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The LM2596 chip itself starts regulating around 4.5V, but the module's input protection/trace design can add its own floor — check your specific board.

Below this the regulator runs out of dropout headroom and output sags below 5V.

The chip is rated to 40V absolute, but cheap modules' input pads, connectors and PCB clearances are not always built with real 40V margin — many sellers quietly derate. Don't assume the silkscreen number without checking.

Set by turning the blue trimpot while watching a multimeter on the output — there's no digital readout or detent at common voltages like 5V or 3.3V.

The LM2596 chip is rated 3A, but that number assumes the datasheet's reference inductor and adequate cooling. Cheap modules' inductor and copper are usually the real limit — treat 1.5-2A as a safer sustained ceiling unless you've verified your specific board runs cool at 3A.

The package/thermal limit is reached long before this current rating on anything but a small Vin-Vout gap — see the description's heat math.

The bare chip's quiescent draw is small (datasheet: a few mA), but modules often add an LED and other always-on circuitry that draws more than the chip alone.

Rises somewhat with output current and junction temperature.

TI's own eval board reaches up to ~90% in the datasheet's curves, under a specific Vin/Vout/load combination. A $2 module with a lower-Q inductor and thinner copper will usually measure lower — don't assume 90% for a thermal budget.

Fixed by the LM2596 chip's internal oscillator — this is one of the few numbers here that does NOT vary between vendors, since it's set by the silicon, not the board.

Commonly around 43×21mm for the classic 4-pin-header version, but board outline is not standardized across sellers.

Junction temperature rating. Free-air TO-220 thermal resistance is ~65°C/W — the heat math in the description follows directly from this.