Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
The
Workbench
POPULAR ELECTRONICS _
ELECTRONIC - ' . . . . . . .
EXPERIMENTER'S
D=O&~[Q)[ID@@[Z1983
TOOLS & EQUIPMENT FOR ELECTRONIC WORKBENCHES _. _. _.. .. _. _. ..... _. .. .. . . . . ... .. .... . . . . ... . .... John McVeigh 3
HIGH-PERFORMANCE "SCRATCH & RUMBLE" FILTEAS .... . ........ . ...... ...... ..... . .. . ... . . .. ... . .... John H. Roberts 15
' METER . . ........ . . .. . . . . . . . . .. ......... . . . . . . . . . .. ..... .. Rush W. Hood
CHECK YOUR HEAT LOSS WITH A DEGREE-DAY 21
EXTRA KEYBOARDS FOR MICROCOMPUTERS .. . . . . .. .. .. . . .. . . . . . . . .. .. .. . . . . .. . .. .. . ... . . . ... . . ... .. Adolph A. Mangieri 26
A LOW-COST 16-LED LOGIC MONITOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tom Kronef'lwetter 29
BUILD A VOCAL "TRUTH" ANALYZER . . . . . . . . .............. . . ...... . ...... . ...... . ...... .. . Colleen McNeice & Roger Cota 32
EXPERIMENTING WITH A SOUND-EFFECTS GENERATOR . ... . ........... .. .. . . . .. . . . . ....... . .... . ..... . ... Frank I. Gilpin 39
ACCURATE WAYS TO MEASURE IN-CIRCUIT RESISTANCES ... . . . . .. . ... . ... . .. .... .. ... .. . Frank Witmer & Diane Jasinksi 44
BUILD AN INFRA-RED ROAD ICING ALERT . . . ... . . .. . . . . .. . .. .. .. . . . . . . .. ... . . . .. .. .. ... . . . .. ... . . . . ..... Thomas R. Fox 47
ACTIVE FILTER IMPROVES MORSE CODE READABILITY .. .. . . .. . . . . ... .. . .. . . . . .. . .. . . . . ... .. . . ... . . . . .. . ... Lou Dezettel 51
BUILD A MOTION-DETECTOR ALARM . . . ... . . . . . ....... . . . . .... .. . . . .... . . .. . . . . . . . .. . . ............ . . . . Walter Gontowski 56
ADD A " KEY-DOWN" AUDIBLE SIGNAL TO YOUR COMPUTER . ............ . . .. . . ........ . ..... . . ...... ...... Roy Auer, Jr. 65
AN EXPERIMENTER'S GUIDE TO RELAY CONTROL ............. . .. . . .. . .. .. .. . . ... . . .. .. . . . ...... . . ........... AI Sydnor 67
WAH-WAH FOOT PEDAL .............. . ............... . ... ... ....... . ...... . . . .. . . . ....... . .. . . ... .. . . .. ... Fred Puccetti 72
DIGITALLY PROGRAMMED VARMINT ZAPPER . . .. .. . ... . . .. . ... .... ... . .... . . . . ... . . . .... . . . .... . . . . .. ... . . . Fritz Mueller 76
A LOW-COST A/D CONVERTER .... . ... .. ......... . . .. ..... . .. . . ... .. .. . . . . . .. .. .. . . . .. .. . .... . . . . ... ..... Sami A. Shakir 79
BUILD A METAL LOCATOR .. . . . .... . .. . . . ....... . .. . . . . .. . . . ... .. .. . . . . . . . ... . .. .. . . .. . . . . . ...... ... . . . . . Robert Krieger 82
BUILD A PERSONAL RADIATION MONITOR . . ... .... , . . ... ... . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .... J. Steidley, M. Nakashian & G. Entine 87
BUILD A PHOTO DARKROOM Slr-IK SENTINEL . .... ...................... . .... . .... . .......... ... . . . . . . ..... Frank I. Gilpin 92
HOW TO ADD TRIGGERED SWEEP TO AN OSCILLOSCOPE ........ .................. . . . ........... . . ... ... . David A. Israel 98
A 3-WAY DRIVE SYSTEM FOR SPEAKERS . ....... ... . ... ..... ... . .......... . ...... ... .. . . . . . ........ .... . J.F.P. Marchand 102
SPECIAL COUNTER CIRCUITS FOR EXPERIMENTERS . . . . . .. . . . . ... .. . . . . . .... . . . ... . . ...... .. ....... . .. Patrick J. Delaney 107
MEASURING LARGE CURRENTS WITH A DMM ........ . ... . . .... . . . . . . . ... . .... . .... ..... . . ... . . . . . . .. . .. Robert H. Johns 111
TROUBLESHOOTING PHASE-LOCKED-LOOP CIRCUITS . . . . . . . . . . ... . .. . . . . . .. . . .... . . . . .... . .... . . . . ... .. .. Harold Kinley 114
BUILD AN AUTOMOBILE WINDSHIELD WIPER CONTROLLER . . . .. . .. .. . . . . . . ..... .. ...... . ..... . . . ... . ... William Kraengel 118
INEXPENSIVE AUTO BATTERY TESTER . . . . ... . ... . . ... . . . . .. ............ . ................... . ... . . . . .. . . ... . Hank Olson 121
HOW FAR DID YOU CYCLE TODAY? ....... . . .. ... ... ... . .... ..... . ........... . ........ . ... .. . . . ... . ....... Arthur V. Clark 123
ELECTRONIC EXPERIMENTER'S HANDBOOK is published annually by Ziff-Davis Publishing Company at One Park Avenue
New York, New York 1001 6. Richard P. Friese, President; Furman Hebb, Executive Vice-President; Selwyn Taubman, treasurer; Bertram A. Abrams, Secretary
COPYR I G HT~ 1982 BY ZIFF-DAVIS PUBLI SHING COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
PERMISSIONS: Material in this publication may not be reproduced in any form without permission. Requests for permission should be directed to
John Babcock, Rights & Permissions, Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, One Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016.
The publisher has no knowledge of any proprietary rights which will be violated by the making or using of any items disclosed in this Handbook.
1983 EDITION
)
4!!11!101 ZIFF-DAVIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
APPLI President
RICHARD P. FRIESE
.......
-1-- - _.~ Vice President, Annuals
,-.......-.\ JERRY SCHNEIDER
Treasurer
SELWYN TAUBMAN
Secretary
BERTRAM A. ABRAMS
THE COVER
;:0:: .
Card No._ _ __ _ __ ___LXp. Date _ _ __
Signature _ _ __ _ __ _ _ _ _ __ _ lighting control, etc.
~
Mr./Mrs./M s. - --,(p;;;:lea
=seCOp::C 1"-
nn;:;- ru"n :n::a:;;:
m::;e)_ _ _ _ __ "" ' Member Audit Bureau
of C 1rc ul atio.1S
~
Address _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __Apt. _
"A craftsman is only as good as the tools possesses have a direct beanng on which
with which he works" is as true in the areas of personal electronics he will be
field of hobby electronics as any other. able to explore.
Tools are no substitute for knowledge, of In this editorial focus, we discuss how
course, but lacking key it~ms or using an electronics workbench should be set
improper ones can put severe limitations up and consider several factors that
on an experimenter~s activities. should be taken into account in deciding
The type and variety of tools and test what items you need for your workbench
equipment that an electronics hobbyist as related to your electronics interest.
for maximum user comfort and safety, pair of wood saw horses can form the
and minimum fatigue. !(space availabil- nucleus of a fine workbench.
ity arid resources permit, the electron- In any event, the work area should be
ics .workbench should be just that and at least 24 inches (61 em) deep and 48
only that, because many projects inches (122 em) wide. Having a work
require more .t han just a day's work. area of that size or larger v.ill allow you
Thus, a partially assembled (or re- to spread out components, a schematic
paired) project can be ieft undisturbed drawin!;l or assembly manual, a chassis,
until th~ next time it is to be worked on. and tools, and still hal(e some elbow
In contrast, a wo rk area that serves room! A smaller work area will likely leE!d
double duty, as, say, a kitchen table, to crowding, fatig!Je, impatience and wir-
would cause gross inefficiency and ing errors.
frustrations. In this case, everything A highly desirable featur~ is having
would have to be periodically removed one or more shelves above the main
The Work Area
so that the "work area" could be !JSed work area. Such $helves allow one to
for its original purpose. mount frequently used test equipment (a
The fundamental requirement for an multimeter, oscilloscope, power supply,
The workbench is the one place above electronics workbench is that it provide etc.) within easy reach without perma-
all others where the el~ctronics buff a solid, flat, rugged, nonmetallic surface nently tieing up substantial portions of
p!Jrsues his hobby. It is there that he on which one can work. Of course, an limited work space.
takes a circuit idea 0 r description and a9tUE!I workbench - a structure specifi- The work area surface should be cov-
reduces it to a working rrodel. Since a cally designed and constructed for this ered with a ribbed rubber runner. This
serious hobbyist spendE' a substantial purpose-can be used. However, if runner will absorb punishment that would
amount of his special - i:~terest time at budgetary constraints rule this out, a otherwise damage an unprotected work
his workbench, it should be designed sheet of 112- or 314-inch plywood and a surface. Also, its ribbeq surface will pre-
1983 EDITION 3
vent hand tools, hardware, and small
components from rolling off the work-
bench and onto the floor.
Selecting a chair will largely be
influenced by the physical characteris-
tics of the workbench. The chair should
be high enough to put one's elbows at
the same level as the work area. If the
workbench is much higher than the aver-
&ge kitchen table, use of a common
kitchen-type chair would be inadvisable.
The ultimate in work chairs is a drafting
chair with adjustable seat height and
back support.
4
ELECTRONIC EXPEf>1IMENTER'S HANDBOOK
There should be a source of ac elec- inets can be stacked either vertically or scavenging purposes. Such items are
trical power near the workbench. The horizontally on shelving above the main usually much too large to fit in modular
bench should therefore be positioned work area. storage cabinets. A nearby closet that is
near at least two electrical wall outlets, After a few years, most electronics not being put to another use is ideal for
\
and a bench-mounted power distribution hobbyists build up a respectable "junk junk-box storage. If one is not available,
strip with a minimum of six sockets box" of discarded chassis, old projects, a wooden toy chest or a free-standing
shOuld be plugged into one of them. The etc ., which are kept around for parts metal cabinet will probably do.
strip will be used to channel power to
test equipment, lamps, soldering tool,
etc. Choose a strip with a minimum cur- a molten state. This section will deal
rent rating of 15 or 20 amperes and with implements needed to do this
three-conductor sockets. One with a work, as well as other facets that relate
master on/ off switch or individual to electrical assembly.
switches for each outlet is convenient to
use. Some include a master fuse or cir- Soldering Irons. A soldering tool
cuit breaker, or even individual ones for should supply sufficient heat to melt
each outlet to back up the line's master solder by heat transfer when the iron tip
ful>e or circuit breaker. is applied to a connection to be sol-
dered. There are two general classes
Stora~e. A key to high workbench utility of soldering irons-guns and pencils.
is organization. Tools, hardware, electri- A typical soldering gun is larger,
cal components and similar items should
be stored in a logical manner that
ensures quick accessibility. Certain
tools, for example, can either be kept in
nearby drawers or hung on a piece of
pegboard mounted on a nearby wall.
Tools for Electrical
Work
heavier and generates more heat than
the average pencil. Soldering of heavy-
duty conductors or connectors calls for
use of a gun because it can generate
enough heat to quickly bring a heavy
metal joint up to the proper soldering
The best way to store hardware and temperature.
sm~ll electrical components is in suit- Soldering irons in this category are
ably sized storage bins. There are mod- called guns simply because they re-
ular ones with drawers that are made of semble pistols, as shown in an accom-
transparent styrene to allow quick visual Much electronic-building and service panying photo. The gun's "trigger" is
inspection of their contents. work is centered around tlw process of actually a switch that controls applica-
Hobbyists with many items to store making secure connections between tion of ac power to a built-in transformer
can buy several such small storage cab- conductors by soldering. That is the and thence to the heating element. The
inets. Some manufacturers models with process by which two or more pieces working temperature is reached almost
different characteristic drawer sizes to of metal are bound together by a metal immediately. Some models feature mul-
hold certain items. Modular storage cab- alloy that's applied to the connection in ti-position trigger switches to provide
1983 EDITION 7
strayed. The solution to this problem is
to place the tip at ground potential so
that static charges do not have a
chance to accumulate. Several manu-
facturers now produce special solder-
ing irons whose heater I tip assemblies
are grounded. These units are readily
identifiable by their three-conductor
NEMA plugs for insertion into three-con-
ductor power sockets.
Another source of potential trouble is
peculiar to a certain type of solqering
iron . Some of the more sophisticated OK Machine & Tool
soldering implements (most of them
HSU-30 Hobby- Wrap
tool strips (right)
soldering stations) feature automati-
wraps, and unwraps
cally controlled tip temperature. These (above) wire.
implements employ some type of heat
sensing and closed-loop feedback con-
trol to gate power to the heating ele-
ment. This allows the control circuit to
compensate for variations in the
amount of heat being drawn from the
soldering tip and keep the tip at a con-
stant temperature. The switching action
of some controlled-output soldering im-
plements can generate voltage spike
which can be transmitted to . nd
adversely affect a MOS device. S
Channellock 40GS
Little Champ
designed their controlled-temperature
diagonal cutters.
soldering stations and irons in such a
way that voltage spikes are kept to a
low value.
pact, hand-held tools employ recharge-
able NiCd batteries as a power source.
Recharging is done automatically when
the iron is placed in its recharger I stand
(assuming the charger is plugged into
an ac outlet, of course).
In operation, the tips come up to P anavise
working temperature in five to eight circuit-board
seconds and cool off to ambient tem- work station.
perature in one minute or so. They can
be used to make the same kinds of
solder connections that pencils do.
The number of solder connections
able to be made before recharging is
required varies acc;ording to a particu-
lar model. Typically, about 125 or so
soldering connections can be made on
one c harge. For a standard iron, !'l typi-
cal charging interval of approximately
14 hours is needed to return the cells to
full strength. There are quick-charge
irons, however, that require only one OK Machine & Tool
hour. Others take three or four hours. BW-2630 motorized
Many optional tips for battery-pow- wrapping tool.
8
ered irons, all differing in shape and
size, can be snapped into the bodies. A
light is often built into the case of the
iron to illuminate the work area whenev-
er battery power is applied to the heat-
ing element.
It is obvious that there are many dif-
ferent types of soldering irons avail-
able. Some are better suited for a par-
ticular kind of soldering job than are
others. An experimenter who works
only with printed circuit boards will find
that a soldering pencil (especially a
modular one) will be adequate for most
(if not all) of the soldering connections
he has to make. Someone who builds
projects employing coaxial connectors
and heavy-gauge wiring will need a
higher-power soldering gun. Another
person will find a cordless soldering
iron an invaluable implement for work
far from ac outlets.The choice is often
easy for hobbyists with broad electron-
Continental Specialties ics interests. They own one of each. In
Proto Board 103.
fact, many hobbyists have more than
one modular pencil body so that much
tip switching is avoided.
nal generators, potentiometers, etc.
Solderless breadboards are valuable
design and experimenting aids that
greatly facilitate circuit prototyping. No Drivers. This category includes screw-
well-appointed electronics workbench is drivers and nut drivers. Both are
complete without one! extremely important to the mechanical
1983 EDITION 11
work ancillary to personal electronics shafts, slotted screwdriver shafts, and Wrenches. There are several types of
hobby activities. Phillips screwdriver shafts. wrenches that the electronics hobbyist
There are two basic types of screw- Nutdrivers are available with either will need from time to time. Among them
drivers-blade and Phillips. A typical solid or hollow shafts. The major advan- are the open-end wrench, the box
electronics project will employ a dozen tage to hollow-shaft drivers is that they wrench, and the plier wrench or "vise-
or more screws to fasten circuit boards, allow the user to keep a grip on the nut grips" tool.
terminal strips, etc., to the chassis or even though the screw on which the nut Open-end wrenches are used primari-
enclosure. Therefore, a complement of is mounted is protruding. Stubby nutdriv- ly on the large hexagonal nuts that
screwdrivers must be kept on hand. ers are handy when work is to be done in secure switches and controls to project
Blade screwdrivers come in a great tight places. These can be bought in panels (actually, a large nut driver is
number of sizes. A minimum of three sets that include a large slip-on handle better suited for this application) and to
should be at hand for electronics work, that multiplies torque. Extra-large nut operate chassis punches. The box
with the following blade sizes: l ie inch; drivers permit the installation of potenti- wrench has similar applications but has
31,6 to 114 inch; and 5116 inch or larger. If ometers and rotary switches without the advantage of completely enclosing
possible, a larger selection of blade risking damage to the control panel. the nut, thus eliminating the danger of
screwdrivers should be maintained. slippage that can mar a finished front
There are several " specialty" screw- Selecting Drivers. As in the case of panel. Box wrenches are not essential,
drivers which are not necessary, but are pliers, cutters, and other hand tools, but are handy to have around if the
on occasion very handy. One is a "stub- there are many, many companies manu- workbench budget permits.
by" screwdriver with a short shaft. It's facturing drivers. It is better and more The plier wrench or "vise-grips" is a
very useful in tight quarters. In really economical in the long run to buy high- tool that is not found on every electron-
tight situations, an offset screwdriver quality tools than so-called "bargains." ics workbench, but it should be. Not only
can be especially helpful. Another useful How can the electronics hobbyist tell is this an excellent tool for applying
"specialty" screwdriver is one that that the tools he is thinking of buying are brute torque to the task of turning bolts,
holds a screw against the blade of the of high quality? Here are a few things to nuts and shafts, it can also serve as a
driver. The Stanley Works makes such a look for. restraining tool and as a "third hand" for
device, called the " Screwstart", which The handles should be sturdy, made holding small parts, circuit board assem-
can be added to an existing driver. of heavy-duty plastic, and preferably blies, etc. A pair of vise-grips can be
Phillips screws, those with star- have rubber grips for comfort. Tool adjusted for a given jaw opening and has
shaped holes in their heads as opposed shafts should be deeply and firmly a locking lever and in some cases a
to straight slots, are often found in elec- embedded into handles in the case of separate unlocking lever for quick-action
tronic equipment. Phillips screwdrivers, individual drivers (as opposed to plug-in clamping and release. Vise-grips come in
like many other hand tools, come in a sets) . The shafts of plug-ins should lock several sizes, but a 10-inch model is suffi-
variety of sizes. There are four standard firmly into place when inserted in the cient for most workbench applications.
points, No. 1 through 4. The star-shaped master handle. Tools should have shafts
hole in a Phillips screw and the tip of a of tempered, plated steel and have MetaiWorking Tools. Experimenters
Phillips driver must fit together properly ground tips. They should be well-bal- who mount their projects in metallic
so that the walls of the screw head or anced and comfortable in the hand. Per- enclosures will need an assortment of
the tip of the driver or both will not be haps the easiest way to choose high- metal-working and metal-finishing imple-
damaged. In electronics work, No. 1 and quality tools is to sticl< with established ments. A hacksaw is used to cut large
No. 2 Phillips drivers are those usually names such as Xcelite, Stanley, Vaco, and irregular-shaped chassis holes, to
employed. Channellock and Sears Craftsma n. trim control shafts, to cut off brackets,
One way to satisfy screwdriver re- etc. Most hacksaws are adjustable so
quirements is to buy a driver set contain- Allen Wrenches and Miniature Driv that they can accept blades of several
ing a handle into which any of several ers. Many control knobs have small Al- different lengths. More important than
driver shafts can be inserted, such as len or slotted setscrews. To install or blade length, however, is coarseness.
