The circuit described here is mostly aimed at development engineers who are looking for an economical step-down converter which offers a wide input voltage range. As a rule this type of circuit employs a step-down converter with integrated switching element. However, by using a more discrete solution it is possible to reduce the total cost of the step-down converter, especially when manufacturing in quantity. The TL5001A is a low-cost PWM controller which is ideal for this project. The input voltage range for the step-down converter described here is from 8 V to 30 V, with an output voltage of 5 V and a maximum output current of 1.5 A. When the input voltage is applied the PWM output of IC1 is enabled, taking one end of the voltage divider formed by R1 and R2 to ground potential. The current through the voltage divider will then be at most 25 mA: this value is obtained by dividing the maximum input voltage (30 V) minus the saturation voltage of the output driver (2 V) by the total resi...