Power Rectifier

[gamefreak]

Following one of those helpful adds there was a power supply that uses a rectifier so that it can handle AC voltage, so now I have a few questions. 1. How is Rectifier pronounced?(Rect-e-fire?)2. Wouldn't a Diode bridge cause a substantial voltage drop? 3.I thought wall warts contained transformers that stepped down the voltage, and then they turned it into DC, is this wrong? Does your microcontroller have back voltage portection?

Also playing around with 4 diodes at home, I noticed that they will get hot enough to burn in under 2 seconds if there is a short circuit. Is this from low wattage diodes or can rectifiers generally not give much current?

[Kohanbash]

Hi

AC goes into a rectifier to produce DC
DC goes into an inverter to produce AC

Your pronunciation seems right.

You do have loss. However it depends on the type of diode and on the type of rectifier (look up half wave, full wave, bridge rectifiers, center taped, etc..)

Wall outlets are AC. They are stepped down using transformers. That way they can be sent in the power lines with high voltage and low current (to minimize I^2*R losses).

Most micro's do not have (or extremely minimal) reverse current protection.

Power electronics get very hot!!! Check the component power ratings, also you can put a heat sink on it to minimize thermal issues (even thou it will still probably be hot).