Xcelite' s Model CK-5 driver set. Each of remove such knobs, a set of Allen The number of teeth per unit length
the shafts is doubled-ended, yielding wrenches and miniature screwdrivers determines blade coarseness. For gen-
two different tips on each shaft. should be kept on hand. There are other eral-purpose work, a hacksaw blade
uses for miniature tools, especially in should have between 14 and 18 teeth
Nutdrivers are like screwdrivers ex- such fields as remote control modeling, per inch. A relative of the hacksaw, the
ce'pt that they fit nuts instead of screw- model railroading and slot-car racing, "coping saw, " has a thin blade and is
heads.They are very useful in mounting a and the fabrication of miniaturized elec- very handy when cutting curved and
nut on a captive threaded stud and in tronic projects. Performing such work irregular-shaped holes.
holding a nut while its screw is being when equipped with a precision minia- Metal shears allow the hobbyist to
tightened. (A pair of pliers should not be ture tool set is so much easier that the cut sheet metal for chassis, brackets,
used to hold hex- or square-head purchase of such a set is well justified. shields and other items. Chassis
sc rews.) Nutdrivers are available as One of the big names in miniature punches take muc h of the drudgery out
individual drivers with separate handles, precision tools is Moody Tools, Inc. (42- of cutting large holes in chassis and
as individual driver shafts that plug into a 60 Crompton Avenue, East Greenwich, panels for meters, connectors, sockets,
common handle, or as individual sockets Rl 02818). Jensen Tools & Alloys is etc. Chassis punches, which are manu-
that plug into a universal handle I shaft another, with a host of precision tools, factured by such companies as Green-
combination. There are master driver including many tool kits ( 1230 So. Priest lee Tool and GC Electronics (both in
sets available that inc lude nutdriver Dr., Tempe, AZ 85281) . Rockford, IL), come in a variety of
1983 EDITION
needed if a lot of metal working will be
done. It is very useful in holding chassis
and other items as they are drilled or
sawed. The jaws of the vise should be at
least 2 inches long, and the vise should
be a swivel unit which rotates in the
horizontal plane. This will allow its jaws
to form any desired angle with respect
to the edge of the workbench.
1111111
At least four files should be kept on
hand for metal work. Round, half-round,
and "rat-tail" files are especially useful
in opening up a hole or deburring. Most
electronics metal work involves alumi-
num chassis. Because aluminum is rela-
tively soft, coarse files are the best.
Stanley Model 61-130
Miniature Power Tools. Hobbyists nut driver- set.
who do a lot of printed-circuit work will
find most power tools to be too big and
unwieldy. The answer to their problem is
a miniature electric hand drill designed . Crescent Tool
especially for pc applications. Among adjustable wrench set.
the companies that make such tools are
Micro Electronics Systems, Weller, Ore- speed drill and grinder, which comes in close circuit-board work wouldn't be
mel, and the Wahl Clipper Corporation. models ranging from the general-pur- without one.
Those printed-circuit enthusiasts who pose Model 260 to the heavy-duty, vari-
already have a Wahl "lsotip" cordless able Model 380. Light in weight, the tool In Conclusion. Hands-on personal
soldering iron will no doubt be interested is easy to handle and accepts drill bits eleCtronics calls for a work area
in Wahl's Model 6500 PC Drill attach- ranging from No. 80 to No. 30, depend- stocked with a considerable assortment
ment. This unit plugs into the body of the ing on which of three chuck collets is to of tools, test equipment, hardware, etc.
soldering iron and converts it into a bat- be used. Some items are absolutely necessary;
tery-powered electric drill with a No. 56 Another flexible hand-held power tool others are convenient and enhance work
bit and an operating speed of 10,000 to is the Weller Model 651K variable- efficiency. Many implements can be
12,000 rpm. Wahl also makes special- speed Mini-Shop Kit. This kit inclu_des a found in any well-stocked hardware
ized Electronics Technician Drills with handheld power tool and a whole store. Others are specialty items that
collet chucks designed specifically for complement of drilling, grinding, polish- must be obtained from more exotic
pc applications. ing, sanding and cutting attachments. sources. Look into your needs now so
A good tool to use for circuit-board Such mini-tools are not for everyone, but that your future electronics work will be
work is the Dremel Moto Tool high- those who do a considerable amount of more enjoyable to pursue. ()
l:.Mt:R"GENCy
TV REPAIR
COMPANy
/!Jzl:t iv]
" THIS NEW MICROCOMPUTER REPLACES THAT UNIT.
WHERE DO YOU WANT IT?"
14 ELECTRONIC EXPERIMENTER'S HANDBOOK
I N THEORY, "scratch" and "rumble"
filters are useful additions to an audio
tion. This circuit is commonly known as
the Sa lien I Key design because it was
The cutoff (- 3-dB) frequency of the
high- or low-pass filter can be calculated
system. In practice, however, the filters described in a paper by R.P. Sallen and from fc = 11[21r(R1R2C1C2)%].1n the
built into many components have either E.L. Key that appeared in the March high-pass filter of Fig. 1A, the value of
inappropriate cutoff frequencies or too 1955 issue of the IRE Transactions on C 1 is chosen to equal that of C2 and the
gradual slopes (or both) to adequately Circuit Theory. Shown schematically in resistance of R 1 is chosen to be half
perform their intended functions. If Fig. 1 are second-order, high-pass (A) that of R2. This simplifies the equation
you're dissatisfied with those contained and low-pass (B) active filters employing for the cutoff frequency so that it takes
in your preamplifier, integrated amplifier, operational amplifiers. Although op the form: fc = 112.8281rC1R1. Similarly,
or receiver, try the quartet of high-per- amps as we know them were not avail- in the low-pass filter of Fig. 1B, the
formance active filters presented here. able in 1955, Sallen and Key's paper is resistance of R 1 is chosen to equal that
These filters are designed around a applicable to filters employing more of R2 and the capacitance of C2 is
quad BIFET operational amplifieriC, and recently developed active devices. chosen to be half that of C 1. The simpli-
can be inserted into or removed from the These filters have unity gain within fied equation for the low-pass cutoff fre-
signal chain at the push of a switch. The their passbands, a gain that is indepen- quency is: fc = 1 I 2.8281rR2C2. Note
project can be built at low cost, and its dent of resistor values. They have sec- that the low-pass filter resembles the
compact size allows it to be tucked into ond-order responses, which exhibit an high-pass design except that the posi-
an existing audio component. Also, its attenuation of 3 dB at the cutoff frequen- tions of the resistors and capacitors
modest power requirements can easily cy and an ultimate slope of 12 dB I have been interchanged.
be satisfied by the host component. octave. For audio applications, the most If optimal filter performance is to be
useful VCVS filter is one whose achieved, the passive components used
About the Filters. One of the simplest response is "maximally flat," whose Q should be of high quality. For example,
active filter designs is based on the volt- is 0. 707. This is true of the filters the resistors should be carbon- or metal-
age-controlled voltage source configura- described in this article. film components and the capacitors
BY JOHN H. ROBERTS
Low-cost
ultrasonic I
infrasonic
circuit
plugs into
preamp's
external
jacks
FILTERS
1983 EDITION 15
should have mica, polystyrene or Mylar
dielectrics. The criteria for choosing the
operational amplifier are those that Rl
Cl
make an op amp well suited for use as a
voltage follower-high input impedance, Cl
Rl RZ
low input current, and high speed. The OUTPUT OUTPUT
author's choice is the Texas Instruments
TL074CN, a quad BIFET op amp that
satisfies these requirements handily.
IN='
j_ 1
INPUT
j_ CZI ' 1
The complete schematic of the pro
ject is shown in Fig. 2. In all, four filters (A) (8)
appear in this diagram-a low-pass and
a high-pass filter for each stereo chan- Fig. 1. Second-order high-pass (A) and low-wss (B) filters.
nel. The component designations not
shown in parentheses pertain to the left ground (which will be tied to system cial and system grounds should be tied
channel circuit. Those component num ground), but the artificial ground gener together. Direct coupling can be em-
bers given parenthetically pertain to the ated by the passive components must ployed between the stage preceeding
right-channel filters. be kept isolated from it. The artificial the filters and the project input terminals
If both selector switches (S 1 and S.2) ground will be at a de level equal to one as well as between the project output
are in their ouT positions, the filter out half of the supply voltage, and the chas terminals and the input of the next stage
puts are left floating. Placing HIGH PAss sis (system) ground will act as the - V in the signal chain. However, if the circuit
selector switch S 1 in its IN position con negative supply for the quad op amp. is powered by a single-end supply,
nects the outputs of the high-pass filters If a bipolar supply is used, the artifi capacitive coupling should be used.
(IC1A, IC1B and their associated com
ponents) to the ouT positions of Low PAss +V
selector switch S2 and to the inputs of
the low-pass filters (IC1C, /C1D and
their associated components).
If S2 is in its IN position, signals pass
through the low-pass filters before they SIA(SIB)
appear at the project's output. Other- HIGH PASS OUT
+Vo-"""'1~---,
wise, they are routed to the output termi INPUT L
(INPUT R) R9
nals without being high-pass filtered. 2K
...L RIO
ZK
together, or neither in the signal chain.
The circuit can be powered by either
a bipolar or single-ended supply. Maxi
mum voltages are 15 volts for a bipo R3(R4)
lar supply and + 30 volts for a single
ended one . Current demand is approxi
mately 10 rnA. Components C9, R9, and SEE TEXT FOR RESISTANCE VALUES
R 10 are required only if a single-ended Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of the complete project.
power supply is used. They generate an
artificial "circuit ground" which is desig PARTS LIST
nated in Fig. 2 using the conventional C l,C2,CS,C6-0 . l-~F 5% Mylar, mica or suitable power supply and enclosure,
chassis-ground symbol. Contrast this polystyrene hookup wire, shielded cable, circuit
with the system signal ground appearing C3,C4-0 . 0022-~F 5% Mylar, mica or board standoffs, hardware, solder, etc.
polystyrene These components are required only if a
at the input and output terminals of the
C7,C8-0.00I-~F 5% Mylar, mica or single-ended power supply is used.
project. An earth-ground symbol sig polystyrene
nifies system signal ground to differen C9*-0.0l-~F Mylar, disc ceramic, mica NOTE-The following are available from
tiate it from the artificial "circuit or polystyrene Phoenix Systems, 91 Elm St., Manchester,
ground." JCl-TL074CN quad BIFET op amp CT 06040: kit ofparts including printed cir-
The following are carbon-film, l/4-watt,
A single-ended supply is represented cuit board, IC, switches, and resistors and
5%-tolerance (or metal film, 1/4 or
to the right of the passive components 1/8-watt, I% tolerance) fixed resistors capacitors for two 20- or 50-Hz high-pass
as a battery generating voltage V suPPL v unless otherwise specified. and two 13,000- or 19,000-Hz low-pass fil-
Traditionally, the chassis on which a R I,R2,R5,R6-see text for value. ters, No. P-9/S for $15.00. Also available
R3,R4-see text for value. separately are; TL074CN quad BIFET op
positive, single-ended power supply is
R7,R8-see text for value. amp IC. No. P-9JC. for $2.50; etched and
mounted becomes the negative return R9*,RI0*-2000 ohms, 1/2-watt, 5% or drilled printed circuit board, No. P-9/B, for
and is also used as the signal ground for 10% toleranj:e, carbon-composition or $5. 00; push-on/push-off dpdt switch, No. P-
the circuit powered by the supply. In the carbon film. 9JSW, for $1.00 each. Connecticut resi-
case of these active filters powered by S I ,82-Dpdt switch
dents, add 7% state sales tax. If order is less
Misc.-Printed circuit or perforated
a single-ended supply, the chassis can board, IC socket or Molex Soldercons, than $10.00, add $1.00 shipping and
be used as the input and output signal handling.
I'
guage, you gain hands-on experi-
NRI Schools
McGraw-Hill Continuing
,. Education Center
.J J 3939 Wisconsin Ave.
f"y "- Washington, DC 20016
I.M 13-122
We'll give you tomorrow.
Construction. The project is relatively accessible. If the project is placed uate the low-frequency rumble without
simple, so point-to-point, wiring, wrap- inside an existing audio component, the significantly altering the spectral power
ped-wire, or printed-circuit assembly simplest way to satisfy the project's density of the program material. Most
t~chniques can be used. Etching and modest power requirements is to tap the musical recordings contain !ittle informa-
drilling and parts placement guides for a host'~ supply. A high-voltage supply can tion in the bottom !;lass octave, so 50 Hz
suitable printed circuit board are shown be used to power the project by intro- is an acceptable cutoff frequency . Com-
in Fig. 3 . If another assembly method is ducing :Zener voltage regufation. ponent values that will produce a 50-H~.
chosen , observe sound construction You will note that the values of all of - 3-dB frequency are: C 1, C5, C2, C6-
practices for circuits containing high the RC components in the active filters 0.1 ~F; R3, R4.:._22,000 ohms; Rl, RB-
gain-bandwidth devices. Keep leads have not peen specified in the schemat- 47,000 ohms. Those readers who want
short and run grounds carefully. ic or the Parts List This has peen done any deep bass present in their record-
The use of Molex Soldercons or an IC to allow you to choose the cutoff fre- ings to come through unattenuated will
socket is recom.m ended . Be sure to quencies of the filters that you assem- prefer a lower cutoff frequency. Compo-
orient the IC correctly and pay attention ble. The design equations tor the low- nent values that will resu lt in a cutoff
to polarities when making connections and high-pass filters were given earlier. frequency of 20 H?: are: C 1, C5, C2,
to the power supply. Use the minimum In ~he high-pass design, use equal val- C6-0 . 1 ~F ; R3, R4-56 ,000 ohms; Rl,
amount of heat and solder consistent ues of capacitance (0.1 ~F) for C1, C5, RB-11 0,000 ohms. For a cutoff tre-
with the formation of good connections. C2, and C6. S~lect the resistance of R2 quency other than the two just give.n,
The circuit board has been laid out to so that it is double that of R1. The value calculate new resistance values.
accommodate pc-mount push I push of R 1 can be calculated using the hi9h- Low-pass filters are frequently em-
switches. These switches are available pass design equation. In the low-pass ployed to attenuate FM hiss and disc
from the source given at the end of the filters, use equal values of resistance for surface noise. They are also useful to
Parts List. If you want tci employ an~ther R 1, R5, R2, and R6. The capacitance of attenuate 19,000-Hz FM stereo subcar-
type of switch, simply interconnect the C7 and CB should be half that of C3 and riers that can interfere with the taping of
foil pa<;ls with the appropriate lugs of the C4. Recommended values are 0.0022 broadcasts off the air. To be an effective
remotely mounted switches with lengths ~F fo r C3 and C4 and 0.001 ~F for C7 hiss or subcarrier filter, the circuit
of flexible hookup wire. and CB. Resistance values for any should attenuate high-frequency noise,
Mount the filter board either in the desired cutoff frequency can be calcu- etc., without the loss of program content
enclosure of a host audio component or lated using the low-pass design data. at lower frequencies. Most musical pro-
in an l;)nclosure specially selected for The most common application for the gram material contains little information
this purpose. The board should be high-pass filter is to atten~ate low-fre- in the extreme highs, so 13,000 Hz is an
installed in such a way that board- quency turntable rumble. To be an effec- acceptable cutoff frequency . Compo-
mounted switches (if used) are readily tive rumble filter, the circuit should atten- nent values that will prqduce this
response are: R1, R5, R2, R6-8200
ohms; C3, C4-0.0022 ~F; C7, CB-
0 .001 ~F. For a higher cutoff frequency,
say, 19,000 Hz, use the following com-
ponent values: R1, R5, R2, RB-5600
51 ohms; C3, C4-0.0022 ~F ; C7, CB-
HiGH
PASS 0 .001 ~F . If you prefer a Cljtoff frequency
other than the two just given .. calculate
new resistance values.
CI RCU IT
GROUND- . 52 ln$tallation and Use. The project can
...L LOW
PASS be introduced into the audio system at
any point where signals are at line level.
Two possipilities are at a tape monitor
0 -v loop and between the preamp RUtput
and power amplifier input. It's good prac-
tice to insert a 51-ohm resistor between
the "hot" output terminal of each chan-
nel 's c ircuit and the inner conductor of
the cable which carries signal;:? to the
il)put of the next stage.This car) prevent
oscillation due to the effects of cable or
Fig. 3. Full-size etching load capacitance.
and drilling guide for
printed-circuit board In Conclusion. The active filters pre-
is shown at left.
sented in this article offer a hig"her level
Diagram for layout
of components is above. of performance than those included in
many audio componel)ts . A bit of exper-
imentation will convince you how useful
properly designed low- and pigh-pass
aupio filters really are. 0
20 ELECTRONIC EXPERIMENTER'S H ~ NDBOOK
BY RUSH W. HOOD
HEAT LOSS
L arge amounts of money are being
1983 EDITION 21
Degree-DayAleter____________________________________________________
If the temperatures inside and outside the temperature of the outside air reference temperature, usually 68 F,
your home were constant for a long peri- changes too rapidly to allow such proce- and the differences are averaged over
od of time, you could simply measure dure, the degree-day was devised. one day. If a day is reported to have had
the temperature difference and the rate A degree-day is computed from tem- 15 degree-days, for example, the energy
of en.ergy use by reading the gas or elec- perature readings taken at frequent, needed to heat your home would have
tric meter and calculate i:he average in- regular intervals throughout the day. been the same as if outside had been 15
sulation value of your building. B.e cause These readings are subtracted from a degrees cooler than inside all day.
+I V
+SV
TO
FIG
2
Rll
u'~''
27K
~
is repeated.
T he output of comparator I C J D is
converted into a TTL-level signal by Q4.
Fig. 4. The three voltage sources are
derived from regulators. Note the
Diode D4 is used to limit the negative-
7805,781 2 IN GND. OUT pin-out differences between the /Cs. going signa l to the base of Q4, while
791 2 GND IN OUT RJ6 is the base-current limiting resistor.
1983 EDITION 23
Degree-Day Meter----~
24
Operation. To calibrate the degree-
day meter, all you will need is a de volt-
meter and an ordinary thermometer.
Then proceed as follows : Connect the
voltmeter between the test point shown
in Fig. 2 and ground . Set the voltmeter
for its most sensitive de voltage range,
and place the sensors close to each other.
Turn on the degree-day meter, allow it
to stabilize for I 0 to 15 minutes, and
then adjust R4 for exactly zero volts on
the de voltmeter. Then place the outdoor
sensor in a cool place (outdoors or in the
refrigerator), and adjust R7 until the
voltmeter indicates -0.1 volt for every
degree of difference in the temperatures
between the sensors. For example, if the
inside temperature is 70 F and the out-
side sensor is at 40 F, adjust R7 for
(70-40) X -0.1 or -3 .0 volts at the
test point. Install the sensors where de-
sired and you're ready to measure de-
gree-days. The outside sensor should be
mounted in a shaded location away from
the house and protected from the weath-
er . The inside sensor should be mounted
in a central location away from heat
sources.
To start a measurement, depress RE-
SET push button S 1. The display should
be "00.0" and should be observed to
increment through the day if the outside
sensor is cooler than the inside sensor.
The greater the temperature differ-
ence between outside and inside, the
faster the display will increment.
To measure actual energy efficiency
of your home, you must measure the
energy used over the same time interval
that you measure degree-days . Your
utility company can tell you how to read
your gas or electric meter, or an elapsed-
time meter may be connected to meas-
ure the total length of time the furnace
is heating. Simply divide the energy
(therms, BTUs, or kilowatt hours) by
the degree-days to obtain a figure in en-
ergy per degree-day. This number
should be nearly constant from day to
day, and any improvement you make in
your building's heat retention will lower
this factor .
The degree-day meter can also be
used to check your home's heat gain
while air-conditioning is in use. Simply
reverse locations of the inside and out-
side sensors . It is suggested that regular
records be kept throughout the season to
enourage conservation . It will be obvious
from the efficiency determinations when
real improvements are made in the
weatherization of your home. (Note that
frequent opening and closing of doors is
tantamount to a reduction in insulation
efficiency.)
