPN bipolar transistor. Am I doing something wrong, or is LTspice not capable...
