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How to Connect Power Supplies in a Series

Connecting power supplies in series lets you increase the amount of voltage you can obtain to power your electronic system. This can save money and time if neither of your power supplies can supply a high enough system voltage. Series supply connections also give you more design options for building electronic systems. Instead of using separate supplies for each voltage supply level required in your design, you can mix and match smaller supplies to obtain the voltage needed. The following steps should only be attempted under the supervision of a safety certified electronic technician or electronic engineer.

Power Supplies(Two) or a dual power supply (one)
Digital voltmeter

Instructions

- 1
  Check the manufacturer's data sheet for the power supply to find out if the particular power supplies you want to connect in a series support a series connection. Do not connect the power supplies in a series if the manufacturer does not explicitly state that the power supply can be connected in series and does not provide a schematic for doing so.
- 2
  Connect the negative lead of the first power supply to the positive lead of the second power supply.
- 3
  Connect the positive lead of your voltmeter to the positive lead of the first power supply. Connect the negative lead of your voltmeter to the negative lead of the second power supply.
- 4
  Turn on each of your power supplies and your voltmeter. Raise the voltage on the first power supply to 5 volts and the second power supply to 2 Volts. Read the voltage on your voltmeter display. Verify that it displays the sum of the voltage of the two power supplies, 7 Volts (5 plus 2 is 7). Check that your circuit is wired correctly if the voltage is not close to 7 Volts.

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