Use of the degree-day meter can help
a homeowner accurately estimate the
payback period on money spent weath-
er-proofing his building . 0
25
Extra Keyboards tor Microcomputers BY ADOLPH A. MANGIERI
1983 EDITION 27
Using the full keyboard, install in the
Vee Vector No. 51X-1 aluminum frame. Trim
the keyboard to length to fit frame
FROM R8 R5 R3 R2 R7 R1 R4 R6
ADDRESS grooves and cut a top panel to size.
~INE rFEi~ J!tl
Secure the keyboard to the punched
panel using four machine screws and
AO ,. ____;t..._ extra nuts for spacing. Finally, mark key-
@ A B c D E F G
switch terminals with the required row
;!" J!tl and column lines and wire to an IDC male
A1
> i/!. H I J K L M N
;t.
0
connector or DIP socket. The aluminum
frame accepts the M6088-3-1 perfo-
rated bottom plate; otherwise, cut a
~.~ ;!~
;t. plate to size and install.
A2
> p 0 R s T u v w Assign extra keys to any desired
matrix character or command. Six keys
>!"
;t.
already wired in a 1 x 6 key string pro-
A3
> X y z --- vide hex letters A through F. With some
trace cutting, remaining keys can be
;!~
A4
> z 0 , ! ..
2
#
3
$
4
%
5
&
6
f" assigned to the TRS-80 T -Bug monitor
commands. Two keys on this keyboard
were latching on I off switches. We
A5
>
;!~
~ (
8
I
9
*: +
;
< .- >
~
Y" removed the top part and snap disk from
two switches of a spare keyboard and
' installed them in the on I off switch bod-
ies. Then we relabelled keytops.
;!" ~~ Keyswitches on a full typewriter key-
A6
> fl. ENTER CL EAR BREAK + t
---- - SPACE board are usually fully isolated, normally-
open spst types, but check before you
A7
> 1." r-s_ SHIFT
---
buy. The surplus typewriter keyboard
may differ in some respects and may
KEYS contain extra keys and keytop label vari-
(L&R)
TO DATA
LINE BUFFERS
ations. With some relabelling of keys,
these make excellent tandem key-
'----DO D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D7
boards that allow a student and instruc-
tor to operate the same computer from
Schematic shows 8 X 8 matrix layout of the TRS-80 keyboard, which is different locations.
typical of boards of this type. A keyswitch is located at each The possibility of connecting several
intersection of the matrix to generate an output for a specific character. additional keyboards in tandem may
occur to some readers. However, you
dem hookups and require only slight common side of the switches connected cannot run long lengths of ribbon cable
alterations. The key bodies are thermal- to row line A5 and remaining switch ter- with wild abandon. Our tandem key-
ly staked to the phenolic board, and one minals connected to column lines DO, board was tested using 10' (about 3
terminal of each switch is available on D 1, and D6. The numeric set of this meters) of KW2-20 ribbon cable with
the bottom. A top-side circuit made up of keyboard was a 1 X 10 key string, with four lines assigned as a ground screen.
thin brass stampings serves as switch keys 8, 9, and decimal point at one end This is not good practice -because the
contacts and interconnecting lines to of the string. lengthy cable is not adequately buffered
form key strings that have a common _. To separate the required 1 X 3 key and is not fully ground-planed. Also, its
connection. The top portion of each string, cut off four plastic nubs on the lines are not terminated. The TRS-80
switch is removable to reveal the work- bottom and remove the number 7 key performed satisfactorily but in all likeli-
ing parts and snap-action disc. body. Use a fine-toothed, broken-off hood with a reduction in noise margin. It
Let us implement a numeric keypad hacksaw blade to cut the metal band is recommended that cable length be
for the TRS-80. From the keyboard alongside key 8 and remove the top part limited to 4' or 5' ( 1.2 to 1.5 m) and no
matrix diagram, keys 0 through 7 require of the switch body. Sparingly, apply more than required in any case.
a 1 X 7 matrix or key string, with the epoxy cement to the plastic pegs of the
common side of the switches connected key body and install using a clamp for a Conclusion. From the foregoing, you
to row line A4 and the isolated side of tight fit. Clean switch parts with alcohol can readily see that adding a keyboard
the switches connected to the column and reassemble the switch. in tandem with one in an existing com-
lines. Keys 8, 9, and decimal point Trim and install the keypad in a small puter system or terminal is a relatively
require a 1 X 3 key string, with the case. The numeric keypad shown is simple matter. Although we used a
common side of the switches connected housed in a Vector No. W20-46-31B Radio Shack TRS-80 computer to
to row line A4 and the isolated side of Multi-Mod case. The trimmed keypad demonstrate how to perform the modifi-
the switches connected to the column slides into case-card grooves. Punch cation, the procedure is readily adapta-
lines. Keys 8, 9, and decimal point holes in the panel using a Greenlee ble to most other types of personal com-
require a 1 X 3 key string, with the chassis punch to pass the key shanks. puter systems. 0
28 ELECTRONIC EXPERIMENTER'S HANDBOOK
ALOW-COST
16-LED
.LOGIC
MONITOR
BY TOM KRONENWETTER
that h connects to the base of QJ. The LEDs into a common bus. This bus is with scissors along the upper edge of the
shor~ upper lead of this resistor will be then connected is to R3. masking tape. Separate the leads to a
connected to the cable later one At this time, each LED must be iden- length of about one-inch, then strip
If you are making a 16-pin arrange- tified as to pin number. Make up some about 0 .2" of insulation from each lead.
ment, follow the above assembly proce- small stick-on labels, each identified in Tin each lead and form into small closed
dure seven more times to produce eight numerical sequence from 1 to 16, and loops so that they will fit over the ends of
LEDs on one side. If you are making a affix one to the top of each transistor. the leads at the top of each Rl.
14-pin array, then only seven LEDs are The sequence should be 1 through 8 Place the prepared end of the cable in
needed. from top to bottom on the left side, and 9 the center of the breadboard, rainbow
To complete the assembly, start the through 16 from bottom to top on the side up. Connect the second shortest
component installation at the diagonally right side. lead (green) to the short lead of the Rl
opposite corner (no hole spaces), and The final step is wiring the 1.5-foot for the first LED. This corresponds to
work up the other side. Resistor R3 is ribbon cable from the clamp-on connect- pin 1 of the connector. The shortest lead
installed in a hole near the last LED. or to the breadboard. Lay the connector (blue) is connected to the Rl associated
Cut 32 one-inch long jumpers from down with its color-coded side facing up. with the sixteenth LED. Using the cable
#22-gauge solid insulated wire and strip Using Fig. 3 as a guide, from the tip of color-code chart shown in Table II, con-
0.3" of insulation from each end. Six- the brown conductor at one edge of the nect the remainder of the ribbon-cable
teen of these jumpers are used to inter- cable, measure a diagonal 3-inches long leads to their respective RJ's.
connect the 16 ground points to form a to the blue conductor on the opposite When all the connections are com-
common bus. The remaining jumpers side of the cable. Use masking tape to pleted, fold the ribbon cable over on
are used to couple the anodes of all the mark this diagonal. Cut the ribbon cable itself, slightly above the breadboard,
+V TABLE I - TABLE I I -
R~ OPERATING CHARACTERISTICS CABLE COLOR CODE
56.fi
COMMON
TO
ALL
LEOS
1983 EDITION 31
stress. Even then, the measurement is
indirect. Basically, the device makes its
determination by sensing an effect of
one type or another that many research-
ers believe is an accurate indicator of
stress. Validation studies have been
used to compile an impressive r~cord of
suc;cesses, but it should be remem-
bered that a high degree of interpreta-
tional skill is required and there is
always an appreciable probability for
error in using such an instrument.
bne popular indicator of stress has
been the relative amplitude of certain
vocal modulations in a p~rson's speech.
The Voice Stress Analyzer described
here is a small, readily portal:!le 4nit. It i~
designed to operate on the principles
pioneered by Dektor and other compa-
nies in the field whose products have
received wide acceptance.
BY COLLEEN McNEICE
AND ROGER COTA
S O-CALLED "electronic lie detec-
tors" have become controversial
items. Some workers in the fields of
security and law-enforcement swear by
them, while others (including some psy-
Hand-held LED- chologists) hold that the principles on
which the devices are based are ill-
display instrument founded and unscientific. Still other inqi-
viduals denounce the application of lie
is said to detect detectors as an invasion of privacy. LEDs are positioned in window
Actually, the best that these detec- area, miniature microphone is put
voice stress tors can do is measure psychological in center cutout at top of case.
32 ELECTRONIC EXPERIMENTER'S HANDBOOK
When a person is under stress, says
the theory, normal vocal microtremors
diminish greatly in amplitude. Th!3 auton-
omic nervous system, preparing the
body for emergency reactions, causes
the pupils to dilate, blood to rush away
from the limbs : and the muscles to
tense . Since the vocal chords ar11 princi-
pally muscular tissue, they, t90 , 'tighten
and decrease the amplitude of microtre-
mors. Thus, it is claimed, measuring the
relative amplitude of vocal microtremors
gives an indication of stress . The wave-
form of a human voice with microtremor,
indicating no or very little stress, is
shown in Fig . 1A, its spectral content in 90
Fig. 18.
~~============~~~~==============~~
MICROTREMOR OETECTOR
Fig. 2. The analyzer circuit is designed to extract the 8-to-12-Hz microtremor fro m
the voice input and use the resultant signal to turn on a LED display.
1983 EDITION 33
fier D 1 half-wave rectifies the signal to
recover the fundamental modulating fre-
quency. Higher harmonics are removed
by IC1C, an 18-dB/octave filter that
passes only those frequency compo-
nents below 150 Hz.
Schmitt-trigger circuit /C 1D converts
the recovered fundamental into steep
rising and falling edges that are suitable
for driving timer /C4. As shown in Fig. 3C
and D, the Schmitt trigger's sharp rise
time toggles the timer, which produces a
1.5-ms pulse.
The generated pulse train goes
through low-pass filter IC2A to remove
the waveform's sharp edges and amplify
any frequencies below 20Hz. Bandpass
filter IC2B is "tuned" to the 8-to-12-Hz
microtremor frequency and amplifies any
signal within this range
Full-wave rectifier /C3AI IC3B ac-
cepts th is signal and produces a de out-
put voltage that is proportional to the
amplitude of the microtremor (fig. 3E).
This voltage is developed across C 19,
which is constantly being discharged by
time-constant resistor R32. Fig. 3. Typical waveforms within the analyzer. According to
Display drivers IC3C and /C3D are the authors, the "trick" lies in detecting the presence of the narrower
microtremor peak spacing within the voice frequencies. Integrated
Continued from page 38
one-shot pulses derived from these signals are used to toggle the readouts.
C7
.047)1F
+9V
R9 RIO.
75K 75K
+
Cl C6
22pF .OI)lF
Cll
.047JIF
+9V
R20 R21
8 6.8K 3.3K
RIS Rl9
150K 150K
Cl2
.047pF + Cl3
4 -.7)1-F
FIG 5 FIG 5
Fig. 4. The voice processing circuits of the analyzer result in 20-Hz signals from IC2A and 8-to-12-Hz
signals from IC2B. These signals drive the rectifier/display section shown in Fig. 5.
34 ELECTRONIC EXPERIMENTER'S HANDBOOK
If you like to make things work ... and
then find out why they work-
8
+ C20
R28 R30 22)1F
lOOK lOOK
R25
22K
R23
22K Bl
9V
~ED/
/ s1 ~111---....,....---1
LED
3 +9V
R29
lOOK
Fig. 5. The 8-to-12-Hz signals are rectified in IC3A and IC3B, integrated in C19 and used to
turn on a comparator (IC3C, IC3D) that causes the LED (s) to glow. IC2C shuts down the LEDs when
there is no 20-Hz signal, while IC2D creates a bipolar supply from a single 9-volt battery.
PARTS LIST
B I ~9-volt battery LED I through LED4- red LED R36,R37- 390 ohms
C I ,C 17 ,C 18,C20---22-!LF, 16-volt tanta- The following are \4-watt 5% resistors: Misc.-'""suitable enclosure, battery clip,
lum R I ,RI ?:RI5,RI7,R23,R25- 22,000 hook up wire, mounting hardware, etc.
C2,C4,C5--0.002-!LF, I 00-volt Mylar ohms
C3,Cl6~ 1-!LF, 100-volt electrolytic .R2,R8,R27 ........ 10,000 ohms Note: The following is available from Video
C6~0 . 0J -!LF, I 00-volt Mylar R3,R22,R32- 220,000 ohms Control, 3314 H St., Vancouver, WA 98663
C7,CIO,C li ,C I2,CI9~0. 047-!LF , 100- R4- 2700 ohms (Tel: 206-694-7905): complete kit includ-
volt Mylar R5,RI4-..,.. I megohm ing microphone, battery clip, pc board,
C8~0.0056-!LF, I 00-volt Mylar R6,R 16~33,000 ohms case, and manualfor $96.00. Also available
C9~0.1-)LF, 100-volt Mylar R 7 ,R24-680,000 ohms
C 13- 4.7-!LF, 35-volt tantalum separately: etched and drilled pc board at
R9,RIO,RI i-75,000 ohms
C!4,CI5---0.47-!LF, 35-volt, tantalum R13,R20-6800 ohms $12. 50; hand-held case, battery clip with
Dl through D4-IN9'14 RI8,Rj9-1 50,000 ohms power jack and condenser microphone at
ICI ,IC2,1C3-LM324 quad op amp R21 ...........3300 ohms $18.00. Please add $3.50 for postage/han-
IC4-LM 3905 precision tLmer R26- 15,000 ohms dling. washington state residents, please
J !-subminiature phone jack with R28 through R31 ,R35-I 00,000 ohms add 5.1% sales tax. Allow four weeks for
switch R33 ,R34,R38-I 000 ohms delivery.
Desired sounds are all user defined. Output pulses from the noise clock, Modulator attack and decay are con-
You simply switch into and out of the whose frequency is determined by the trolled by the R and C values connected
IC's circuit resistor and cap~citor values resistance values co~nected from pins from pins 7, 8, anc! 10 tq ground.
and set a few logic states to "tailor" the 3 arid 4 to ground, are used to control Th~ final signal is applied to the audio
audio parameter you require. Sounds of the noise generator. The outpuffrom the amplifier, which develops a 2.5-volt
gunshots, explosions, sirens, musical noise generator is passed through a peak-to-peak maximum low-impedance
instruments, "phaser" guns, etc., c;:tn be variable-bandwidth noise filter, con- output at pin 13. A feedback resistor can
+5V
--~ e
ORGAN
+5V
1983 EDITION 41
VCO EXTERNAL PITCH
SELECT VCO CONTROL CONTROL
------.'n--1} 19
CONTROL~~
21
(C)
1 1 r-r ~ 17
(C)
I
IAI
/1 5
~
I
CLOCK
CONTRO
NOISE :
(A)
..__jf-- NOISE
Cld<:K
J NOISE:
GENERATOR
~ NOISE
FILTER A I
NOISE
FILTEA
CONTROL
'I
I
... r
EXTERNAL
NOISE CLOC ~ 6
(A) 3 -p' IC)
~
15
'
+ 5V
/1 ~14
9 J
M
::.-::; lfi.
:J MIXER
~
R-EGULATOR
1\,.
~
I,
+ 9V in
r
:I
SYSTEM
LOGIC GND
...~-
INHIBIT-r1
1 ~
--------(A)
12
~J
FE EDBACK
ICI ""-
,,:::,..,"'~ ~ ~ ~~
OUTPUT
:,.r-..,..,....111"-----.,,.
u:u
CONTROL
(R) ~ I-I"'"--26L=t;
.. ~ 1----:...t~ l~-1"'"..;._---1
:~: = ~~~~~~~~R ~
ENVE LOPE
-------
MIXER
ATTACK /
DECAY
ATTACK
CONTRO L
DE LAY
CONTROL
AMPLITU D E
CONTROL
SELECT SELECT TIMING (R ) (A ) (R)
(C)
you can design and fabricate a printed- function. Group arrangements can be
circuit board. If you use perforated TABLE I-JACK IDENTIFICATION outlined on the control panel with a
board, you can Wire Wrap or pencil wrap J1 Input for external noise oscillator heavily inked or painted line.
the components into the circuit. J2 Input for external voltage-controlled , Once the various components are
Although the system will operate from oscillator mounted on the front panel, refer to
a standard 9-volt battery, you might opt J3 Noise filter resistance measurement Fig. 3 and wire them into the circuit.
jack with R4
for a small power supply that can deliver
J4 Decay resistance measurement jack
7.5 to 9 volts instead, if only to free with R6 Use. Note in Fig. 3 that each IC pin that
yourself from having to replace batteries JS Attack resistance measurement jack terminates in a potentiometer has both a
periodically. Make sure, however, that with R8 switch and banana or tip jack in series
the cabinet you select will accommo- J6 Audio output
with the pot. This permits you to use an
J7 External vco measurement jack with
date all controls, jacks, and circuitry. ohmmeter to measure the resistance
R15
All 28 switches, 12 banana or tip J8 Vco control resistance measurement required for a given sound, arrived at
jacks, and 8 potentiometers should be jack with R 18 experimentally. After obtaining the de-
mounted on the front "control" panel J9 Pitch control resistance measure- sired sound, you simply open the switch
ment jack with R23
and suitably identified with a dry-transfer for the pot and use the ohmmeter to
J 10 SLF oscillator control resistance
lettering kit. To simplify experimenting, measuFement jack with R25 measure the resistance from the asso-
switches, jacks, and pots should be J11 One-shot resistance measurement ciated jack to ground. If you keep a log
identified according to function as jack with R27 of the various resistances and capaci-
shown in Tables I through Ill. Table IV is J12 Common ground
tances required for particular sounds,
an example of grouping according to they can be duplicated on demand.
42 (continued on page BO)
R4
IM R2 R27
NOISE 47K IM
0 I I 0
FILTER
+5V
ONE-SHOT
0
511 R3 +5V
!
