Simple Voltmeter Circuit

his circuit provides a simple means to determine the voltage of a low-impedance voltage source. It works as follows. P1, which is a 1-W potentiometer, forms a voltage divider in combination with R1. The voltage at their junction is buffered by T1, and then passed to reference diode D1 via R3. D1 limits the voltage following the resistor to 2.5 V. An indicator stage consisting of T2, R4 and LED D2 is connected in parallel with D1. As long as the voltage is not limited by D1, the LED will not be fully illuminated. This is the basic operating principle of this measurement circuit.

 

http://www.ecircuitslab.com/2011/06/simple-voltmeter-circuit.html

Simple Color Organ Circuit

Three Lamp-Channels Output Built-in Electret Microphone

A simple, satisfactory Color Organ can be built with a handful of cheap components. This design features: no mains supply transformer, built-in microphone and three widely adjustable frequency bands obtained by means of very simple, passive filters for Bass, Middle and Treble.
Circuit diagram :

Simple Color Organ Circuit Diagram

Due to the very low current consumption of this circuit, the mains supply can be conveniently reduced with no heat dissipation by the reactance of C1; then rectified by D1 and D2 and clamped to 24V by the Zener Diode D3. The music diffused by the loudspeaker(s) of any type of media player, is picked-up by the built-in microphone and the resulting signal is greatly amplified by a two-stage transistor audio amplifier Q1 and Q2.

At the output of the second stage, the audio signal is filtered and split into three fully adjustable frequency bands by means of a simple (though effective) passive filter formed by P1, P2, P3, R7, R8, C6 and C7, thus avoiding the complexity of op-amp based active filters. Transistors Q3, Q4 and Q5 are the drivers for the Triacs D4, D5 and D6 respectively, but can be omitted if high sensitivity Triac devices are used.

Parts:

P1,P2,P3_____10K   Linear Potentiometers

R1_____470R   1/2W Resistor
R2_____100K   1/4W Resistor
R3_____1M   1/4W Resistor
R4_____22K   1/4W Resistor
R5_____220K   1/4W Resistor
R6_____15K   1/4W Resistor
R7_____1K5  1/4W Resistor
R8_____4K7  1/4W Resistor

C1_____330nF  400V Polyester Capacitor
C2_____470µF   35V Electrolytic Capacitor
C3,C4,C6_____100nF   63V Polyester or Ceramic Capacitors
C5_____1µF   63V Electrolytic Capacitor
C7_____4n7   63V Polyester or Ceramic Capacitor

D1,D2_____1N4007 1000V 1A Diodes
D3_____BZX79C24   24V 500mW Zener Diode
D4,D5,D6_____TIC206M  600V 4A TRIACs

Q1 to Q5_____BC547   45V 100mA NPN Transistors

MIC1_____Miniature Electret Microphone Capsule

SW1_____SPST Toggle Switch 250V 10-15A (See Notes)

PL1_____Male Mains Plug

SK1,SK2,SK3_____Female Mains Sockets

Notes :

• sing the Triac types suggested in the Parts List, each channel can drive several incandescent lamp bulbs, up to about 800W, but in this case a separate heatsink must be used for each Triac.
• Due to the absence of a mains transformer, avoid to connect this circuit to other appliances (e.g. to the output of an amplifier by means of a cable). Please use only the microphone enclosed into the main case to pick-up the music.
• For 110-120V mains operation, C1 value must be doubled: use two 330nF capacitors wired in parallel or one 680nF 250V capacitor. No further modification is required.
• SW1 must be a high voltage, high current switch, as it must withstand the total amount of current drawn by all bulbs wired to the three outputs of the circuit.

Warning! The device is connected to 230Vac mains, then some parts in the circuit board are subjected to lethal potential! Avoid touching the circuit when plugged and enclose it in a plastic or wooden box.

 

 

Streampowers

Multitasking Pins Circuit

It’s entirely logical that low-cost miniature microcontrollers have fewer ‘legs’ than their bigger brothers and sisters – sometimes too few. The author has given some consideration to how to economise on pins, making them do the work of several. It occurred that one could exploit the high impedance feature of a tri-state output. In this way the signal produced by the high impedance state could be used for example as a CS signal of two ICs or else as a RD/ WR signal. 

