Articles and news - 10

Dual-coil relay driver uses only two
Dual-coil relay driver uses only two MOSFETs
Sep 24, 2024 Circuits

Latching relays change their states when you apply a short voltage pulse to their coils. Because these relays require no continuous coil currents to keep their states, you can save considerable power in the driver circuit...

Brute force mitigation PWM VDD ground
Brute force mitigation of PWM VDD and ground "saturation" errors
Sep 23, 2024 Circuits

An excerpt from Christopher Paul’s “Parsing PWM (DAC) performance: Part 1 – Mitigating errors”: “I was surprised to discover that when an output of a popular µP...

Mighty 555 ESR-meter
Mighty 555 and ESR-meter
Sep 19, 2024 Circuits

Let’s see how you can effectively double the output sink current of the plain old 555 timer...

Switch mode hotwire thermostat
Switch mode hotwire thermostat
Sep 19, 2024 Circuits

In recent EDN design ideas, we’ve seen thermostat designs that meld the functions of sensor and heater into a single device: FET, BJT, or even a simple length of fine gauge copper wire...

Digital pot can control gain over
Digital pot can control gain over a 90 dB span like an electromechanical
Sep 18, 2024 Circuits

A short while back, I published a design idea that uses a single linear pot to control the gain of a high performance OP37 decompensated op-amp over an unusually wide (–30 dB to +60 dB) range...

12-channel LED driver Diodes Incorporated enables
12-channel LED driver from Diodes Incorporated enables superior performance for digital signage and displays
Sep 15, 2024 News

Diodes Incorporated introduces a new 12-channel, constant-current LED driver, the AL58221. It features 12 open-drain outputs that are rated to 24 V and sink up to 60 mA of high-accuracy current with a fast transient response...

Precision current source is software-programmable
Precision current source is software-programmable
Sep 12, 2024 Articles

With the addition of a few inexpensive miniature components, the hard-wired, voltage-controlled current source of yesterday becomes a software-programmable voltage-controlled current source...

Gain-of-two instrumentation amplifier uses no external
Gain-of-two instrumentation amplifier uses no external resistors
Sep 9, 2024 Articles

An instrumentation amplifier offers precise gain without feedback resistors, and, at any value of gain, it provides high input impedances at its noninverting and inverting inputs. In a typical IC instrumentation amplifier, a single resistor...

LED drivers minimize power dissipation
LED drivers minimize power dissipation
Sep 3, 2024 Circuits

One option for driving high-brightness LEDs uses the standard stepdown buck converter. The sense resistor, RS, generates a feedback voltage, VFB, that sets the desired LED current...

One-wire bus powers water-level sensor
One-wire bus powers water-level sensor
Sep 2, 2024 Circuits

You can use the simple sensor circuit to remotely monitor the level of liquid water in a vessel such as a swimming pool. The LMC555 sensor oscillator provides an output-signal frequency that is a function of the water level...