5PCS LM2596HVS DC-DC Step Down 48V Input Adjustable Buck Converter Power Module 3.2-40V Step Down Voltage Switching Regulator Electric Vehicle Power Supply Module

I gave up after 3 of them died on one the chip exploded all they were powering was a 12v halo angel eyes led ring lights on my bench unit they show that the current draw is only 0.28 amps.

Boy are these things useful. Takes any DC voltage from 4.5 to 53 volts and drops it to any voltage from 3v up as long as the output voltage is 1.5 volts less than the input. They are switchers so they're about 95% efficient so going from 48 volt power over ethernet down to 5 volts doesn't burn up a lot of energy unlike old-fashioned analog regulators. I use them to run 12 volt fans at 9 volts to make the fans run really quietly while still moving a decent amount of air.

It is accurate and great for the value. However, the size of wire you can solder in are small for the current it claims it can handle. I'm also a little skeptical that it would disperse the heat well enough for high current loads.

First off, I am not new to electronics. Been building my own amplifiers and audio gear for over 30 years, so I understand a thing or two about circuitry and power.Bought these to make a power supply for a mixing console. The console required 48v, 17v, 12v, and 5v dc. I hooked them up to a dc power supply (mean well) that I have used before. I first tested the voltage of the supply and it's output was at 42v steady. Hooked up 3 of these to the outputs of the supply, made sure the pots on them were all the way down and turned the supply on. WOW! What a show! 2 of them popped immediately sending pieces of the chip flying and the other one had no output voltage no matter where the pot was adjusted. Thinking I must have screwed something up, I removed them and grabbed a different supply (this time a 24v). Hooked up the last two being extra careful and the same thing happened! Plastic hit the ceiling with some force! You would think these would be able to at least handle half the rated voltage, but obviously not. Maybe I got a bad batch, but not taking that risk again!

I like that these are inexpensive and they work up to a point. The regulators I'm talking about are the LM2598HV based ones with the extended input voltage. The description says the output can be adjusted up to 40 Volts. However, the output capacitor is only rated 35V. So, unless you want to run the capacitor over-voltage you are limited to 35V. Typically, capacitors are not run at their rated voltage to lengthen lifetime but there you have it. Also, at 1.5Amps 48V input, 35V output, the LM2598 runs extremely hot to the touch. Heatsinking is certainly needed even at 1.5 Amps. I desoldered the device and inserted a copper tab of a 1" x 1" x 2" "L" shaped copper, 22 gauge and resoldered the sandwich. That helped a great deal. They sell these with heatsinks but the output voltage is specified lower (probably correctly so). I also saw other similar modules on Amazon with heatsinks glued to the top of the LM2598HV device. This is not very effective heatsinking since the plastic case of the device has a much lower thermal conductivity than the tab of the device.