Sl6
MIXER
c
+5V
+5V
2 27
Sl7
MI XER
ll 0
520
ONE-SHOT
CAPACITOR
t'
A
R6 Sl8
C5 IM Jl 26 MIXER
.OipF DECAY EXT B
NOISE
CLOCK 3
25
4
Sl3 R26
"
NOISE OSC. 2.7K
59 SLF OSC.
ce 5 CAPACITOR
ATTACK/DECAY
~
FILTER 6
CIO
F R7
2.7K '
IOpF 510 IC I
DECAY 76477
+ R8 J4 8
IM
ATTACK 58 R24 R25
.....1,_ 2.7K IM
9 SLF OSC .
R9 +5V~
ONE SHOT
CONTROL
22K
+5V
57 R22 R23
RIO R7 50K 50K
47K 2.7K 10 PITCH
56 526 Rl9
Rll J5 lOOK
lOOK 55
ATTACK
II 525 vco
VCO CONTROL
AMPLITUDE CONTROL J8 RESISTOR R20
Rl2 +5V IM
220K 17
Rl 3 INT R21
330K J7 IOM
16 528 EXT
Cl2
53 vco IOOpF
OUTPUT SELECTOR
~
J2
14 15 T:EXT VCO
JS CONTROL
F
Rl5
50K
vco
S27 ~ .05pF
~
an Sl CONTROL VCO CONTROL
SPKR POWER CAPACITOR
Rl RIS
3.9K 50K
+9V
T +5V
T +5V
.47pF
6
+
Jl2
IN TO CIRCUIT GND Cl7
IJJF
Bl - 9-volt battery (see text) J3 through J 12- pin or banana jacks R21 - IO megohms
CI - ISO-pF capacitor Q1 - 2N3703 transistor S I through S4,S6,S7 ,S I O,S 12 through
C2- 360-pF capacitor Q2- 2N3704 transistor S 19,S2!,S23 through S2S- Spst slide
C3- 0.001 -!LF capacitor The following are 1/2-watt, 10% resistors or toggle switch
C4,CS-0.0 1-ILF capacitor unless otherwise noted: SS,S20,S22- Single-pole, S-position non-
C6,C 14,C 19-0.0S-!LF capacitor Rl-3900 ohms shorting rotary switch
C7 ,CIS,C20,C23- 0.1-ILF capacitor R2,RlO,RI4- 47,000 ohms S8- Normally open, momentary-contact
C8,Cl6,C2!,C24- 0.47-!LF capacitor R3,RS,R 7 ,R 17 ,R24,R26- 2700 ohms pushbutton switch
C9,CI7,C2S- l -!LF capacitor R4,R6,R8,R 18,R2S,R27- l-megohm S9,S27- Single-pole, S-position nonshort-
CIO,Cll,C22,C26- 10-!LF, IS-volt elec- linear-taper potentiometer ing rotary switch
trolytic R9- 22,000 ohms 8 11,826-Single-pole, 4-position non-
Cl2- 100-pF capacitor R I I ,R 19- 100,000 ohms shorting rotary switch
C 13,C 18- SOO-pF capacitor R 12- 220,000 ohms 828- 8pdt slide or toggle switch
C27- SO-!LF, IS-volt electrolytic R 13- 330,000 ohms Misc.-Battery holder; 28-pin DIP socket
lC!- SN76477N complex sound genera- R 1S,R23- SO,OOO-ohm linear-taper po- for lCI; dry-transfer lettering kit; suit-
tor (Radio Shack 276-176S or similar) tentiometer able enclosure; control knobs and dial
J I ,J2- RCA phono jacks RI6,R22- SO,OOO ohms plates (7); etc.
R20- 1 megohm
1983 EDITION 43
I N-CIRCUIT measurement of a re-
sistance offers several advantages
compared to the alternative method of
unsoldering one lead of the component
to be measured. For example, it saves
time and does not pose the risk of dam-
BY FRANK WITNER AND DIANE JASINSKI age to printed-circuit boards and the
components mounted on them. Pre-
sented in this article are techniques that
provide accurate in-circuit resistance
Save time and avoid possible measurements. These are not to be con-
fused with the use of so-called "low-
circuit damage with little-known power" ohmmeters that measure in-cir-
cuit resistance if the only shunting com-
ponents are semiconductors. Rather,
techniques of component testing. these techniques give accurate in-circuit
resistance measurements even if the
component to be measured is shunted by
other res is tors!
O~o~OOO~QDDU
ly, the parallel resistance causes a de-
crease in the overall resistance. The
amount of error depends upon the ratio
of the shunting circuit resistance to the
OO~~D~U~~~~~
~
fore, no voltage drop appears across R3,
and effectively no resistance is in paral-
lel with Rl, the component whose resis-
tance is to be measured. This isolation
1983 EDITION 45
in-circuit resistances--------------------------------------------------
reveals that the power dissipated by a several meter scales and either a number pacitor to attain its ultimate voltage
resistance decreases according to the of current sources with different output considerably faster than is the case
square of the reduction in voltage but ratings or a single current source whose when a constant-current source charges
only linearly to an increase in the resist- output can be varied in fixed, accurate it, and allows for much shorter settling
ance value. increments. times during in-circuit resistance tests.
Miller-effect analysis of this circuit
The Inverting Amplifier shown in reveals that resistances are reflected be- Bridge Measurements. A form of
Fig. 4 is another op-amp circuit that can tween the HIGH TERMINAL and ground the classic Wagner bridge that can be
be used for in-circuit resistance meas- and between the LOW TERMINAL and used for in-circuit resistance measure-
ground. These reflected resistances par- ments appears in Fig. 6. It can be
OHMMETER
+ allel shunt components R2 and R3 such thought of as two resistive bridges shar-
that R2 is in parallel with a resistance ing common elements R7 and Rl, which
HIGH equivalent to RI I (I - (1 I A)) and R3 is is the component whose value is to be
COMMON Rt
TERMINAL
TERMINAL in parallel with a resistance equivalent measured. As was the case in the cir-
to RII(l-A), where A is the voltage cuits presented earlier, R2 and RJ are
R2 R3 gain of the stage. The effective resist- the in-circuit shunting components.
ances of the shunt paths thus depend Shunt resistor R3 is placed across the
upon both the value of the component to null meter when S I is switched to its
be measured and the values of the shunt WAGNER position. This reduces the sen-
components-not upon the values of the sitivity of the null indicator for the
shunt components alone. Because of the Wagner adjustment but does not affect
Miller effect, in a practical circuit, the the balance of either bridge. Successive
operational amplifier can work with a balancing of the bridge by means of po-
lower value of shunt resistance between tentiometers R4 and R6 (with S/
the LOW TERMINAL and ground than be- switched alternately to each of its posi-
Fig. 3. Here, the voltage follower tween the HIGH TERMINAL and ground. tions) results in no voltage drop across
prevents shunting components from Another inverting op-amp circuit that R3, the nondriven shunt resistance.
influencing theohmmeter reading.
can be used for in-circuit resistance
measurement appears in Fig. 5. Here,
urement. One well-known property of the resistance to be measured (R/) Rt
the inverting amplifier is that its voltage functions as the stage's input resistance
gain equals t'he ratio of the feedback and a constant-voltage source drives the
resistance to the input resistance. In the network. The output voltage generated
in-circuit measurement application by the op amp is inversely proportional
-ADDED
shown in Fig. 4, the component whose to the value of the component to be - GROUND
resistance is to be determined (R/) measured, and is monitored by a volt-
R4
functions as the feedback resistance. meter placed across the feedback resis-
Resistor R4 behaves as the stage's input tor. As was the case in the previous cir-
resistance. If the input resistance is a cuit, feedback forces the HIGH TERMI
stable, known value, the op amp's output NAL to virtually ground potential. No
voltage is proportional to the feedback voltage drop exists across R2, so the de-
resistance. sired isolation of RI is achieved. Shunt
The inverting op amp can be used to component R3 has no effect on the re-
measure an in-circuit resistance if the sistance measurement because it is con-
junction of the two shunt components nected directly across the constant-volt- Fig. 4. An inverting opamp
(the node R2R3) is connected to ground. circuit that can be used for
age source.
in-circuit resistance measurements.
A constant-current source drives the in- There are advantages that this invert-
put resistance, and the op amp sources ing op-amp circuit has over the one pre-
current into R3 so that the same voltage viously presented. For example, the pos-
appears across it as appears across Rl, sibility exists in the constant-current
the resistance to be measured. Because case that the driven shunt resistance will Measurement of the unknown value
of the feedback provided by Rl, the be called upon to dissipate more heat of Rl now depends on the balancing out
HIGH TERMINAL is forced to virtually than it is rated to do. This tends to be of shunt resistance R3 such that the fol-
ground potential. Therefore, no voltage less of a problem when the constant- lowing relationship holds true:
difference appears across shunt compo- voltage circuit is employed. Also, the RljR7 = R2jR4 = R5IR6.
nent R2, and the desired isolation of Rl constant-voltage measuring circuit pro- Note that this statement includes the
is achieved. vides a faster response time when the standard balance equation of a four-arm
If the amplitude of the driving con- resistance to be measured is shunted by resistive bridge.
stant-current source is accurately one or more capacitors. The reason for An alternative bridge configuration
known, the voltmeter reading can be this is simple. When a constant-current has the side of potentiometer R4 that
converted to a resistance measurement source is connected to a capacitive cir- was formerly connected to the node
by simple arithmetic. Alternatively, if cuit, the voltage across the capacitor in- R6R7BJ - shifted to the node R5R6SJ.
an analog meter is used along with a creases linearly to its maximum value. In effect, this is the same as interchang-
constant-current source of known out- However, when a constant-voltage ing the ba ttery and the null detector in
put, the meter's scale can be redrawn so source is connected to an uncharged ca- the bridge of Fig. 6. Measurement of Rl
that it reads directly in ohms. For resis- pacitor, the voltage across the capacitor now depends on the ba lancing out of
tance measurements over a wide range, increases exponentially until the capaci- shunt resista nce R 2 so that:
it will probably be necessary to employ tor is fully charged. This causes the ca- RIIR5 = R3IR4 = R 7IR6.
46
(Continued on page 81)
R OAD-SURF ACE icing is one of
the most dangerous hazards of
BUILD AN making direct contact with it. In some
remote cases, thermistor body tempera-
winter driving. To warn drivers, ice- ture changes can occur by heat flowing
warn~ng indicators for automobiles have
indeed been developed. However, most
of these indicators merely monitor air
temperature a few inches from the road
and alert the driver when that tempera-
I"FRA along the thermistor leads. In all cases,
the heat flow continues until the ther-
mistor is at the temperature of the heat
source and thermal equilibrium between
the two is reached.
-RED
ture falls to about 36.F. Unfortunately, Temperature change through radia-
this approach can deliver false alarms tion occurs when the thermistor inter-
or, worse, fail to indicate danger when cepts infrared radiation, that is electro-
air and road temperatures are different. magnetic radiation whose wavelength is
The infrared road icing alert (IRIA) just longer than visible light. When ex-
Road
system described here overcomes this posed to infrared radiation, the thermis-
problem by responding to both air and tor increases its internal temperature
road temperatures. It senses infrared ra- until it re-radiates energy at the same
diation emitted by the road and warns rate as it is being absorbed, and thus
drivers both audibly and visually that reaches equilibrium. Its electrical resist-
Icing
the conditions for icing are present. ance, of course, changes accordingly.
A thermistor can also be heated by
Sensor Operation. The sensor used current flowing through it. However, in
in this project is a thermistor-a semi- most applications, this current heating is
conductor device whose electrical resist- small enough to be ignored.
Alert
ance varies with temperature. Like any While one does not usually consider
other material body, a thermistor can ice or a road surface at or below freezing
change temperature by conduction or to be a source of infrared radiation,
radiation. As shown in Fig. I, conduc- these objects like any in the universe
tion is the exchange of heat between the that are above absolute zero
air surrounding the thermistor and the (-273.16"C.), emit some electromag-
thermistor, or the exchange of heat be- netic energy. The magnitude and spec-
tween the thermistor and any object BY THOMAS R. FOX trum of the radiation vary with temper-
ature and the characteristics of the ra- flashlight. Other sizes of reflectors can Mix a small batch of quick-setting
diating body in a fairly complex way, be used, but experiments show that a epoxy and place some on each thermis-
but it is sufficient for our purposes to 2'/2" diameter is the smallest that can be tor lead from the body to about 1'/4
note that as temperature rises, the ra- used efficiently. inches down. Slip the sleeving over each
diation increases in intensity and the To determine the focal point of your thermistor lead as shown in Fig. 3B.
peak of its spectrum moves to shorter reflector, remove the bulb and holder Insert the bare (unsleeved) thermistor
and shorter wavelengths. Objects at nor- and temporarily attach a piece of styro- leads through the two I/16-inch holes
mal temperatures (including the freez- foam or balsa wood to the back of the drilled through the wooden support. As
ing point) radiate substantial infrared, reflector so that it covers the bulb holder shown in Fig. 3C, adjust the height of
to which a thermistor can r~spond. hole. Stick a thin wood toothpick into the thermistor body so that it is centered
the exact center of the holder hole so
that it is supported by the styrofoam or
balsa. On a clear, sunny day, aim the PARALLEL RAYS FROM IR SOURCE
open end of the reflector to the midday
sun until the toothpick begins to smoke. IR PASSING
AIR- TIGHT
Remove the reflector from the sunlight COVER
and note that the charred part is at the
THERMISTOR
BOOY reflector's focal point. Carefully meas-
ure and record the distance from the THERMISTOR AT
[j
._,__
bottom of the reflector to this focal point
as this is where the thermistor will be
placed for maximum effect.
The reflector is mounted on a short
FOCAL POINT
HEAT FLOW
VIA LEADS length of I " x 2" wood board, which in LEADS
Fig. t. How the temperature of
turn, is affixed to the car underside, far
enough from the front so that direct sun- Fig. 2. A parabolic reflector focuses
a thermistor can change.
light will not strike the sensor. Once you infrared rays onto the thermistor.
determine where the wood element is to
be mounted, you can then determine its
The Sensor Head. If a thermistor is length and method of mounting. at the "focal point" previously recorded.
mounted at the focal point of a parabolic After the wood has been cut to length, Use a dab 'of epoxy at each lead to
reflector (a curved surface that has the the reflector is mounted to it using a pair sP-cure the two leads to the board. Make
property of focusing all incoming rays to of wood screws or epoxy as shown in Fig. sure bare leads do not make contact with
a single point), and if the open end of the 3A. After securing the reflector, care- the metal reflector.
reflector is covered with a material that fully drill two I/J6-inch holes, '14 inch On the underside of the board, mount
keeps air from circulating around the apart and straddling the center point, a two-lug terminal strip and connect
thermistor but allows infrared radiation through reflector and wood support. Cut both the two thermistor leads and a
to pass through, a sensor for infrared two pieces of small-diameter insulated small two-conductor cable to the two
radiation is produced. This is shown in sleeving, about 'Is inch shorter than the terminals as shown in Fig. 3C. After the
Fig. 2. Since the reflector and thermis- "focal length" previously determined. epoxy is cured, paint a thin coat of flat-
tor are not therma lly insulated, the ther-
mistor will have some response to am-
bient air temperature.
The reflector arrangement shown in
Fig.2 is the approach used in the IRIA
project. Such a sensor is mounted to the
underside of the vehicle front bumper,
with the open end facing the road under-
neath the vehicle. The temperature of
the thermistor represents a weighted av- (A)
erage of the road and air tempera-
tures- with the road temperature pre-
dominating. If there were a perfect vac- THIS SPAGHETTISLEEVING~Tl
SHOULD BE 118" SHORTER 11/4"
}
BEFORE YOU SLIP ON THE SLEEVING
uum surrounding the thermistor, and THAN THE EFFECTIVE PLACE A BIT OF EPOXY ON THE
FOCAL LENGTH OF YOUR LEADS OVER TtitS DISTANCE
the thermistor leads had the absolute REFLECTOR
minimum of support, the thermistor
temperature would closely approximate (B)
that of the road.
Fig. 3. Diagrams showing
THERMISTOR AT FOCAL POINT the procedures for mounting
The Sensor Assembly. The ther- the reflector on its
mistor used in the author's prototype support (A), preparing the
has a resistance of 1000 ohms at 25 C, thermistor (B), and
is relatively small and inexpensive. It mounting the thermistor (C).
has a time constant of I 0 seconds, and a
diameter of 0.1 inch (see Parts List).
The parabolic reflector used was a 4" SOLDERED
type salvaged from a discarded la ntern (C)
--
IC1-LM324N quad op amp
LED1-orange or red LED
The following are 1!4-watt composition re-
sistors unless otherwise specified:
R 1 - 6.2 kfl, 5%, film
R2 R5 R2 - 3.3 kri, 5io, film
3,3K 10K . R3-82fl
R4,R5,R6 - 10 kfl, 5%, film
R7 -10 kfl, 10-turn pc mount potentiome
ter
RS-2.2 kfl
R9,R10-2.2 Mfl
A11.:_330fl
S 1-Spst. switch
TDR1-1 kfl@ 25C thermistor, (Fenwall
JB31J1 or similar)
Misc.-'2 112" or larger parabolic reflector
(lantern or flashlight component), spagh
etti sleeving, epoxy cement, 1" x 2"
wood board, wood sc;rews, machine
screw, twolug terminal strip, two-con
ductor cable, cable ties. etc.
Fig. 4 _ The thermistor is part of a bridge that Note: The following are available from
drives comparator ICtA. When this comparator Magic/and Electronics, 4380 South
tums on (detected temperature below preset), 'Gordon Ave., Fremont, M/49412: Fen-
it activates a u;o and ~n audible alarm. _
wa/1 jB31J1 tf!ermistor at $2.95; ther-
mistor and LM324N at $4.25 (kit
/RIA 1).
black, oil-based paint on the thermistor applied at pin 2. This causes !CIA to about 2.5 volts developed by network R6
body. Cover the open end of the reflector switch "on" which, in turp, forces buffer and R8. Therefore, ICI D will switch on
with a thin transparent plastic shield ICI B to supply current to LEDI causing only when its noninverting input is
(transparent food packaging material or it to glow. This visually indicates that greater than the reference voltage (2.5
other thin flexible plastic is fine). Trans- there is the possibility of an icy spot in volts) . When ICI D is activated, it sup-
parent piastics pass more infrared ener- the road. plies current to alarm AI via current-
gy than does glass . The output (pin 1) of ICI A is also limiting resistor RJ I. This alarm turns
coupled to buffer ICIC, which drives a on a fraction of a second after ICI A
Circuit Operation. The circuit is differentiator consisting of CI and R9. operates. After a time period deter-
shown in Fig. 4 . At a temperature of The output of this differentia tor consists mined by the values of R6, R8, R9, and
32 F (0 C), the thermistor called for in of a positive-going pulse when ICI A CI, the alarm goes off. When the ther-
the Parts List has a resistance of approx- switches off. Diode DI allows only the mistor ''sees" a higher temperature, its
imately 2.8 k;fl. Thus, at 32 F, pin 3 of positive-going pulse to pass to the nonin- resistance drops, turning off ICJ A and
op amp ICI A is just under 6.8 volts (as- verting input (pin 12) of ICI D . The ICJ B, and the LED goes dark.
sumin'g the vehicle's electrical system is inverting input (pin 13) is referenced to The circuit is protected by fuse FI ,
delivering about 13 .6 volts when the
generator is operating) .
The output of ICI A is coupled to fol-
lower ICI B which in turn drives LEDI
through current-limiting resistor R3.
Reference voltage control R7 is !id-
justed so that the LED is just below the
point of glowing at the user-selected
"critical p()int" (this is usually between
32 and 36F). Once R7 has been ad-
justed, the reference voltage at pin 2 of
ICI A is just a fraction of a volt below Fins/assembly of tl)e
that at its noninverting input (pin 3) . author's prototype Icing
The non inverting input of ICI A is Alert is shown at left.
connected to the junction of RI and Head assembly is mounted
TDRI in series with R2 . As the temper- on piece of wood
atu're of TDRI drops, its resistance in- with the thermistor
at the focal point.
creases, and the voltage ai !CIA pin 3
increases above the reference voltage
1983 EDITION 49
icing alert ________________________________________________________
BY LOU DEZETIEL
F OR learning or brushing up on
Morse Code skills, it's hard to beat
listening to and trying to "read" CW
transmissions right off the air. Even
though high transmission speeds and,
sometimes, sloppy keying may make
these signals frustrating for beginners,
machine-perfect code at calibrated
speeds is sent by W 1A W, home station
of the American Radio Relay League.
The schedule of transmissio11s is givefl in R4
the table; all you need to listen in is a 22K
R6
general-coverage receiver with a bfo-- 22K
RS
providing that it is selective enough. 22K
If your receiver is not selective L-----------------._----~~MN--+9V
enough, the Code Filter described in this Fig. 1. Circuit for the Code Filter consists of cascaded
article should help. It is meant to be con- pair of active stages formed by op amps IC 1 anq IC2.
nected between a receiver's audio output
and a user's headphones (or audio am- PARTS LIST
plifier) to sharpen the apparent selectiv-
ity and eliminate the interference that C 1-0.005J.LF capacitor R3;R7 - 2.2-MI1 resistor (must be closely
would otherwise make CW hard to read. C2,C3,C4,C5-0.001 J.LF capacitor (C3 matched)
The design is active, with a bandpass and C5 must be closely matched) Misc.-8-pin IC socket (2, optional), spst
centered on 600 Hz and narrow enough C6-5J.LF, 2!:\-V electrolytic switch (optional), battery holqer and
to greatly reduce the effect of interfer- IC1,1C2-741 op amp connector, suitable connector for audio
ence at neighboring frequencies. The R1 ,R5-500-k\1,1i4'W resistor jack, small enclosure, mounting hard-
R2,R4,R6,R8-22-kl1, 114-W resistor ware, etc.
center frequency of 600 Hz was chosen
to provide a pleasant, nonfatiguing tone
for the user.
