Circuits & Schematics

Instead of the conventional approach of backing up a DAC with an amplifier to boost output, this design idea charts a less traveled by path to power. It integrates an LM317 positive regulator with a simple 8-bit PWM DAC topology to obtain a robust ...

Figure 1 is a cheap and cheerful voltage inverter I offered awhile back in “A simple, accurate, and efficient charge pump voltage inverter for $1” ( Ref. 1 ). Figure 1. The generic and versatile xx4053 provides the basis for a cheap, ...

Using the MAX4373 high-side current-sense amplifier, a circuit can be designed with a voltage range to 28 V. All that is needed is a general-purpose NPN transistor. The latching-comparator output (COUT1) on the MAX4373, a high-side current-sense ...

ADC circuits that resolve signal into 20 or more bits need a low-noise signal source for measuring parameters such as harmonic distortion or effective number of bits. A notch filter removes the fundamental frequency from the oscillators signal for ...

Mystery solved? Not quite. I made a test coupon of the output transmission line and measured it. Over the crossover region, it showed a mere 0.04 dB loss with increasing frequency, much less than the measured result. I turned my attention back to ...

Students, hobbyists, and professionals today enjoy unprecedented access to powerful and affordable test equipment for understanding and building electronic projects. But as enthusiast projects have become more advanced and ambitious, it is still ...

This circuit is a simple sweep generator. The sawtooth is generated by the PNP transistor and the 555 . The transistor together with the 2 diodes at the base form a constant current source which charges the 330 nF capacitor. If 2/3V CC (=6 V) is ...

Figure 1 shows a variation on a sine wave oscillator, it uses just two transistors and a single variable resistor to set the frequency. Figure 1. Just a couple of components are needed for a simple tunable sine wave oscillator. The section around ...

Driving LEDs at a regulated current from low supply voltages can be difficult because minimal overhead voltage is available for control circuits. A current-mirror architecture is suitable but usually works only with ICs with well-matched ...

This dummy-load circuit has been in use at Maxim for more than 10 years (see the Figure 1). It's useful for testing power supplies and power amplifiers as well as drivers for LEDs, relays, and solenoids. Plus, it overcomes the limitations of ...