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Category Archives: Electronics
Using SUMPRODUCT to Evaluate Two-Variable Polynomial
One of the most common computation tasks that my customers face is estimating battery capacity based on the battery's temperature and discharge current. Figure 1 shows a example of the capacity curves for a typical lead-acid battery. Ten years ago, I chose to implement this function with an Excel spreadsheet that used a polynomial approximation for this function. An engineer today asked me to explain how my Excel implementation works, and I felt this would be a good topic for a post. This approach is implemented using SUMPRODUCT – no helper cells were required. Continue reading
Posted in Batteries, Electronics
2 Comments
Open-Drain Comparator Circuit With Settable Trigger and Output Levels
Quote of the Day If you don't stick to your values when they are being tested, they're not values; they're hobbies. — Jon Stewart Introduction I received a circuit design question from a reader who was asking how to design … Continue reading
Posted in Electronics
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Calculating a Parameter's Worst-Case Range
Many electronic systems are required to generate an alarm when they detect their power failing – the alarm is referred to as a "dying gasp". These systems are required to generate a dying gasp alarm when their input voltage drops below a specified level. Continue reading
Posted in Electronics
3 Comments
My Personal PCB Design and Build Process
I have been designing circuits since I was a boy, and my passion for circuits has only grown over time. My home designs focus on sensor interfaces that I hook up to the Internet using Raspberry Pie and Arduino digital interfaces. These open-source HW interfaces make it possible to create incredibly powerful designs at home. Continue reading
Posted in Electronics
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Lightning-Induced Surge on Cable Wiring
Because I have had to deal with lightning in all sorts of contexts (e.g. military equipment, commercial hardware, consumer products), I have developed an enormous respect for the power of lightning (Figure 1). Because of this respect, I have worked to ensure that my own home has excellent lightning protection, including a sophisticated ground system. Even with all my precautions, last weekend lightning struck near my home and caused my garage door to open – letting rain into the garage, and my garage door opener to become unresponsive. Fortunately, I just had to cycle power again on the garage door opener and it started to work. Continue reading
Posted in Electronics
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3D Plot Example Using PCB Trace Current vs Trace Area and Temperature Rise
I was asked this morning about how to create a 3D plot in Mathcad that shows a surface, two lines on the surface, and marks the point of intersection of the two lines (Figure 1). It just so happens that I have been looking at the amount of current that a PCB trace of a given area can carry for a given temperature rise above ambient. While the curve itself is a bit boring and viewing it in 3D does not add any value, this example does illustrate the procedure for generating this type of plot. Continue reading
Posted in Electronics
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Extended Reach PoE Example
The popularity of Power Over Ethernet (PoE) has proven that customers find value in using a single cable for both data and power distribution. Unfortunately, copper-based Cat 5e/6 cable is limited to a 100 meters because of data transmission issues. To circumvent this limit, some equipment vendors are using composite fiber/copper cables – a single cable that contains fiber for data and large gauge copper wire for power distribution (Figure 1). Continue reading
Posted in Electronics, Power Over Ethernet
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New Zealand Complex Phone Line Impedance
I received an email today asking me about the phone line impedance differences between New Zealand (Figure 1) and Australia. This is an easy question to answer, and I wrote up a quick Mathcad worksheet to perform the calculation. Continue reading
Posted in Electronics, Telephones
1 Comment
Instrumentation Amplifier Gain Adjustment
I have an existing circuit for which I need to modify the front-end gain. The gain is provided by an LT1101, which is a common instrumentation amplifier. This part is normally used with one of its two fixed gain settings (10x, 100x). As commonly happens, I need to find a way to resolve an issue without making major changes to a circuit. The designers of the LT1101 provided you a way to modify the amplifiers gain by adding two resistors to the circuit. Figure 1 shows the modified circuit, with the added resistors marked with red ovals and labeled Rx. Continue reading
Posted in Electronics
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A Lesson Learned from Lab Testing a Colpitts Oscillator
It is the weekend and time to build my personal circuits. Some of my recent personal work has been focused on detecting cars in my cabin's driveway by using a loop of wire that experience an inductance change when a car passes over it. This weekend I built the Colpitts oscillator I discussed in this post, which is part of a car detector improvement I am considering. The circuit I am using now is not as sensitive as I would like, and I am hoping a few changes will allow me to detect smaller vehicles, like ATVs. Continue reading
Posted in Cabin, Electronics
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