600 Hz and is 100 Hz wide at the stage should be closely matched to keep
Circuit Operation. The circuit, - 6-dB points. the two filters at the same peak frequen-
shown in Fig. 1 consists of a cascaded The frequency-determining compo- cy and bandpass. Components not af-
pair of active stages formed by op amps nents are R,2, R3, C2, and C3 connected fecting frequency may have 20% to!~
ICI and IC2. With the component val- to ICI, and R6, R7, C4 and C5 with erance in their values.
ues shown, the bandpass peaks at about IC2. Corresponding components of each Because of its high input impedance,
-+9V
-C3- - C5-
C2
I
I
-R3-- --R7--
I
G
C6
Rl
I
I
R2
-R5-
I
R6
-C4-
-R4-
EJ I
RS
I
I-OUTPUT
__J_
I
Cl
I IJ -GND
I -INPUT
Fig. 2 . Component placement guide for the Code Filter is shown at left,
and actu<~l-size pc board foil pattern is at right.
1983 EDITION 51
active filter-----~ .uTruth Analyzer... (Continued from page 3B J
the filter will not appreciably load any
circuit to which it is connected. The au-
dio output can feed loads as low as 300
ohms without degrading the filter per-
formance. (Most hi-fi phones have lower
impedances and will not work.)
W1AWCOQE
PRACTICE SESSIONS
EST PST
Speeds: 5, 1112, 10, 13, and 15 wpm
N!on. 9 a.m., 7 p.m. 6 a.m .. 4 p.m.
Tues. 4 p.m., 10 p.m 1 p.m .. 7 p.m.
Wee!. 9 a.m., 7 p .m. 6 a.m., 4 p.m.
Thur. 4 p.m . 10 p.m. 1 p.m., 7 p.m.
Fri. 9 a.m., 7 p .m. 6 a.rri., 4 p.m.
Sat. 4 p.m., 10 p.m. 1 p.m., 7 p.m.
Sun. 4 p.m. 10 p .m. 1 p.m., 7 p.m.
52 ELECTRONIC EXPERIMENTER'S/~ANDBOOK
DISCOVER THE MAGAZINE
. . THAT HELPED LAUNCH .. .
THE MICROCOMPUTER INDUSTRY
Incredible as it may seem, Popular Elec- Coot~ &.Electronics The first low-cost voice synthesizer. The
tronics helped launch the microcomputer . ilrmedg 1\lpular Elec:IJoo!c8 ' first low-cost logic analyzer. The first 1802-
industry Back in 1975, we published plans An EPROM ProgrOIJI~~ for Small Computers based microcomputer (ELF) . The first
for building the first powerful microcom- Scope SWitch Pr<Mdes Muiii-ChannelllOCe$. low-cost function generator. The first gas-
puter based on the 8080 cpu. These plans laser communicator (awarded a place in
generated incredible excitement-and the Smithsonian Institution) . The first low-
started the world thinking about personal cost color graphics computer module. An
computing. interface to transfer narrow line listings
Since then, we've added more coverage from your TRS-80 Pocket Compute r to
of personal computing. Today, so much of either a printer or CRT screen ....
the magazine is devoted to microcom- As you can see, our construction proj-
puters that we've changed our name to ... ects, while not necessarily complex
(thanks to multifunction IC chips), will
Computers & Electronics keep you at the forefront of technological
Corpputers & Electronics continues the development-at remarkably low cost. And
Popular Electronics tradition of helping in the future, we'll be bringing you con-
our readers experience the advances of struction projects to help you make your
the future-today. We do it with clearly microcomputer more useful-whether it 's
written, in-depth articles explaining each an enhancement , an application, or a
innovation ... plans for building useful, merging of technology with external con-
money-saving projects incorporating the and a variety of audio, video and testing trols and products.
newest technology ... reviews of the latest equipment.
mass-produced equipment. Whether it's Get the leader in the field-
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WQrld-famous test reports I I
In every issue of Computers & Electronics II Mr/ Mrs/Ms
(please print full name)
II
you'll find our. famous in-depth test reports.
We take a new product , test it and analyze 1 Address pt. _ _ _ I
the results. Rece ntly we've tested the Radio
Shack TRS-80 Model III, the IBM Personal II City tate ip II
Computer, and the Sinclair ZX-81. Micro-
I
computers by Apple, Atari, Hewlett-Pack-
ard, Intelligent Systems and Netronics.
Plus an interactive data terminal, software,
L_ ::_rrer
CHECK ONE D Payment enclosed
v~d-=-U~a~::::.only: : : .a~w~ ~0 days fo~l=y off:=~ _
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_j
BY WALTER GONTOWSKI, JR.
!Microcomputer
money-saving ideas! Interfacing
Handbook:
&
Select 5 fact-filled volumes
for only $2 95 (total V!llUe Up to $89.75}
1316 1271 1411
List $16.95 List $16.95 List $15.95
~ ~~~tQn
I"!*Jlw -~uo-'
~YIIM?'fk'l"t.l:fl
AC7DC
,..
iELECTRICITY &
J ELECTRONICS
HOW TO \~ .,. ~..., .
DESIGN, BUILD &
PllOGRAM YOUR OWN
A!Jl~II.~.ED WORKING
rl'~&:A
<.' ' ..:,.'. '
COMPUTER SYSTEM
fiiiltl$tU!:mW
"~~'*'"'
ll*.o>lo<lh~-
_...d. -.....- .
........"'*"'*""-'""'*"''
-------------------
? +Vee r-1~c;I r-1~;I
+Vee?
I I I I
~
I
- ...
I
...&...
I
I
I
I
I
I
~-+I
I
I
ALARM
LOW-LEVEL I
GROUND I
GENERATPR
I
---1
HIGH -LEVEL
GROUND
I I
....L. ....L.
~C3
C2 """"
I I Fig. 1. Block diagram of the Sprague ULN-2232A Integrated
...a... ...&... Optical Motion Detector reveals chip's internal structure.
fn\ QTRIGGER (.;\ QSONALERT OR
+VREG -~~~------------------~~~~~~I~NP~UT--------.---~----------.-----~~~~ILE~D~~DR~I~V~ER~--------~~-----------
R25 R26
4 . 3K 4.3K
Rl4 Rl7
68K 51K
Qll R23
RIG 5.1 K
470fi
0~18 EXIT DELAY PERIMETER MONITO R LATCH
like a conventional optoelectronic alarm room or moves around in it, the amount tier, a threshold detector and an alarm
s ensor (usually a CdS photocell) that of light reflected to the sensor IC will generator. Sensor operation is as follows.
triggers the alarm when the path vary. The sensor has been designed to The photOdiode generates a small
between a light source and the sensor is respond to this change in light level. eleCtric current when it is irradiated by
interrupted, this novel IC senses the A block diagram of the ULN-2232A IC light energy. This photocurrent is pro-
presence of an intruder by detecting sensor is shown in Fig. 1. The chip con- cessed into a voltage by logarithmic
changes in the amount of ambient light tains, among other things, a photodiode, converter A 1. Taking the log of the cur-
reaching it As the intruder enters the a logarithmic converter, a voltage ampli- rent allows sensor operation over a
(";\OTRIGGER
\!J I OUTPUT
R30 R31
56 0K 62K
ENTRANCE
DELAY
R35
IOK
R33
IOK
+
C22
2.2
AUTO RESET
iynated by circled letters correspond to those in the system wir-
ing guide (Fig. 12) to simplif y interconnection of Opdec modules.
ALARM
GENERATOR
range of several decades of light inten- which in turn drives A3. Capacitors C 1,
sity while restricting signal dynamic C2, and C3 act together to favor low-
range to a convenient level. Changes in frequency voltage changes such as ~.1~
the amount of light irradiating the photo- those resulting from sensed motion and .____.W~-<vw-----.~
diode result in a varying current and to discriminate against relatively high-
thence a varying logarithmic voltage at frequency input signals such as those by
the output of A 1. Capacitor C1 couples 120-Hz fluorescent lamp flicker.
voltage changes to voltage amplifier A2 The logarithmic conversion charac-
1983 EDITION 59
r------------------------------------1 cially constructed detector module
\ r--T-:V;..;+_ _~ (more on this later) should be mounted in
I Dl
I I
I
a window and aimed at the sky. When a
I V+ lightning flash occurs, this detector will
t:J: I Tl
Rl
lOOn
2W
.._.,.;IS;.;;E.;.;.NS;;.;E;.._~
momentarily disarm the system and then
automatically rearm it. This module
CD should not be mounted in such a way
I
I
,........,--- that any swaying trees, moving cars, or
I
+
I
similar objects are in its field of view.
I If you would like to incorporate the
I I
I 1GND additional protection of a closed-loop
I
I ~------~--_.------------~~--. system, magnetic reed door switches
I
I I (normally closed) and metallic foil tape
L-------------------------------- - -------~ for glass can be connected to the signal
processor. These items can be pur-
Fig. 3. This power supply can satisfy current demand of a complete chased at most electronics stores and
Opdec system. Most of it fits on the Signal Processor's pc board. are simple to install. The switches and
tape are all wired in series and connect-
teristic of A 1 and the gains of A2 and A3 C20 is charging, the pulses appearing at ed to point J and ground (point E). If any
are chosen so that the threshold detec- the collector of 09 are shunted to of the protected doors are opened or a
tor is triggered when the change in light ground by 010. When the voltage foiled window is broken, the closed-loop
level exceeds 5% during a relatively across C20 increases to approximately circuit is opened. This cuts off 012,
short period of time (about one second). 2. 1 volts, 08 conducts and cuts off 0 10. which in turn allows the latch to be set
When the threshold detector is trig- The Opdec system is now armed . by means of R21, 011, and 012. After
gered, a pulse is routed to pin 11 of the If light-level changes such as those the 30-second entry delay interval, the
IC and to a four-bit counter that is part of caused by motion are detected, pulses alarm is activated.
the chip's timing and alarm-generating are sent to 09, which sets latch An additional feature of the Opdec
circuit. An on-chip transistor is capable 015016. The latch cuts off 021 enabl- Signal Processor module is either a
of driving a small loudspeaker, but it is ing C 17 to charge through R34. During visual or audible indication if any of the
not used in the Opdec system . Rather, the interval that C 17 is charging (ap- doors or windows are inadvertently left
the pulse appearing at pin 11 of the IC proximately 30 seconds), the alarm is open upon exiting. If, for example, a
sensor is applied to the Signal Proces- not activated . This delay gives the occu- window were left open, 012 would be
sor, the central, supervisory module of pant time to enter the house and disarm cut off and 013 and 014 would conduct.
the Opdec system. the system. When the voltage across Either a Mallory Sonalert or a light emit-
C 17 equals approximately 1.3 volts, ting diode can be employed to indicate
The Signal Processor is shown sche- 022, 023, and 024 conduct and that the Opdec system has been
matically in Fig . 2. Among other things, it actuate the alarm generator comprising ordered to arm itself. The indicator can
detects trigger signals from any of sev- IC3 and drivers 025 and 026. The be connected to the collectors of 0 13
eral motion sensors, decides if the sen- sound produced by /C3 is similar to the and 014 (point P). If you decide to use a
sor has in fact detected the movement "yelping" sound made by police sirens. LED, make sure you insert a 560-ohm
of an intruder (rather than being trig- Once the alarm generator has been resistor between the cathode of the LED
gered by lightning, a car passing in the activated, it will continue to oscillate for and the collectors of the transistors
night, or some similar phenomenon), 10 minutes. After that time, it turns off (point P). Once the system has been
generates exit and entry delays, auto- and the Opdec system automatically armed, the warning circuit is disabled by_
matically resets the system a few min- rearms itself. This feature is included in 011, which begins to conduct and cuts
utes after it has sounded the alarm, and case the alarm is triggered while the off 013 when C20 has charged suffi-
provides optional closed-loop perimeter occupants are away for an extended ciently.
protection. Also included in the signal period and no one is able to turn off the
processor module is a power supply for alarm. This 10-minute reset function is The Siren Driver. There are several
the complete system. This supply is generated in the following manner. When different means of signalling that the
shown schematically in Fig. 3. 024 begins to conduct, it provides base Signal Processor has been triggered. In
When the system is armed, S 1 is drive for 020. This transistor cuts off the author's installation, the collector of
opened . This allows C20 to charge 019, which allows C21 to charge 026 (point I) was connected to an exist-
through R14. In the meantime, 08 is cut through R30. It takes this capacitor ing intercom system and to two exterior
off and allows 010 to conduct. Transis- approximately 10 minutes to charge up paging horns. In addition, a 12-volt, bat-
tor 010 ensures that the latch consist- to a voltage which causes 018 and 017 tery-operated electronic siren was incor-
ing of 015, 016 and their associated to conduct. When 0 17 turns on, it resets porated as a back-up alarm in case
resistors is reset. While C20 is charging the latch, which turns off the alarm. there was a power failure, or the power
(approximately one minute), the occu- Opdec is again armed and awaits any lines were cut. An 8-ohm horn speaker
pant can move about the premises free- further trigger signals. can be connected to the collector of
ly and leave through a protected exit Special precautions must be taken to 026. The resulting loud alarm sound
without setting off the alarm. Trigger prevent Opdec from generating false should be sufficient to scare away any
pulses from the motion detectors he alarms due to lightning, passing cars intruder.
passes cause 09 to conduct, but while with glowing headlights, etc. One spe- The electronic siren driver is shown
signal processor
board
1983 EDITION 61
schematically in Fig. 7. Signals ap- Finally, if because of some emergency
pearing at the collector of 026 are cou- you want to instantly activate the siren,
pled to 05 by meao3 of 06 and RB. close the "Optional, PANIC switch, as-
Capacitor C23 filters the pulses pro- suming that it has been installed.
C2,C5,C6- 47-J.Lf, 6-volt electrolytic
duced by 026. Transistor 05 provides C3- 0.22-J.Lf, 6-volt tantalum
base current for 06 which in turn sup- Smoke and Fire Detection. Although C4-0.01-J.Lf, 50-volt disc ceramic
plies base current to siren driver 07. the motion detector will detect smoke ICI-ULN-2232A Sprague Integrated
If the line-derived positive supply volt- and fire (because both cause changes Motion Detector
Misc.- Printed circuit board, standoff in-
age V + is lost because of a power-line in ambient light), it is advisable to install
sulators, suitable enclosure measuring
failure or intentional disabling by the one or more commerCially available,
approllimately 2%" X 21/s'' X I s" or 7
intruder, the system will be powered self-contained smoke detectors be- em X 5.4 em X 4.1 em (Bud CU-
automatically by a 12-volt lantern bat- cause the Opdec system has to be 21 00-A or similar), barrier block termi-
tery. In the event that the intruder armed if it is to detect smoke and fire. nal strip, hookup wire, solder, hard-
Thus, the occupants of the premises will ware, etc.
locates the Signal Processor module
and cuts all the wires leading to it, 03 be protected while they are there even
will sense a loss of voltage and activate though Opdec will not ordinarily be
the siren driver by means of R5 and 05. armed.
t.\ r--------------------------
\:.1I .
- ---------------- -- ---,I
.V BATTERY
I
I
I
I
I
I Fig. 7. Schematic
I diag-ram of
I
I Siren Driver
I module appears
I
HEAT I at left.
DETECTOR I
I
I
I
I
cv :
~~------------------------------~~+-------------------------------_J
:
SIREN
---+:----------------------e-,--------.......J
SPEAK~~ 0 l
PANI C SWITCH
DRIVER
lo;.
"'11\11
j 1
1
HEAT PANIC
DETECTOR SW ITCH
TO
' SEC
Tl
1983 EDITION
63
A B Fig. 11. Wiring diagrams for
motion sensor (at far left) and
special lightning sensor (left).
R2
:-nTI~SPKR
C1
1pF
R3
TO PIN 9
1N914 p \__TJ
4.7K
~
I
UI NEGATIVE
PULSE INPUT
5
KEYSTROBE~ -
/
6 R4
I 4.7K
_f1_ POSITIVEKEYSTROBE~~
PULSE INPUT
9
PARTS LIST
C 1- 1~J.F , 25-volt electrolytic The following, unless otherwise specified, SPKR*-80 dynamic speaker
C2, C3, C4-0.1~J.F disc ceramic capaci are 1/4-watt, 10% tolerance fixed carbon- T1*-10k0 to a-n audio transformer
tor "'"'JC composition resistors. TR 1*-High-impedance crystal transducer
C5-2501J.F, 25-volt electrolytic R1-100k0 Misc.-Printed circuit or perforated board,
01*-1N914 signal diode R2, R3, R4-4.7 kO IC sockets or Molex Soldercons, suit
IC1-C04001 quad NOR gate R5-1Q-k0 logarithmic-taper trimmer po- able power source and enclosure, hook
IC2-NE556 dual timer tentiometer up wire, solder, hardware, etc.
IC3*-LM386 audio amplifier S 1-Spst switch *-Optional; see text.
transducers. If an earphone with a between pins 1 and 8 of IC3. The IC can with the formation of good solder joints.
screw-in earplug is employed, best re- be powered from the same source as the The project can be connected to the key-
sults will be obtained with the earplug rest of the circuit because its current board by suitable lengths of insulated,
removed. The author reports that a suit- demand is modest. stranded hookup wire. If space permits,
able crystal earphone can generate Toggle switch SJ controls the action the project can be mounted inside the
sound levels audible at distances of up to of the monostable timer section of IC2. keyboard enclosure. Alternatively, it
ten feet. When the switch is open, the positive can be installed in a small enclosure of
The middle alternative is to have the supply voltage is applied to the monosta- its own.
circuit drive a low-impedance dynamic ble multivibrator's RESET input (pin 4) .
loudspeaker. Here, a small audio output This allows the timer to function nor- In Conclusion. Auditory confirma-
transformer (Tl) couples the output of mally. However, when the switch is tion of a proper key-contact actuation
the astable multivibrator to the speaker. closed, the monostable's RESET input is can speed and simplify the use of an
Diode Dl protects the astable multivi- grounded and that timer's output (pin 5) ASCII or similar keyboard. The circuit
brator's output transistor from inductive is frozen at ground potential. When this that has been presented here will pro-
spikes that can appear across the trans- happens, the astable multivibrator is vide ' such confirmation and make the
former primary. disabled and no tone can be produced. time spent at a keyboard more produc-
The output configuration appearing Therefore, if the user does not want a tive and enjoyable. If desired, the values
at the lower right can provide a consid- tone to be generated each time a key of the resistors and capacitors associated
erable sound pressure level. The output contact is actuated, SJ should be closed. with the two timer sections of IC2 can
signal at pin 9 of IC2 is applied to poten- be changed to suit the taste of an indi-
tiometer R5, which functions as a level Construction. Because the project is vidual user. Increasing the time constant
control. Audio amplifier chip IC3 boosts relatively simple, it can be assembled on of Rl CJ will result in a longer "beep."
the signal present at its noninverting in- a small perforated or printed-circuit Decreasing it will shorten the time that
put and drives a low-impedance dy- board. The use of IC sockets or Molex the astable multivibrator oscillates. The
namic loudspeaker via coupling capaci- Soldercons is recommended. Be sure to frequency and duty cy<;:le of the audio
tor C5. As shown, IC3 has a voltage gain observe the polarities of power supply output can be modified by appropriate
of 20. This is adequate for most applica- leads, semiconductors, and electrolytic changes in the values of R3, R4, and C4.
tions but can be increased to 200 by con- capacitors. Employ the m1mmum Consult a 556 data sheet for the appro-
necting a 10-J.LF electrolytic capacitor amount of heat and solder consistent priate design equations. 0
66 ELECTRONIC EXPERIMENTER'S HANDBOOK
BY AL SYDNOR B ECAUSE OF their simplicity and low
cost, electromagnetic relays are
wic::Jely used in control applications. Un-
fortunately, some experimenters and
How to use solid-state designers do not fully understand how to
interface relays with electronic circuitry.
circuits to obtain predictable As a result, their circuits frequently
operate erratically, and outright failure
performance from of either the relay or the components
electromechanical relays associated with it is far more common
than necessary. Moreover, many possi-
ble functions that relays can perform
with appropriate drive circuitry are often
overlooked. A knowledgeable approach,
such as that presented here, should
tt.n 's
enable one to use relays with confi-
dence and wi.t hout hesitation.
