Voltage Limiting

[MSD]

Hi.

I'm a beginner in circuit design. I've got a switching power supply that can be adjustable between 4 and 6 volts at 9A powering an atmega328p microcontroller and 4 max7219 display driver ic's. At 6 volts the max7219 ic's fail its operating range is 4 to 5.5 volts.

How can i limit the voltage to the operating range of the max7219 at the circuits maximum current draw of 2A at the lowest cost in case the power supply is set to its maximum?

I've tought about using a diode for its voltage drop. Would this be recommended? If so how would I go about selecting a diode for this purpose?

[aju11]

Option 1: A series resistor and  zener across supply of MAX7219 ICs to clamp the supply.

Option 2: I would prefer to use a series pass regulator set to around 5 V.
http://www.circuitstoday.com/voltage-regulators


Using a diode won't be a reliable solution. The drop will change as per the current drawn.