Circuit diagram:

Multitasking Pins Circuit Diagram

All we need are two op-amps or comparators sharing a single operating voltage of 5 V and outputs capable of reaching full Low and High levels in 5-V operation (preferably types with rail-to-rail outputs). Suitable examples to use are the LM393 or LM311.The resistances in the voltage dividers in this circuit are uniformly 10 kilo ohms. Consequently input A lies at half the operating voltage (2.5 V), assuming nothing is connected to the input – or the microcontroller pin connected is at high impedance. 

The non-inverting input of IC1A lies at two thirds and the inverting input of IC1B at one third of the operating voltage, so that in both cases the outputs are set at High state. If the microcontroller pin at input A becomes Low, the output of IC1B becomes Low and that of IC1A goes High. If A is High, everything is reversed.

source by :streampowers

Model Railway Short Circuit Beeper

Short circuits in the tracks, points or wiring are almost inevitable when building or operating a model railway. Although transformers for model systems must be protected against short circuits by built-in bimetallic switches, the response time of such switches is so long that is not possible to immediately localise a short that occurs while the trains are running, for example. Furthermore, bimetallic protection switches do not always work properly when the voltage applied to the track circuit is relatively low. 

Circuit diagram :

Model Railway Short-Circuit Beeper Circuit Diagram

The rapid-acting acoustic short-circuit detector described here eliminates these problems. However, it requires its own power source, which is implemented here in the form of a GoldCap storage capacitor with a capacity of 0.1 to 1 F. A commonly available reed switch (filled with an inert gas) is used for the current sensor, but in this case it is actuated by a solenoid instead of a permanent magnet. An adequate coil is provided by several turns of 0.8–1 mm enamelled copper wire wound around a drill bit or yarn spool and then slipped over the glass tube of the reed switch. This technique generates only a negligible voltage drop. The actuation sensitivity of the switch (expressed in ampèreturns or A-t)) deter-mines the number of turns required for the coil. For instance, if you select a type rated at 20–40 A-t and assume a maxi-mum allowable operating current of 6 A, seven turns (40 ÷ 6 = 6.67) will be sufficient. As a rule, the optimum number of windings must be determined empirically, due to a lack of specification data. 

As you can see from the circuit diagram, the short-circuit detector is equally suitable for AC and DC railways. With Märklin transformers (HO and I), the track and lighting circuits can be sensed together, since both circuits are powered from a single secondary winding. 

Coil L1 is located in the common ground lead (‘O’ terminal), so the piezoelectric buzzer will sound if a short circuit is present in either of the two circuits. The (positive) trigger voltage is taken from the lighting circuit (L) via D1 and series resistor R1. Even though the current flowing through winding L1 is an AC or pulsating DC current, which causes the contact reeds to vibrate in synchronisation with the mains frequency, the buzzer will be activated because a brief positive pulse is all that is required to trigger thyristor Th1. The thyristor takes its anode voltage from the GoldCap storage capacitor (C2), which is charged via C2 and R2.  The alarm can be manually switched off using switch S1, since although the thyris-tor will return to the blocking state after C2 has been discharged if a short circuit is present the lighting circuit, this will not happen if there is a short circuit in the track circuit. C1 eliminates any noise pulses that may be generated. 

As a continuous tone does not attract as much attention as an intermittent beep, an intermittent piezoelectric generator is preferable. As almost no current flows during the intervals between beeps and the hold current through the thyristor must be kept above 3 mA, a resistor with a value of 1.5–1.8 kΩ is connected in parallel with the buzzer. This may also be necessary with certain types of continuous-tone buzzers if the operating current is less than 3 mA. The Zener diode must limit the operating voltage to 5.1 V, since the rated volt-age of the GoldCap capacitor is 5.5 V.

 

 

 

source by : Streampowers

Multitasking Pins Circuit

It’s entirely logical that low-cost miniature microcontrollers have fewer ‘legs’ than their bigger brothers and sisters – sometimes too few. The author has given some consideration to how to economise on pins, making them do the work of several. It occurred that one could exploit the high impedance feature of a tri-state output. In this way the signal produced by the high impedance state could be used for example as a CS signal of two ICs or else as a RD/ WR signal. 

Circuit diagram:

Multitasking Pins Circuit Diagram

All we need are two op-amps or comparators sharing a single operating voltage of 5 V and outputs capable of reaching full Low and High levels in 5-V operation (preferably types with rail-to-rail outputs). Suitable examples to use are the LM393 or LM311.The resistances in the voltage dividers in this circuit are uniformly 10 kilo ohms. Consequently input A lies at half the operating voltage (2.5 V), assuming nothing is connected to the input – or the microcontroller pin connected is at high impedance. 