~~pe . de.
relay, regardless of details of construc-
tion, is basically a mechanical switch
1983 EDITION 67
Drop-out voltage (current). The value verse-voltage rating must exceed the sources you can use a transistor am-
that barely lets the contacts open power-supply voltage, and its current plifier such as that shown in Fig. 2A.
(close). rating must be at least 25 times the load When S 1 is set to OFF (ground), no base
The limits on current or voltage the operating current. A varistor, or voltage- current is supplied, the transistor is cut
relay can switch are also important. dependent resistor, can be substituted off, and the relay is deenergized. Setting
Contacts are commonly rated either for the diode. Its resistance should be S 1 to its ON position sends the transistor
according to current capacity or by a more than 10 times the de resistance of into saturation and energizes the relay.
maximum number of volt-amperes (VA), the coil at 20 C. More sensitivity can be had simply by
the product of current and voltage. If a Sometimes, when a relay coil ap- adding amplifier stages, as shown in Fig.
relay that must handle heavy current pears to have shorted for no reason, an 28. If no input is applied to 01, it is cut
cannot be driven from a low-power inductive spike that exceeds its insula- off and 02 is saturated energizing the
circuit, it can, in turn , be driven by a relay tion ratings may be at fault. A diode can relay. Application of bias to 01 sa-
the circuit can handle. be used as in Fig. 18 to protect a relay turates it, and 0 2 c uts off, deenergizing
coil if a longer release time can pe the relay.
Contact Protection. When a switch in tolerated. An improvement over this Another two-stage transistor relay
series with an inductive circuit (such as method is to use a transistor circuit as in driv.er is shown in Fig. 2C. In this case,
a relay coil) is opened, the magnetic Fig . 1C. When the switch in Fig. 1C is the circuit is noninverting and is con-
field in the coil collapses and a voltage closed, the capacitor discharges. Open- trolled by a photocell. The photocell
proportional to the rate of change of ing the switch causes the capacitor to controls 0 1, whic h in turn controls 02,
current is generated. Thi s high voltage keep the transistor conducting until the whose collector current energizes the
across the switch contacts can eventu- capacitor has charged up through the relay. The potentiometer permits adjust-
ally cause damage or failure. base-emitter junction and resistor ment of threshold voltage for the partic-
Semiconductors can be used to sup- enough to cut off the transistor. This is ular photocell being used and prevents
press these voltage transients, as in Fig. equivalent to opening the switch slowly leakage current from operating the relay
1A, where a diode is connected across to lengthen the decay rate of the current under high-temperature conditions.
the load as shown. When a positive and keep the induc ed v?ltage smaller. A single-power-supply, three-stage
spike appears across the switch con- driving amplifier is shown in Fig. 20 .
t act s, the diode clamps it to the positive Linear-Amplifier Driver. To drive Once again , illuminating the photocell
power-supply voltage. The diode's re- high-current relays from low-current energizes the relay, with the potentio-
DIODE
c D
+ 1.5V
l!'itJ. L Switching-
ta-ansient su:p:pressioo; c
diode across inductive
lood.(4) or relay coil (B);
transistor circuit across Fig. 2. Linear amplifiers as relay drivers: (A) single-stage; {B) two-stage
switch contacts (C). inverting (C two-stage noninverting; (D) three-stage noninverting.
68 ELECTRONIC EXPERIMENTER'S HANDBOOK
meter permitting adjustment of the re- Jordan bistable multivibrator. This is a without a heat sink. If 03 is to be
lay's operating threshold. In the off conventional design except for C 1 and operated at high ambient temperatures,
state, all transistors are cut off and R 1, which are used to ensure that 0 1 however, it should be mounted on a 2"
current consumption is negligible, which will be driven into saturation and 02 will (50.8-mm) square sheet of No. 16
makes this circuit suitable for operation be cut off when power is first turned on aluminum.
from a battery. to prevent the relay from energizing on A regenerative relay driver that uses
power-up. an SCR is shown in Fig. 30. Initially, S 1
Regenerative-Amplifier Driver. The A positive signal on the RESET line to and S2 are both open and no trigger
relay drivers discussed above have a the base of 02 activates the relay voltage is applied to the gate of the
serious disadvantage in that a border- solidly, while a positive signal on the SET SCR, which remains cut ofL Closing S 1
line threshold input can cause the relay line to the base of 01 deactivates the applies a positive voltage to the SCR's
to alternate rapidly between on and off, relay just as solidly. gate. triggering the SCR and energizing
producing " chatter." Also, the energiz- When using high-power relays, it is the relay.
ing threshold can vary with temperature. usually necessary to add a buffer stage Opening S 1 does not turn off the SCR.
A regenerative amplifier can be used to between the relay and regenerative It does, however, allow the voltage
keep the relay energized or deenergized circuit. A typical arrangement is illus- across capacitor C 1 to approach that of
with no in-between state. trated in Fig. 3C. Here. Schmitt trigger the supply. Then, closing S2 applies a
A Schmitt trigger with a relay coil as 0 1I 02 is coupled to 03 via 12-volt negative pulse to the anode of the SCR
the load is shown in Fig. 3A. As long as zener diode 0 1. When a negative control to stop conduction. An alternative to
the input ievel is less than 6 volts, 0 1 is signal of sufficient amplitude is applied using S2 to turn off the SCR is to
cut off, 02 is saturated, and the relay is to the input of this circuit. 01 conducts connect a transistor from the anode to
energized. When the input exceeds 6 and 02 cuts off. Current through the 02 the cathode. as shown by the phan-
volts, 0 1 rapidly saturates and cuts off collector load resistor and 0 1 to the tom ed circuit in Fig . 30 . When the
02 to positively deenergize the relay. base of 03 causes it to conduct and transistor turns on. it diverts currer:t from
The potentiometer permits precise set- energize the relay. the SCR. As soon as the SCR's current
ting of the operating threshold . Because 03's bottom potential at 1.5 falls below its holding value, the devica
Another regenerative-amplifier circuit amperes is less than 0.5 volt and this turns off. The relay coil is deenergized
is shown in Fig. 38 . Here, the relay's coil transistor's rated free-air dissipation is when the voltage to the base of the
is the load for one side of an Eccles- less than 1 watt, 03 can be operated transistor is removed .
l1oK
'-----4~i-- -3V
A B
1. 2K
22 K 47Jt
c D
l
I
A B
-+
Sl -+ IOV
Sl
c D
-12V
I~
01
~
..J;.."
AC
VtN(-)
>10-5V
AC
VOLTAGE
"WAH-WAH" is one of several comprising operational amplifiers IC1 A, output jack J2 are at a suitable level.
. interesting effects used by IC1 B, IC1 C, and their associated pas- That sets this project apart from older,
electric guitarists to "spice up" the sive components. The center frequency discrete Wah- Wah designs that did not
sounds generated by their instruments. of this filter can be varied by means of compensate for any insertion loss intro-
This effect, named in imitation of its potentiometer R7. duced by the bandpass filter. An addi-
sound, is commonly employed by syn- When this potentiometer is adjusted tional benefit provided by IC1 C is buf-
thesists and electric pianists as well. It is for minimum resistance, the center fre- fering, which prevents the load from in-
achieved by sweeping the center fre- quency of the filter is approximately teracting with the filter and affecting its
quency of a bandpass filter while the 2500 Hz. When the potentiometer's ef- frequency response.
output of the instrument is fed through fective resistance is increased to its max- The remaining op amp, /C1 D, is not
it. Typically, the filter is controlled by imum value of 500,000 ohms, the filter's used. In accord with good design prac-
means of a foot pedal. center frequency decreases to approxi- tice, its inputs are grounded. Power for
Presented here is a Wah- Wah pedal mately 1050 Hz. These filter responses the circuit is provided by a bipolar sup-
designed with the performing artist in are shown in Fig. 2, a photo of the CRT ply consisting of two 9-volt batteries in
mind . It employs a high-performance traces generated by a spectrum analyz- series. Diodes D1 and D2 protect against
quad operational amplifier and a bat- er. T he analyzer was driven by a signal the inadvertent application of reverse
tery power source, making it well-suited generator with the project inserted in se- supply voltages. Tantalum capacitors
to stage or studio work. Parts count is ries between the generator and the ana- C3 and C4 function as power-suppiy by-
low, so the Wah-Wah Pedal is easy to lyzer, and the project's frequency-con- passing components. Note that there is
build . A kit including a rugged foot- trol potentiometer (R7) was alternately no separate power switch. This is be-
pedal mechanism is available for $55 . set to provide for minimum and maxi- cause the switching contacts of JJ B
mum resistance. (part of input jack J 1) a utomatically
About the Circuit. The Wah-Wah pe- The upper and lower limits of the connect the battery supply to the rest of
dal is shown schematically in Fig. I. Sig- range over which the active bandpass the project whenever the instrument
nals from the instrument being played filter's center frequency can be swept patch cord is inserted into J 1. The only
are presented to input jack J 1 A , one are determined by the stages comprising switch in the project isS 1, a heavy-duty,
portion of a three-conductor, double IC1 A and IC1 B and their associated push-on/ push-off switch activated by
closed-circuit, I/4-inch (6.3-mm) phone passive components. Inverting amplifier the foot-pedal mechanism. It either by-
j ack. The input signals drive a second- IC1 C provides a slight amount of volt- passes signals around the Wah- Wah cir-
order, two-pole active bandpass filter age gain so that signals appearing; at cuit or inserts it into the signal path.
J2
JIAI ~N:t
INPUT_
B
:9 _
15K
Rl
r-~~M-~o~u~:.~=~~
It
c apable ot be1ng plugged mto Stock No . 82507 10 ea . of IM 1. 2M-1 5M-1 .8M-2 .2 M 2 . 7M-3 JM-3 9M-4 7M - 5 .6M 0HM
d1p soc kets. 1n c ludmg w1re wrap 11301 8 s 45$ 40.$ .36 11201 8 $ . 15 $ . 13 $ . 12
11302 14 .66 .59 54 11202 14 .18 .15 .14
WILD ROVER 60 / 40 ROSIN CORE SOLDER 16
16 . 72 .64 58 11203 .21 .18 .16
11
11303
Stoc~ Length Weoght
Stoc k No To, ch wtch cap.,Je 11304 18 .8 2 73 .66 11204 18 .2 4 .21 .19
No Pm s 1 24 50 Ooeoa>m9 motoo " ow w"ho"' the ~ No (feet I (O Z ) Proce
11055 24 s 4 .35 "
s 3 .90 s 3 .60
4 50 4 .05 3 . 75
ose of a levered arm Extremely fast o n
and off w1th low noose. Normally open -
500'5
50076 062
9 5 St 16
2 39
11305
11306
20
22
1 . 11
1 . 26
. 99 90
1 . 12 1 .02
11205
11206
20
22
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.30
24
26
.21
23
11056 26 rated 1 1 5 VAG. 1 6 amp- 30 mlllohm re ' 24
11057 40 5 . 95 5.35 4 .95 sstance - 615 r adus by . 160 th1 c k
50077 062 50 4 25 11307 1 .41 1 .25 1 . 14 11207 24 .33 .30 .25
9 45 8 . 70 50078 032 33 '5 'J 11308 28 1 . 71 1 .52 1 . 38 11208 28 .38 .34 .29
11058 64 10.50 Stock No . 1-9 10 25 032 66 5 2 47 40 40
12098 s
1 . 28 1 . 12 s .95 s 50079 11309 2 .3 1 2 .05 1 .86 11209 .53 .45 .40
50080 032 <75 45 7
A
ELPAC POWER SUPPLIES - DC/DC CONVERTERS MOOUTEC
SI N TEC
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Input
Voltlge
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13804 SOL\11515 15 I 2A 4 -71642 r .... d on cl ur!ed
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13296 16pon 150 VAC
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wothnvmDeedtoolesonponloca
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$1.82 per pack of 10 . . 13313 $2.10 ~ Stock No. 13729 $13. 95
~ci::_
1983 EDITION 73
wah-wah pedal
Construction. The Wah-Wah circuit venient package. You can either con-
is simple, so either printed-circuit or struct an enclosure and foot-pedal
point-to-point wiring techniques can be mechanism from scratch or use a com-
employed to reproduce it. The full-size mercial product that has been specially
etching and drilling guide for a suitable designed for musical applications. The
printed-circuit board appears in Fig. 3 author recommends the DeArmond
together with the corresponding full size Model 1600 foot-pedal assembly, which
component placement guide. contains a 500,000~ohm potentiometer
Use of a socket or Molex Soldercons and a worm-gear mechanism to drive
with ICI will simplify replacement of the potentiometer. This is the foot pedal
that component should it later become that he used in the construction of his
defective. Be sure to observe polarities prototype.
and pin basing when mounting the IC, Figure 4 is a bottom view of the proto-
diodes, and tantalum capacitors on the type with its bottom cover removed to
circuit board. Employ the minimum show the worm-gear drive, the potenti-
Fig. 2. [3andpass filter's frequency amount of heat and solder consistent ometer, circuit board artd other compo-
response when the foot pedal is with the formati-o n of good connections. nents mounted in the foot-pedal enclo-
full:t up (left) and down (right). When all components have been sure. A hole has been drilled along the
mounted on the boa rd, examine your long axis of the enclosure near the top
work for solder bridges, cold solder below the pedal to accommodate bypass
PARTS LIST joints, etc. switch S I. This heavy-duty, push-on/
B 1, 82-9-volt transistor battery A number of components (Bl , 82, Jl, push-off switch required a large mount-
C 1-0.0033-f.LF, 5% -tolerance polystyrene J2, R7 and S I) are not mounted on the ing hole. Extreme care was taken when
C2-0.01f.LF, 5%-tolerance polystyrene
circuit board. Rather, they are secured drilling this hole so tha~ the rubber-
C3,C4-2.2f.LF, 16-volt tantalum
D1,D2-1N4001
to the enclosure associated with the foot- topped metal pedal plate was not dam-
IC 1- !LA4136C quad oper ational amplifier pedal mechanism that drives. potentio- aged by the drill bit. Figure 5 is a side
or equivalent meter R7. This makes for a compact, con- view showing how S I was mounted so
J 1-Three-conductor, double closedcir
cuit 114-inch (6.3-mm) phone jack (Radio
Shack No. 274277 or equivalent)
J2-Monaural, open-circuit 114-inch (6.3
mm) phone jack
The following ar"e 114-watt, 5%-tolerance,
fixed carbon-composition resistors, un-
less specified otherwise.
R1 - 15,000 ohms
R2,R4~ 24,000 ohms
R3,R5-51,000 ohms
R6-10,000 ohms
R7 -500,000-ohm, linear-taper potentiom
eter (see text and note below)
RS - 56,000 ohms (see text)
S 1- Spdt, heavy-duty, push-on I push-off
switch (Aicoswitch MPG-1060 or equiv.)
Misc. -Foot-pedal potentiometer drive
mechanism and enclosure (DeArmond
Model 1600 or equivalent), printedcir
cuit or perforated board, IC socket or
Molex Soldercons (if desired), battery
holder, battery clips, hookup wire, sol
der, hardware, etc.
1983 EDITION 75
I F dogs and other small animals wreak
havoc with your ftowerbeds, or small
that of the capacitor-discharge ignition
systems used in many vehicles.
"varmints" strew the contents of your The 117-volt ac developed across I: I
trash cans over the area, this project is isolation transformer T I is half-wave
for you . rectified by D3 and charges C6 via the
The Varmint Zapper described here primary of TV ftyback transformer T2.
uses a single strand of bare wire to The primary should be electrically sepa-
create an "electric" fence. This wire is rated from the high-voltage secondary .
fed with a sequence of digitally pro- When electronic switch SCRJ, con-
grammed high-voltage pulses to create a nected across the C6- T2 network, is on,
penetrating but harmless electrical it forms a short circuit across the net-
shock to anything making contact with work . Then C6 rapidly discharges
the bare wire. You can also attach the through the transformer primary . The
wire to your garbage can (insulated sudden ~ hange in current flow produces
from ground) or any other metallic en- a high voltage at the secondary of T2. In
closure that you want to protect. a typical installation, about 15 or 16 kV
will be developed. It is this voltage that
Circuit Operation. The operation of is applied between the bare wire fence
the circuit, shown in Fig. I, is similar to and ground.
by Fritz Mueller
Digitally
Programmed
Varmint
Zapper
The C6- T2 network forms a resonant The clock pulses to be counted by JCJ so tha t four of its stages provide positive-
circuit. When it bursts into oscillation, are developed from the half-wave rectif- going pulses through diodes D6 through
the first half cycle of reverse voltage ied line voltage from D2. Noise is re- D9 a nd R5 to turn QI on and off during
back biases the SCR, thus opening the duced by filter R3 and C3 before the the negative half cycles. This results in a
electronic switch . The positive-going pulses are applied to the IC . ra pid sequence of four SCR turn-on
transient is bypassed via D4. Capacitor The SCR is triggered into conduction pulses foll owed by a 1.5-second space .
C5, damped by the low value of R9 , by the positive-going pulses generated The sequence is then repeated.
attenuates any r-f transients generated across R8 each time unijunction transis- Each individua l shock exceeds about
by the sudden turn-off of D4. Neon tor Q2 fires. This occurs when C4, 50 rnA for a very short time, and cur-
lamp NEJ glows to indicate the pres- charged toward the I 0-volt line via R6, rents of such intensity produce effects
ence of the high de voltage across the reaches the UJT trigger level. When QJ, best described a s "bite" or "sting."
C6-T2 network. Resistor RIO provides connected across C4, conducts, the trig- Wh at renders the shock harmless with-
current limiting for N E 1. ger pulses are inhibited. Transistor QJ is out losing effectiveness is timing . Small ,
The I 0-volt de required by binary kept in conduction during each positive nervous animals will be insta ntly swayed
counter JCJ is developed by dropping re- half of the supply by bias across R4. by the first shock . The 2-second pro-
sistor Rl, rectifier Dl, and filter capaci- During the negative half cycles, QJ is gram is aimed to impress larger, more
tor Cl. It is maintained at 10 volts by not biased by R4 . Binary counter JCJ is stubborn creatures . After the first four
zener diode D5. Further filtering is add- continuously counting line pulses ap- shocks, the varmint has time to move
ed by R2 and C2. plied to pin I . Its outputs are connected away from the unpleasant sensation .
1983 EDITION 77
varrnintzapper _________________________________________________________
03
R4
lOOK
R5
lOOK
Fig. 1. Digital pulses from ICt cause SCRt to discharge C6 through primary
of T2 to produce high voltage. Circled letters and symbol refer to foil pattern.
