CONSTANT CURRENT
This constant current circuit can be adjusted to any value from a few milliamp to about 500mA - this is the limit of the BC337 transistor.
The circuit can also be called a current-limiting circuit and is ideal in a bench power supply to prevent the circuit you are testing from being damaged.
Approximately 4v is dropped across the regulator and 1.25v across the current-limiting section, so the input voltage (supply) has to be 5.25v above the required output voltage. Suppose you want to charge 4 Ni-Cad cells. Connect them to the output and adjust the 500R pot until the required charge-current is obtained.
The charger will now charge 1, 2, 3 or 4 cells at the same current. But you must remember to turn off the charger before the cells are fully charged as the circuit will not detect this and over-charge the cells.
The LM 317 3-terminal regulator will need to be heatsinked.
This circuit is designed for the LM series of regulator as they have a voltage differential of 1.25v between "adj" and "out" terminals.
7805 regulators can be used but the losses in the BC337 will be 4 times greater as the voltage across it will be 5v.