The non-inverting input of IC1A lies at two thirds and the inverting input of IC1B at one third of the operating voltage, so that in both cases the outputs are set at High state. If the microcontroller pin at input A becomes Low, the output of IC1B becomes Low and that of IC1A goes High. If A is High, everything is reversed.

source by :streampowers

Description

Here is a simple and humble 2 Watts mini audio amplifier circuit suitable for small pocket radios and other portable audio gadgets.The circuit is based on Phillips Semiconductors IC TDA 7052.The amplifier can be run even from a 3V Mercury button cell.This makes it ideal for battery operated gadgets.

The IC TDA7052 is a mono output amplifier coming in a 8-lead DI package (DIP). The device is mainly designed for battery-operated portable audio circuits. The features of TDA 7052 include ,no external components needed,  no switch-on or switch-off click sounds , great overall stability ,very low power consumption(quiescent current 4mA) , low THD, no  heat sinks required and short-circuit proof.

The gain of TDA 7052 is fixed internally at 40 dB. . To compensate the reduction of output power due to low voltage supply  the TDA7052 uses the Bridge-Tied-Load principle (BTL) which can provide  an output  of around 1 to 2 W  Rms(THD = 10%) into an 8 Ohm load with a power supply of 6 V.

In the circuit the potentiometer can be used to control the volume. Capacitor C1 and C2 are meant for  filtering the supply voltage if a battery eliminator is used as supply source. For operations using a battery C1 and C2 are not necessary.

Mini Audio Amplifier Circuit Diagram with Parts List:

Notes.

• Assemble the circuit on a good quality PCB or common board .
• If you are a little expert, you can assemble the  circuit in a match box including the speaker.

Simple VGA to BNC Adapter Converter Circuit

There are monitors which only have three BNC inputs and which use composite synchronization (‘sync on green’). This circuit has been designed with these types of monitor in mind. As can be seen, the circuit has been kept very simple, but it still gives a reasonable performance. The principle of operation is very straightforward. The RGB signals from the VGA connector are fed to three BNC connectors via AC-coupling capacitors. These have been added to stop any direct current from entering the VGA card. A pull-up resistor on the green output provides a DC offset, while a transistor (a BS170 MOSFET) can switch this output to ground. It is possible to get synchronisation problems when the display is extremely bright, with a maximum green component.

In this case the value of R2 should be reduced a little, but this has the side effect that the brightness noticeably decreases and the load on the graphics card increases. To keep the colour balance the same, the resistors for the other two colors (R1 en R3) have to be changed to the same value as R2. An EXOR gate from IC1 (74HC86) combines the separate V-sync and H-sync signals into a composite sync signal. Since the sync in DOS-modes is often inverted compared to the modes commonly used by Windows, the output of IC1a is inverted by IC1b. JP1 can then by used to select the correct operating mode. This jumper can be replaced by a small two-way switch, if required.

 

  

This switch should be mounted directly onto the PCB, as any connecting wires will cause a lot of interference. The PCB has been kept as compact as possible, so the circuit can be mounted in a small metal (earthed!) enclosure. With a monitor connected the current consumption will be in the region of 30 mA. A 78L05 voltage regulator provides a stable 5 V, making it possible to use any type of mains adapter, as long as it supplies at least 9 V. Diode D2 provides protection against a reverse polarity.

LED D1 indicates when the supply is present. The circuit should be powered up before connecting it to an active VGA output, as otherwise the sync signals will feed the circuit via the internal protection diodes of IC1, which can be noticed by a dimly lit LED. This is something best avoided.

Resistors:
R1,R2,R3 = 470Ω
R4 = 100Ω
R5 = 3kΩ3
Capacitors:
C1,C3,C5 = 47µF 25V radial
C2,C4,C6,C7,C10 = 100nF ceramic
C8 = 4µF7 63V radial
C9 = 100µF 25V radial
Semiconductors:
D1 = LED, high-efficiency
D2 = 1N4002
T1 = BS170
IC1 = 74HC86
IC2 = 78L05
Miscellaneous:
JP1 = 3-way pinheader with jumper
K1 = 15-way VGA socket (female), PCB mount (angled pins)
K2,K3,K4 = BNC socket (female), PCB mount, 75Ω    . Link