power supply smoothing on the cheap

[steveo]

thanks for the tips guys, i'll give it a shot.. i guess you're right, just throw caps at it until it's good to go, and i never thought of more diodes. that's a good idea. the ones on the input of the supply itself right now are pretty wimpy lookin'.

i wouldn't say a linear supply is out of the question entirely, but my first attempt at a primitive homemade one resulted in enough draw where i might drain my battery overnight.

that's the thing, i dont power it down often. with the switch mode supply, when the processor and wireless adaptor are idle, takes so little input power that i can leave it on for days.

you want pictures? i dont think my tube scope would photograph well, or handle the rain;

so here's some windows paint pseudo...cillosc...whatever of my observations from memory.

kinda looks like the switchmode supply has some kind of input undervoltage protection to prevent an idle device draining your battery, and it's just doing a piss poor job of actually... switching off.