Is the efficiency of a DC DC converter Load independent?
Is the efficiency of a DC DC converter Load independent?
I'm currently looking into various DC DC converters and was confused that the Meanwell DDR-60 series only shows a typical rating but says nothing about the efficiency at idle. From AC/DC converters I'm used to have a curve that starts at idle and maybe 70% and goes to 100% load, having the peak at ninetee something.
(Edit: link goes directly to the PDF)
It’s similar to AC-DC. From a simplistic perspective, efficiency at idle will be 0% because the converter itself still uses some power, then efficiency increases with load since the converter overhead becomes less significant as the useful work increases. Googling “dc dc converter efficiency curve” gives plenty of results.
So I guess I have to contact Meanwell and ask why the linked Datasheet is not showing that curve. Thanks for the answer.
They might be willing to spec it as "quiescent current" (current drawn at 0 load) even if they don't provide a full curve. Annoying that it's not on the datasheet.
Even on the equipment where you do get a graph of efficiency vs load, the line usually only starts at 10% load - that's where your 70% efficiency figure is for.
As noted, at 0% load efficiency is by definition 0%.