PART$ LIST
01-100-)LF, 10.voltelectrotYtic IC 1-4024 CMOS binarY counter RS-150-ohl'n, 1!4-watt resistor
02._ 114F, 10-vott tantalum NE 1-Neon lamp assembly R9-48-ohfu, 1/4-watt resistor
C3-50pF disc 01-~eneral-purpose npn silicon transis R 10-68,000-ohm, 1/4-watt resistor
C4-0.0414F disc tor S1-Spst switch
05-0.03-# disc 02-AnyUJT SCR1-200PIV, 1ampere SCR
C&-1.J.F, 200-\IOit paper R 1-10;000-ohm, J!e-waij.resistor T1-t17:117-volt isolation transformer
01,D2,03,04-200-volt PfV reeilfiet R2-10.000.ohm, if4-watt r~istor T2-TV flyback transformer (see text)
(1111400 1 or limilal') oA3,9<4.R5,R6-100,000ohm, "watt re- Misc.-Suitable+. enclosure, high-voltage
05-1 o-w zener Sistor feedthrough, press-on type, bare wire for
06,07,08,[)8- tN91.4 R7 -1~ohm, 1/4Wa\t resisttlr fence, insulators, mounting hardware.
1983 EDITION 79
A/D converter_______________
Sound Effectsrcontinuedtrompage42)
fore the output lines are reset to zero project. Also, use the minimum amount
describes the amplitude of the analogin- of heat and solder consistent with the Since the circuit can generate a very
put signal at the instant that comparator formation of good connections. Before wide variety of sounds, let us give an
ICJ C changes states. applying any supply voltages, double example of how you might go about "tai-
Because Norton CDAs are employed, check your wiring for errors that might loring" a specific sound with the bread-
only a single-ended power supply is cause damage to the ICs.
needed. National Semiconductor, the To calibrate the circuit, connect its
manufacturer of the LM3900, states in input to the positive supply voltage. TABLE II-SWITCH
its data sheet that a supply delivering Then monitor the output lines of IC2 IDENTIFICATION
from + 4 to + 36 volts can be used to and adjust Rl for the desired weighting S1 Power switch for 7 .5-to-9-volt de sup-
power the chip. The power supply rating factor . This factor n will equal Nc di- ply
52 Power switch for 5-volt de supply
53 Output
+V 54 Feedback
55 Amplitude resistance selector
56 Attack resistance
57 One-shot, constant when closed
58 One-shot momentary
59 Attack-decay timing capacitor selec-
I,,
10
tor
S 10 Decay resistance
S 11 Noise filter capacitor selector
470K
OU T PUT 512 Noise filter resistance
LINES
02 513 Noise oscillator resistor
IN914 514 Envelope select 1: logic 0, logic 1
II 515 Envelope select 2: logic 0, logic 1
516 Mixer C: logic 0, logic 1
+V 517 Mixer A: logic 0, logic 1
518 Mixer B: logic 0, logic 1
Rll 519 One-shot resistance
I. 2M
520 One-shot capacitor selector
INPUT 521 Voltage-controlled oscillator (vco):
logic 0, logic 1
ICI=LM3900
+4V 'S +V ~ +ISV
_L 522 SLF oscillator control capacitor se-
lector
523 SLF oscillator control resistance
Schematic of the converter. The Norton CDAs are shown as
524 Pitch control resistance
containing current sources to distinguish them from standard op amps.
525 Vco control resistance
526 Vco control resistance selector
PARTS LIST 527 Vco control capacitor selector
C1,C2-0.01-!tF disc ceramic, silver mica R3-3.3 megohms 528 Internal/external vco selector
or polystyrene capacitor R5-3300 ohms
C3-0.1-,.tF disc ceramic, silver mica or R6-15 megohms
polystyrene capacitor R7-1 megohm
D1 ,D2-1N914 diode RS-5100 ohms
IC 1-LM3900 quad Norton CDA R9-1200 ohms TABLE Ill-CONTROL
IC2-CD4040 counter R10- 510,000 ohms IDENTIFICATION
R1 - 250,000ohm, linear-taper trimmer R11 - 1.2 megohms R4 Noise filter control
potentiometer R12- 470,000 ohms R6 Decay control
The following are 1!4-watt, 5% tolerance, Misc.-Printed circuit or perforated board, R8 Attack control
carbon-composition resistors. IC sockets, suitable power supply and R15 Vco control
R2,R4-1.5 megohms enclosure, hookup wire, hardware, etc. R18 Vco control
R23 Pitch control
R25 SLF control
of the CD4040 CMOS counter is + 1 to vided by + V where + V is the positive R27 One-shot multivibrator control
+ 15 volts. Accordingly, a supply fur- supply voltage, N c is the highest count
nishing a voltage greater than or equal attained by IC2 before it is reset, and n
to + 4 volts and less than or equal to + 15 is the number of counts per volt.
volts can be used to power the entire cir- This low-cost A/D converter can be TABLE IV-CONTROL GROUPING
cuit. Current demand is modest, so eith- used to gain hands-on experience with One-Shot J11,R27,S7,S8,S19,S20
er a battery or small, well-filtered, line- one type of A/D conversion. It can also Noise Filter J3,R4,S11,S12
powered supply is suitable. form the nucleus of some useful proj- VCO Control J7,J8,J9,R15.R18,R23,S21,
ects. For instance, a latch, decoder, driv- S24,S25,S26,S27 ,S28
Construction. Printed-circuit, point- er and display network can be added to SLF Control J10,R25,S22,S23
to-point wiring, or wrapped-wire assem- provide a seven-segment readout of the Noise Clock S13
bly techniques can be used to reproduce digital numbers genera ted by IC2. One Mixer Select S16,S17,S18
interesting application would be a digi- Envelope J4,J5,R6,R8,S6,S9,S 10,
the a na log-to-digita l converter circuit.
S14,S15
The use of IC sockets is recommended, tal current meter that can be made by Amplitude S5
and the standard precautions for the adding such a display network and by Audio Output J6,S3,S4
handling of CMOS devices should be eliminating Rll. This can then in turn Power On / Off S 1
employed with respect to /C2. Be sure to be converted into a high-impedance + 5 volts S2
observe the polarities and pin basings of (as much as 10 megohms) digital volt- Ground J12
the semiconductors employed in this meter. 0
1983 EDITION 81
BY ROBERT KRIEGER
BUILD A
W
etal
HETHER it is put to work in
searching for buried treasure, lo-
cating sunken pipes. or combing the
Australian outback for fragments of a
fallen space station, a metal locator can
Loator~
be a useful instrument The locator de-
scribed here uses a highly sensitive su-
perheterodyne circuit It is a true "from-
scratch" project in which you even fabri-
. ' \
cate the search-head pickup-coil as-
sembly. Assuming all parts and materi-
als are bought new for this project, total
cost should run about $20.
G
R6
7.5K 1fJ5
_[pF
l
9V--
_I.
Cll
.02pF
RB
4.7K
CIO
3pF R5 R7
IM 56011
tI
I R3- :l300 ohms
R4.R6- 7500 ohms
PARTS LIST R5- l megohm
B 1- 9-volt hallery (see text) R7- 560 ohms
C 1- 3- to-50-pF variab le cqpac itor (see text) RR-4700 ohms
C2.C6- 220-pF mica or polystyrene capac itor R9- 5000-ohm potentiometer
C3.C7-470-pF mica or p<ilystyrene capacitor SPKR- 1!h" loud speaker
C4.CR- O.<Xll-j..LF mica or polystyrene capa- S 1- Spst toggle switch
cit or 1- 1R" X 6" piece of \4" plywood for search-
C5.C II .C 13---0.02-j..LF capacitor head coil form
C9- JOO-pF mica or polystyrene capacitor 1- 36" length of Y." diameter alum inum tub-
C I 0- :l-pF capacitor . ing
C 12- (Ul5-I-LF capacitor 1- 5' length of RG-58U coaxial cable
Fig. 2. Two stable Colpitts
C 14- 100-1-LF. 16-vol t electrolytic 1- 2' length of RG-8U coaxial cable
oscillators (Ql and Q2) are C15 - IO-j..LF. 16-voil e lectro lytic Misc. - Perforated board (or printed -circuit
tuned to opeTate in the ICI - LM3R6 !h-wall audio amplifier IC hoard- see text): socket for IC I: 9- volt bat -
650-kHz Tange. They aTe J ! - Miniature trans fer-type phone jack tery cl ip: Bud No. CU234 or similar a lumi -
essentially identical except L !- Search coil (see text) num case: 40 ' No. 2R ename l- or Myla[-
.fo'Y" the two inductors. L2- AM loopstick antenna with tu'nahlc slug coated magnet wire: control knobs (2):
Q I.Q2.Q:l- 2N5951 n-channe l FtT white glue: epoxy cement: plastic tape: Y:z"
The following arc 14-watt. IOo/o tol erance re- foam insu lation tape; plast ic cement: two
sis tors unless otherwise noted: sma ll brass screws; machine hardware :
R I.R2-470.000 ohms spacers: hookup wire: solder; etc.
1983 EDITION 83
to match the 01 oscillator. This is the
reason for the greater value for R4 .
The key to operation of a Colpitts os-
cillator is the pair of capacitors that form
a voltage divider across the inductor (C2
and C3 for 01 and C6 and C7 for 02).
The capacitors and inductor in each cir-
cuit determine the frequency of opera-
tion for that circuit. In the 01 and 02cir-
cuits, the FET's source is at signal
ground. Therefore, because of the split
capacitor action, the signal at the bottom
of the inductor is 180 out-of-phase with
that at the drain. Since the transistor in-
verts the signal by 180 and the split
tank circuit inverts another 180, an in-
phase signal is fed back to the gate and
sustains oscillations.
Increasing the value of C3 or C7 de-
creases the amount of feedback to the
gate. If the value of this capacitor is
made too large, there will not be enough
feedback to sustain oscillation. Lowering
its value to , say, 300 pF increases feed-
back and virtually guarantees oscilla- Fig . 3. Glue thr-ee plywood di sc s tog ether- with th-e smaller-
one i n th e middle. U se damp s or- weights to en su1e pr-ope1 bonclinr~ .
tion , but the sine wave will not be as
" clean " as it would be with a 560-pF ca-
pacitor value. The ratio of C2 to C3 or
C6 to C7 should be about 1 :3 for best
overall operation. Although 01 and 02
appear to be arranged in a unity-gain F i g. 4. Wh en glue ha s had
source-follower configuration, R3 and time to set thor-o u ghly,
R4 are actually working off the drains, dr-aw aD- s haped for-m on
since the sources are at feedback th e a ss embly as s how n.
ground.
Mixer 03 heterodynes the r-f signals
and provides some degree of preamplifi-
cation for amplifier /C 1. Resi?tor RB and
capacitor C12 make up the low-pass fil~
ter that prevents r-f from entering /C 1. Fig. 5. U se a coping
or- sab1e s aw to cut
out the .for-m d r-awn
Construction. There is nothing partic-
on di sc in Fin. 4.
ularly difficult in assembling the metal
detector. The only conceivable problem
area might be in fabricating the search-
head assembly , which requires relative-
ly simple woodworking. Several hours
are required for allowing the glue to set
in the search-head assembly. There-
fore , it is best to start construction by
fabricating this assembly and, while the
glue is setting , assemble the electronics
package. '
Cut two 5YI" (146-mm) and one 5"
(127-mm) disks from a sheet of W' (6.4-
mm) thick plywood. Lightly sand the cut
edges to remove all splinters. Locate
and mark the center of each disk and
drill a 1 /16" (1.6-mm) hole through each.
Liberally coat both sides of the smaller
disk with white glue and temporarily as-
semble the three d isks with the smaller
in the middle, using a nai l to. align the
holes. Press lightly and then disassem-
f
the hnndte.
assemble the electronics package on a
piece of perforated board, using either
point-to-point or Wire Wrap techniques.
If you are particularly ambitious, you can
design and fabricate your own printed
Fig. 6. Drill shaft hole with circuit board for the project. In any
wood hit, tilting it away .from event, use a socket for /C1 and, if possi-
D c11 tout by about 18 degrees. ble , sockets for 01 and 02.
Do not wire L 1 or C2 into the circuit
just yet or mount the circuit board as-
sembly into the case until directed to do
so. Note that C1 specified in the Parts
List is a standard 365-pF capacitor. To
reduce it to 50 pF , carefully remove all
but one of its rotor plates, taking care to
avoid bending the remaining plate.
Once the glue or cement has thor-
oughly set in the search-head assembly,
remove the clamps or weights. Pry out
and discard the nail. Then, referring to
Fig . 4, draw a D-shape_ d form on the as-
sembly as shown. Use a sabre or coping
saw to cut out this form (Fig. 5). Lightly
sand the cut edges to remove all splin-
ters and rough spots. Referring back to
Fig. 4, locate the centers of the shaft and
wire-exit holes. Drill the latter with a free end up through one of the 1 /16"
Fig. 7. The 20-tu-rn coit i:-; 1 /16" bit. Use a W' (19.1-mm) wood bit holes , and solder to the head of the ad-
.;hieldedwith the braid.from to drill the shaft hole , tilting it away fro'Tl jacent screw. (Fig. 8). Cover the braid
RG-8U coax ial cable. the D cutout by about 18 (Fig. 6). The with a single layer of plastic tape , as
angle is not critical , but it should be be- shown in Fig. 9.
tween 15 and 20 from perpendicular to Use No. 28 enamel- or Mylar-coated
permit convenient handling of the metal magnet wire to wind the search coil.
detector. Scrape away about W' (12.7 mm) of the
The 20-turn coil to be wound in the insulation and pass the wire up through
groove formed in the search-head sand- the same hole as the wire to the shield is
wich must be shielded to reduce ground routed to the . brass screw. Solder to the
capacitance effects . The shield is a same screw. Then wind 20 turns of the
length of copper braid removed from magnet wire into the groove. Pass the
RG-8U coaxial cable. Carefully slit the free end up through the other 1 /16" hole
outer plastic jacket from about a 24". (61- and solder to the screw adjacent to the
cm) length of coax. Then slide the inner hole. Coat the windings completely with
conductor out of the braid . With your fin- plastic cement to prevent them from
gers, flatten the braid and press one turn shifting and affecting frequency stability.
into the groove. Use a Phillips screw- When the cement sets , cover the
driver to force the braid in place as winding yvith a single layer of plastic
shown in Fig. 7. Be sure to leave a gap tape. Lay in another turn of the wire
of 8" (9.5 mm) between the braid ends. braid , again leaving a Ys" gap between
Drive two small brass screws into the the ends and connecting one end, viC! a
Fig. 8. Bring .free end of braid top of the plywood sandwich near the length of rookup wire , to the screw to
up through plywood sandwich and shaft hole . Solder a length of hook-up which the inner braid and one end of the
solder to an adjacent screw. wire to one end of the braid. Pass the search coil is connected. Note , when
1983 EDITION 85
you are finished with this part of con- x 1 \4" machine screws. nuts, and lock-
struction there should be three wires sol- washers through one wall of the box.)
dered to one screw and only one to the Next, mount the speaker, C1 , J1, 51,
other. For thermal protection. cover the R9, and L 1 in their respective locations.
outer braid with a single layer of 1/-i" wide Mount these components in !he order
polyfoam weather stripping. given and connect and solder lengths of
Several inches up on the aluminum hookup wires to their lugs. Referring
shaft, drill a W' hole through which to back to Fig. 2. connect and solder the
pass the coaxial cable that intercon- free ends of the wires to the appropriate
nects electronics package with search points in the circuit. Then mount the cir-
coil. On the other end of the shaft, mea- cuit board assembly inside the box. us-
sure down Y2" and 1 W' and drill Vs" holes ing spacers and 6-32 hardware. Snap
directly in line with the W' hole. Place the connector onto the battery terminals
the search-head assembly on a flat, lev- and slip the battery into its bracket.
el surface, top side up. Run a liberal
bead of epoxy cement inside the shaft Operation and Use. The critical fac-
hole and around the head end of the tor in a metal detector is in the adjust-
Fig. 9. Cover the coax shie Ld
shaft. Slide the shaft into the hole, ori- ment of both its oscillators to function on
braid with a single layer of
enting it so that the 1/.4" hole faces toward plas tic e le ctrical tape. the same frequency. If possibl~. each
the screws in the search-head assem- oscillator should be tested separately
bly. Prop the assembly up and let stand with a frequency counter. If a counter is
undisturbed until the epoxy cement sets. not available, use a standard AM broad-
When the cement sets, pass a 36" cast-band radio tuned near the low end
(914-mm) length of RG-58U coax of the band (about 650 on the dial) and
throu9h the \4" hole and route through defeat first one and then the other oscil-
the shaft. Prepare the end of the coax lator by temporarily opening the source
and connect and solder it to the heads of circuit while tuning. Tune the search
the screw~ to which the search coil and (01) oscillator first and then the local
shield are connected. The shield goes to (02) oscillator to the same frequency,
the screw head to which the coil's two adjusting L2 to bring the latter to the
shield and one coil wires are connected, same frequency. When the oscillator
while the inner conductor goes to the and the radio are tuned to the same fre-
other screw, as shown in Fig. 10. quency, you will hear a " dead-air
Now. referring to Fig. 11, machine the space," a band of silence resulting from
cabinet for mounting L2, 5PKR, 51 , J1, the prese.n ce of an unmodulated carrier.
C1 , R9, 81's bracket, the handle and To u se the metal detector, give it a
shaft, and the circuit-board assembly. couple of minutes to stabilize after first
Carefully deburr all holes. Then mount applying power. Adjust C1 for zerobeat
the handle, shaft, and battery bracket, in and then back off so that you hear a
that order, with appropriate machine low-frequency tone from the speaker or
hardware . (Note that the shaft fits Fig. 10. Coax i s routed to se arch earphone. Pass the search head over a
through a %'' hole at one end of the box coil thr ough the s haf t w i th ends m eta l object. and the tone should shift
and is held in place with two sets of 6-32 soldered to the proper screw ~. upward or downward in frequency, de-
pending on the side to which you tuned
off zerobeat.
One final note: Maintain a low volume
level from the speaker to prolong battery
life. You can use an 8.4-volt mercury
battery for 81 to provide superior ser-
vice . since this type of battery maintains
a re latively constant voltage ove r a long-
er period than can ordinary carbon-zinc
batteries.
1983 EDITION 87
R8
IOO!l
Rll Rl2
470K IK
Cl +
IOpF
OFF
sured in thousands of electron volts About the Circuit. The basic detec- the noise cause the comparator's out-
(keV), the typical range being from 100 tor I beeper circuit is shown in Fig. 1. put and, hence, NAND gate IC4A's input
to 1000 keV . Lower-energy rays are ab- The output of radiation detector OET to go low. Resistor R 13 keeps pin 5 of
sorbed by even a fraction of an inch of goes to the input of the FET operational JC48 low to turn off the 2000-Hz
lead, while high-energy rays can pass amplifier, which provides impedance (approx imately) oscillator made up of
through many inches of lead . matching and initial amplification. Addi- IC48, /C4C, /C40, R14, R15, and Ctt.
