Tracking preregulator circuit LM317

I want to build this circuit. My question is, are the two protection diodes no longer needed?
Thank you in advance for your answers.
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You would be well advised to use the remote 0v sense capability of the voltage setting LM317 unless you are using tiny load currents. You will get the most out of the 317 that way. Details are in the datasheet.

What this means is having three outputs, a +ve, a power 0v and a load sense 0v. The power 0v and 0v sense output leads join at the load negative. On your board you therefore would need a third (low power) connection from the 0v end of C4 and R6 in this schematic of yours below for the 0v sense. You really want to run these three output leads close together so a three way terminal block would be best.

Caps C2, C3 and C4 need to have moderate ESR to avoid instability and noise gain. I suggest 10uF electrolytics with an ESR of approx 0.1 Ohm. The more capacitance the lower the ESR needed. There's more detail on this in the LM317 pages of Martin's site linked to earlier. Don't use low value film caps here. The difference can be measured and will spoil an otherwise sound circuit.

John

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