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Don’t Assume Power Supplies Are Perfectly Clean
Posted by Schmartboard on Oct 18th 2025
In electronic circuit design, power is everything. Without a stable power source, even a well-designed circuit can behave unpredictably. But here’s a mistake many beginners—and even experienced designers—often make:
Don’t assume your power supply is perfectly clean.
Even regulated power supplies introduce noise, ripple, and voltage fluctuations that can interfere with your circuit’s performance. Ignoring power quality is one of the fastest ways to introduce instability, strange glitches, or outright failure in your design.
What Makes Power “Dirty”?
No power source is perfect. These common issues can cause trouble:
| Power Issue | Description |
|---|---|
| Ripple | Residual AC voltage on a DC supply, common in switching regulators |
| Noise | High-frequency spikes from digital circuits or external EMI |
| Voltage Sag | Drops caused by sudden current demands |
| Ground Bounce | Shifts in ground potential due to high current switches |
If you’re powering microcontrollers, amplifiers, ADCs, sensors, or communication modules, these power imperfections can wreak havoc.
Why Power Quality Matters
Poor power quality can cause:
⚠️ Random system resets
⚠️ ADC measurement errors
⚠️ Clock instability
⚠️ Data corruption
⚠️ Noise in audio or RF circuits
⚠️ Component overheating
Stable power isn’t optional—it is essential to a reliable design.
How to Clean Up Your Power
Here are proven techniques:
✅ Use Decoupling Capacitors
Place 0.1µF ceramic capacitors close to every IC power pin. Add bulk electrolytic capacitors (10–100µF) near power entry points.
✅ Add LC or RC Filters
Useful for filtering switching noise from buck converters or boost supplies.
✅ Use Ferrite Beads
Great for blocking high-frequency noise between digital and analog sections.
✅ Use Ground Planes
A solid ground plane lowers impedance and improves current return paths.
✅ Test Your Power Rails
Use an oscilloscope—multimeters won’t show ripple or noise spikes.
Good, Better, Best Power Filtering
| Level | Practice |
|---|---|
| Good | Decoupling caps on each IC |
| Better | Add LC filters and bulk capacitors |
| Best | Separate analog/digital power + filtering + ferrite beads |
How Schmartboard Helps
Power integrity becomes even more critical during prototyping, and that’s where Schmartboard makes your life easier. Our boards are designed with proper power routing, solid grounding, and space for filtering components, so you can:
✔️ Prototype sensitive designs like audio, RF, and sensor circuits
✔️ Test filtering techniques easily
✔️ Debug power noise issues with clean layouts
Schmartboard gives you the flexibility to add capacitors, regulators, ferrite beads, and test leads—so you can build stable circuits faster.
Final Thoughts
Never trust your power source blindly—measure it, filter it, and design for noise immunity. Clean power is the foundation of clean signals.
Don’t assume power is clean—design it that way.
Build smarter. Prototype cleaner. Choose Schmartboard.
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Recent Posts
- » Don’t Assume Power Supplies Are Perfectly Clean
- » Do Choose the Right PCB Stack-Up Early to Support Signal Integrity
- » Do Route High-Frequency Signals with Controlled Impedance
- » Don’t Overcrowd the Board — Leave Room for Debugging
- » Understanding the Importance of Using a Ground Plane to Minimize Noise in PCB Design