On Tue, Sep 1, 2009 at 7:30 PM, Lynn W. Deffenbaugh (Mr)<[email protected]> wrote: > And with 12v vehicle power, the efficiency isn't much of a concern,
Not exactly. I used a 7805 to drive a power hog of an old GPS in my old truck. The battery (yeah, big honkin' full sized pickup truck battery) lasted longer after I stopped operating it 24x7. I don't have data on it, but someone made the convincing claim that it would shorten the vehicle battery life, that clicked with the shorter-than-expected life of my truck battery, and I got an APO. That was the last battery I bought before I traded the vehicle. The drain is related to current draw (my APO uses a little 7805, and it has no noticeable effect), but I suspect a larger draw like the ~400mA the original poster mentioned would result in detectable shortening of the battery life. -Jason kg4wsv
