LEDs need current to illuminate, and current usually flows through a power supply to an LED. A typical LED-driver circuit uses a transistor to provide current and a series resistor to decrease the voltage you apply to the LED. Unfortunately, the ...
We’ve seen lots of interesting conversations and Design Idea (DI) collaboration devising circuits for power switching using inexpensive (and cute!) momentary-contact SPST pushbuttons. A recent and interesting extension of this theme by ...
“Two halves make a whole” is a very old and often true maxim. For example, it’s almost always true when said about AC phase angle power control. You rarely want significant alternating half-cycle asymmetry due to the (usually ...
Check out this link for On Semiconductor’s datasheet for a line of “Zero-Cross Optocoupled Triac Drivers.” The ability to zero-cross when turning on AC line voltage to some loads may be advantageous. The following sketch in Figure ...
Lively discussions have sprung up here in editor Aalyia Shaukat’s Design Ideas regarding the limitations and quirks of, and design tricks for, the current control topologies shown in Figure 1. Figure 1. How to control amps of I OUT with mA of ...
There have been numerous circuits published in EDN as design ideas (DI) for the past few months, centering around the “Flip ON Flop OFF” ( Ref. 1 ) circuit originally published by Stephen Woodward. These are all designed for DC voltages ...
It’s just a fact, I’m curiously fond of topologies that combine PWM switching and filtering circuitry with power handling devices like adjustable voltage regulator chips. This scheme makes power-capable DACs with double-digit wattage ...
Industrial-control circuits often derive their power from widely varying sources that can exceed the 40 V maximum rating of popular switching ICs. This Design Idea presents a simple, flexible, and inexpensive buck switcher that converts an input ...
The 16-bit DACs are a de facto standard for high DC accuracy and precision domain conversion, but surprisingly few are fully 16-bit (0.0015%) precise. Even when described as “high precision,” some have inaccuracy and integral ...
The circuit below will trickle charge a four cell pack of AA or AAA NiMH batteries. The circuit draws current from the +5 v available a USB connection and pumps about 70 mA of current into the battery. This should be enough current to fully charge ...