I've decided to stop making CD's to play in my car and start using my iRiver H320 as my music player.
I have a cigarette lighter adaptor and the right DC plug for the iRiver. I just need to figure out the best way to get 12v DC stepped down to clean 4.5v DC inside the cigarette adaptor.
The two ways that come to mind are:
1. A voltage divider with resistors.
2. A 5v zener diode with a current limiting resistor.
Is either one way better than the other?
There's some room inside the cigarette lighter adaptor. I know I can fit a couple of resistors and a capacitor or two in there.
If I use the zener for voltage regulation, I'd probably have to follow it with a capacitor (or two) for filtering.