When gamma rays are absorbed by a tional amplification is provided by /C 18 When a detected event causes JC4A
CdTe detector such as that used in RED and /C2. Feedbac k capacitors C5 and to go low, IC4A' s output goes high . This
ONE, an electrical-charge burst is pro- C7 shape the pulse and improve S I N. high signal is passed through now for-
duced and amplified to detect the The output from /C2 at pin 6 is about ward-biased diode 01 to raise the pin-5
event. Higher-energy rays produce 40 fl.S wide and has a height that is pro- output of IC48, which causes the oscil -
greater charge bursts . portional to the amount of charge de- lator to sound via the piezoelectric
The gamma-ray sensor in REDONE is posited on the detector. Signal level transducer, SPKR. The approximately
d esigned to allow detection of reason - here is about 1 mV I k eV of collected 20 ~ ms C tOR 13 time constant maintains
able gamma -ray leve ls and to permit c harge. Unfortunately, thermally gener- the high state of pin 5 of JC4B. Wh en
many interesting experiments to be at ed c harge carri e rs and leakage c ur- /C4A reverts to low, 01 prevents rapid
made. For example, bricks in many New rent in the detector also produce about discharge of C 10 and maintains the
England firepla ces have detectable 30 mV of noise impulses. Adjustment of time constant. The oscillator thus gen-
(though ve ry-low-level) amounts of R2, however, ensures that compa.rator erates a 20-ms chirp for each detected
radioactivity. By observing indications /C3 discriminates against iind prevents gamma-ray event.
with either ve rsi on of th e monitor, an es- this low-level noise from triggering the If you wish to c ount and display the
timate of activity leve l can be made. comparator. Signal pulse s that override number of events as they are generated
z
~,,._>
0
PARTS LIST-FIG. 2
.
B l ' 4 AA cells (not in kit) 8"'z w <D<e
'ti"1i ...=r21.J.,i
Q.
0~
Cl3- 0.I- f!.-F disc ceramic
Cl5- 0.0l-f.LF disc ceramic
Cl6- IO- f!.-F, 35-V tantalum IT'tlo~~~:~: [5~
~ ....i
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n
lh"O
DISP I ,D1SP2,DISP3- 7-segment, com- ~,.. <eC:
mon-anode LED NO
a:r-
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0 ...I
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IC6= 55'5 timer z
i 1I
IC7,IC8-4518 dual BCD counter
IC9-4013 duai-D flip-flop
ICI0- 14553 3-decadecounter
ICII - 14543 7-segment decoder /driver
LE'o I ,LED2- Red light-emitting diode ~-
,..._ ~
"' "'zr
I:"'
~ I.: ch
~__::
QI.Q2,Q3~2N4402 transistqrs
Q.
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The following are 114-watt, 1O%resistors un- r- CD
"'Hu
less otherwise specified:
Rl6, R17, R18, R30, R32, R33- 10,000ohms
r-- II = ~
R19through R27- 470 ohms
R28- IOO o)lms ~- e N H- .:!:1
~~
R29- l 00,000-ohm pc potentiometer
Q.
"'
-2
R31 -47,000 ohms
N
0
...... "'0 1-
"'
S l .,.......Dpdt switch
83- Spst switch
84-Normally open pushbutton switch
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f-1-l~ "' "'"'u !:?
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~-- -Q. a
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Misc.-Suitable enclosure (LMB453 or 2
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similar); battery holders; control knob; - <to
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machine hardware; red filter; etc. 2
- 7
"' W"'
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Note-The following are available for non-
commercial use from Radiation Monitor- 1 I >
"'
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' ... I
"'+
(;)~
... u
ing Devices, Inc., 44 Hunt St. Watertown, 0 I
"',
"'I
MA 02172: complete kit ofparts for Fig. 1
for$85; complete kitofpartsfor Figs. 1 and
4, including case but not baueries,for $125. _\
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I
nv
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ii:~
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Also available separately: CdTe radiation
detector for $90. Add $5 for shipping and 2= -~
"' !!
handling. Massachusetts residents, J?lease "'C;;
!:
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add 5% tax. Allow 6 weeks for delivery.
Available in U. S.A. only.
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Fig. 2. The conventional 3-digit counter/display can be ...:. u
-:.:
'"I"' ~ ,,
It
.......
NO
a:g "'"'
NO
0:2
u
at the output of IC4A, you c a n add the 0153 a nd digit drivers 01, 0 2, and 03 Operation of IC 10 is controlled by the
circuit shown in Fig . 2 to that in Fig . 1. make up a conventional three-digit signal at its pin-11 input . This signal can
The combination of IC 10, IC 11, and sev- counter I display system. The output of be either manually applied or automati-
en -segment displays DIS 1, D/52, and IC4A drives counter /C 10. cally generated by an internal timer.
1983 EDITION
89
When 55 is set to MANUAL, the pin-1 out- This flashing continues until START 1-, 10-, 40-, and 100-second timing peri-
put from /C9A continuously increments switch 54 is pressed to reset IC98. ods . START switch 54 initiates timing by
the counter I disp-lay for each incoming Internal timing is based on 100-Hz resetting the two counters and flip-flop.
count from /C4A. When 999 counts are 555 timer oscillator /C6. Frequency is Power for the Fig . 1 circuit can be a
exceeded, pin 14 of /C 10 goes low and, determined by C13, R13, R30, and ad- conventional 9-volt battery or de power
via NAND gate ICSB, clocks flip-flop justable R29. The oscillator drives di- supply . When the Fig . 2 circuit is added,
/C98. The output of /C98 at pin 13 is vide~by-1 00 IC7, whose output at pin 14 four AA cells in series can be used to
NANDed with a 2-Hz signal from /C7 to is 1 Hz. Counter ICB, switch 55, NAND power the LED display. POWER switch 51
flash OVER (LED 1) two times a second . gate /GSA, and flip-flop IC9A generate controls both power sources.
90
Q)
_....,........ :~}
"'!,R 2~ 2 ~:L!'!:::!"Ii""'' ::
TO ICII
PINS 9-15
15
F;ig. 4. Actual-size etching and drilling guide and componenllayoutfor the display board.
Construction. Since there are relative- critical test points and where interboard thick brass to fabricate an electrical in-
ly high-impedance, low-level analog sig- connections occur are indicated in the terference shield to prevent external in-
nals present in the /C 1 and IC2 stages Fig . 3 component-placement diagram. fluence on the low-level analog signals
of RED-ONE, good circuit-board construc- Tape a Ya" (3 .2-mm) thick piece of generated in the detector. Shape it as
tion techniques must be exercised. The foam rubber around the detector to an open-faced box measuring 2 W' X 1"
use of a printed circuit board and Molex cushion it from mechanical shock. (Be- X Y2" (63.5 X 24 .5 X 12.7 mm). Then
Soldercons is strongly recommended. cause of its piezoelectric design, any solder the box to four miniature clips
Actual-size etching and drilling guides mechanical shock to it will cause the spaced on the board as indicated in
for the double-sided board and its com- detector to generate a false output.) Fig . 3. (This box also holds the foam-
ponent-placement diagram are shown in Use copper foil or 0 .005" (0. 13-mm) rubber-wrapped detector gently against
Fig . 3. At some component locations, (Continued on page 97)
pads appear only on the bottom side of
the board. At these points, holes should
be drilled from the bottom and compo-
nents mounted from the top. If you elect
to build only the beeper version of the
Red One, you can separate and disre-
gard the upper half of the guide. The
only interconnecting trace between the
two guide sections is from IC4 to IC 10.
The etching-and-drilling guide and
component-placement diagram for the
optional display board are shown in Fig.
4. This is a single-sided board .
In addition to normal precautions
used when soldering solid-state de-
vices, special care must be taken with
the detector. Use a low-wattage, fine-
tipped soldering pencil and fine solder
and provide a heat sink for the leads
with longnose pliers . Use only enough
heat and solder to give reliable, solid
connections.
Begin assembly by installing and sol-
dering into place the resistors, capaci-
tors, and Soldercons (if used) on the
main pc board. Some points that require
soldering on both sides of the board are
indicated by short tabs on the pc pads.
In addition, any pad on the component
side of the board from which a foil runs
requires soldering to the component
lead. This suggests the use of Molex
Soldercons as opposed to IC sockets. Photo of the author's prototype shows the main pc board mounted on
Provisions for using miniature clips at chassis bottom with sound element on back and display on front.
1983 EDITION 91
T HERE are many reliable timers,
thermometers, and quality-control
of the Sink Sentinel is shown in Fig. 1. It
is based on a conventional 555 timing
devices to aid the photographer. Unfor- circuit (/C1) . TIME SET potentiometer R2
tunately, most of these commercial de- and RANGE switch S3, the latter select-
vices are expensive. You can, however, ing the appropriate range capacitor (C1
build the "Sink Sentinel," which serves and C2 shown , but more capacitors can
as a photo-lab timer, thermometer, and be added, as desired), determine the
conductivity tester, at a fraction of the timing range.
cost you would expect to pay for a simi- Timing is initiated by pressing START
lar commercial device. The Sink Senti- switch S4 , which places pin 2 of IC1 at
nel accurately monitors the temperature ground potential. Pin 2 is normally held
of film-processing chemicals, times film high by R3. The timing interval in sec-
processing, and tells you when your film onds is approximately equal to 1 .5 times
or paper can come out of the hypo. the value of R2 in megohms times the
value of the capacitor (selected by S3) in
About the Circuit. The timer portion microfarads. The timing values for the R
BUILD A
PHIII
SEIIIIEL
Moderately priced system monitors
temperatures and film process time of
photographic chemicals, and alerts
user when fi Im or
paper processing is completed
BY FRANK I. GILPIN
PARTS LIST
1983 EDITION 95
other two positions of the RANGE switch wait a few seconds; the meter's pointer Alarm (Continued from page 64)
and the two SEC circles on the cardboard should swing upscale, the amount of de-
disc. (If you prefer, you can adjust the flection determined by the concentration of a quality magnetic reed switch, it can
pot's setting to coincide with exact sec- of the hypo in the water. No further be used liberally throughout the prem-
onds and minutes to obtain a neater dial marks need be made on the meter's ises to be protected. Each sensor mod-
plate. This is time-consuming but well scale. Run cold water in the container ule should be connected to the Signal
worth the effort.) while observing the pointer deflection. Processor module using three lengths of
When you have completed calibra- As the concentration of hypo diminishes flexible, stranded hookup wire (No. 22 or
tion, turn off the Sink Sentinel and re- and finally is all gone, the meter's point- larger). Heavier gauge hookup wire (No.
move the cursor knob from the shaft of er will swing down-scale and ultimately 18 or larger) should be used for the rest
the pot. Mark three or four points on the come to rest at the mark you made on of the connections.
perimeter of the cardboard disc and on the scale.
the front panel exactly in line with them. Turn off the power and, using a black Installation and Use. The siren and
Then lift off the cardboard disc. Using a felt marker, place an easjly legible dot at the Siren Driver module should be
dry-transfer lettering kit (or working with the point pencilled in just below the arc installed in the attic or some other area
a pen), place tick marks at each detent- of the scale. Then replace the protective where the intruder will not be able to
ed point on the circles on the disc and la- cover on the meter and assemble the locate it readily. The Signal Processor
bel each with the appropriate time in project's case. module can be mounted in any conven-
your calibration listing. Then rubber ce-
ment the disc back in place, using the Use. When you start your film-washing DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS
marks on it and the front panel as a cycle, set the timer for a period of slightly ULN2232A
guide. Slip back onto the shaft of the pot less than the time recommended by the SPRAGUE INTEGRATED
the cursor knob. (A typical finished dial chemical manufacturer. Insert the con- MOTION DETECTOR
is shown in the lead photo.) ductivity probe into the wash water.
The temperature probe can be cali- Then when the timer's alarm sounds (or Suppl.y voltage: + 3 .0 to + 4 .5 volts
11 lights), note the position of the meter's de
brated with the aid of an accurate mer-
Ambient temperature: + 10C to
cury-column thermometer. Since the pointer with respect to the mark made + 40 C
most used range will be between 60 below the scale arc. If it is at the mark, it Current demand: 20 rnA maximum when
and goo F, leave the probe in ambient is safe to stop the wash cycle. However, V cc equals + 4 .5 volts
room air (about 68 F) until the meter's if the pointer is above the mark, continue Minimum sensing range: 8' (2.4 m)
Sensitivity: L>L= 5 % at 1 Hz
pointer deflection stabilizes. Then adjust to wash until it gets there.
Ambient light: 0. 1 fc to 100 fc ( 1.08 lux
R7 for a pointer deflection of about one- To operate the complete system, turn to 1076.4 lux or 1.08 lumens / m 2 to
quarter scale. Carefully place a pencil on the METER switch (S6), plug in the 1076.4 lumens / m 2 )
mark on the scale at this point. Place temperature probe, and place the probe Alarm sweep: 200 to 1000 Hz
in the chemical bath. When the proper Alarm sweep rate: 5 Hz
both the mercury thermometer and tem-
Audio output: 100 mW continuous
perature probe in water and adjust the temperature is reached, set RANGE Device fabrication: Monolithic IC con-
temperature for an indicated reading of switch S3 to the appropriate range and taining linear amplifiers employing pnp
95 F on the mercury thermometer. TIME SET control R2 to the desired inter- and npn bipolar junction transistors;
Again, place a pencil mark on the me- val. Start the developing cycle and press 12 L gates, counters, and D I A convert-
er; low-leakage photodiode; and bipo-
ter's scale at this point. Reduce the tem- START switch S4. (If you desire visual
lar jun c tion power tra nsist o rs .
perature of the bath by 2S F and again signals only, switch off the alarm with
make a pencil mark on the scale. Re- SS.)
peat reducing the bath's temperature by When the programmed-in developing ient area such as an entrance closet. As
2S F and indicating each point on the time is completed, the timer will signal was mentioned earlier, any attempt to
scale until you reach 60 F. Turn off the with both 11 and the alarm (if the latter is tamper with the Signal Processor mod-
power and remove the line cord from the switched in). Set the time for the correct ule will set off the siren. The ARM I DISARM
ac power line. fixing period and press START switch S6 switch, S 1, should be located in a con-
Carefully remove the dial-scale card to start the timing cycle. venient spot but not easily detectable by
from the meter and relabel it with a dry- During the fixing cycle, you replace an intruder.
transfer lettering kit for each of the pencil the temperature probe with the conduc- The ideal number and location of
marks. Start with 60 F and label only in tivity probe. When the timer's alarm Motion Sensor modules in your Opdec
5 F increments, placing a small but eas- sounds, end the fixing and start the system depends on the size of your
ily legible tick at the 2S locations on the washing cycle. Set the timer just short of home or office and the number of areas
scale. Then replace the scale card . Plug the recommended period and, when the that need protection . Sensor modules
in and turn on the Sink Sentinel and re- timer signals again, immerse the con- can be placed on kitchen counters, on
place the temperature probe with the ductivity probe into the wash water. TV receivers, or even mounted within a
conductivity probe. Continue washing until the meter's suspended ceiling into which a ( 5t16"
Calibration of the meter scale for con- pointer drops to the mark on the scale. or 8-mm) hole has been drilled. In decid-
ductivity is simple. Allow a cold water tap You will find that, once you become ing where modules are to be placed,
to run for awhile . Then fill a clean con- familiar with its operation, the Sink Sen- keep in mind that they sense motion by
tainer with water. Place the conductivity tinel will take the guesswork out of your detecting changes in light level. There-
probe in the water and mark the meter photographic lab processing. It will in- fore, do not aim a Motion Sensor module
pointer's deflection on the scale with a sure accuracy and let you turn out more toward a window or any flashing lights.
pencil. Add some hypo to the water and professional negatives and prints. <> During the daytime, there should be suf-
Simple modification
circuit upgrades performance
of your general-purpose instrument
14-22 VAC
BLANKING
OUT PUTS SWEEP
,..--A---. OUTPUT
r1 1
R17
tOK
Fig. 1. A line~r ramp is generated across the timing capacitor by the current regulator CRl.
PARTS LIST
C J- 0. 5-J.LF, 600-V LED I- Discrete LED R 7- 100,000-ohm li nea r-ta per potenti-
C2- 5-pF ceramic Q J- MPS3704 genera l-purpose npn ometer
C3- 1600-p F ceram ic sma ll-signa l tra nsistor (or similar) R S- 3900 ohms
C 4- 0.22-J.L F, 50-V m iniatun; monolithic R ECT J- 50-PIV, !-ampere modula r R9, R1 2,RJ 6,R J7- IO,OOO oh ms
CS- 20-J.LF, 35-V elect rolytic bridge rectifier Rll - 2.2 megohms
C6- 0. l -J.LF, 50-V m iniature monolithic T he following a re 1/4-watt, 5% fixed resis- R 13- 2200 ohms
C 1 - Timi ng capacitor (see text) tors unless otherwise noted: R 14- 3300 ohms
CR I- JN5285 field-effect current-regu- R 1- 100,000 ohms R 15- 5600 ohms
lating diode, 0.27 rnA (Motorola ) R 2,R l 0- 1 megohm S I ,52- M iniature spst switch
Dl,D2- I N9 14 R3- I IO,OOO ohms S3,S4- Miniature dpdt switch
JC J- C A3 140S MOS bipolar op amp R4- 240,000 ohms S5- 2-pole, 2-23 position rotary selector
JC2, IC4- LM3 1 I N comparator R S- 200,000 ohms switch (Centralab PA-4003 or similar)
IC3- MC 14027CP dual J - K fl ip-flop R6- 15,000 ohms Misc.- Pc board, mounting ha rdware,
IC5- 78Ll5A 15-V voltage regula tor knobs, LED panel-mou nt adapter.
1983 EDITION 99
of sync signal to the recurrent sweep.
Your scope may have a horizontal
mode selector that provides sync from
+ a~d - slopes of input signals, as well
as from the 60-Hz line and external
sources. This type of selector is an ideal
trigger pickoff point and provides
switch-selectable trigger signals. If such
a switch is present, S3 in the project is
redundant and can be eliminated. It is
very useful to have the capability to con-
nect the input of the trigger circuit direct-
ly to the external input jack because in
some cases the poor response of the
scope's vertical amplifier will severely
BLANKING
S3 S4 .LED I Q Q limit trigger generator performance at
high frequencies.
Connect the sweep output to the input
of . the scope-'s horizontal amplifier.
Direct coupling works best. With capac-
itive coupling, you will have to keep
recentering the trace as the average de
level of the sweep waveform varies with
changing proportions of sweep period
and repetition rate for different signals.
In some cases, the coupling capaCitor at
the input of the scope's horizontal ampli-
fier can be removed i f it is not blocking a
de bias level that will be fed into the
sweep circuit. The sweep output of the
trigger circuit' is designed to be connect-
ed to a typical horizontal amplifier that
Fig. 2. An actual-size etching and drilling guide has a 1-megohm or greater input imped-
f or a printed-circuit board is shown at top. ance. Lower impedances will shunt
Below it is guide for component placement.
charging current from CT and generate a
nonlinear sweep waveform.
on the scope's front panel, all compo- be necessary to drill additional holes to If "the circuit you are driving has less
nents mount on a small printed-circuit accommodate them. than 1-megohm input impedance, use a
board. An actual-size etching and drilling You may wish to use a rotary switch buffer amplifier between it and the trig-
guide for the board is shown in Fig. 2. on TRIGLEVEL control Rl for S4 instead of ger sweep. A CA3130 op amp connect-
During installation of the components on a miniature toggle switch. This will allow ed in a standard voltage-follower"config-
the board, be sure to observe the proper yqu to turn Rl to one end of its travel to uration, powered from the existing single
polarities and orientations of the diodes, switch the circuit to AUTO. Also, if you 15-yolt supply, will do.
CR 1, and ICs. Also, be sure to observe wish to avoid drilling holes in your The Q and not-Q outputs of /C3
the safe handling procedures for IC1 and scope, S 1 and S2 can be replaced by a should go to pads for connection to the
/C3, which are MOS devices. double-pole, four-position rotary switch. Z-axis- circuit of the scope to provide
The CT timing capacitors mount If your scope has a + 18- to + 30-volt retrace blanking. The not-Q output is at
directly on SWEEP SPEED switch 55. No power supply, you can omit RECT1 and 0 volt during the sweep and switches to
values are given for these capacitors in connect the de supply to the input of /C5. + 15 volts during retrace, while the Q
the Parts Ust since they are hand Alternatively, you can use a small fila- output is complementary to this. Choose
selected to minimize cost while provid- ment transformer rated at 14 to 22 volts the output that is correct for your scope.
ing the necessary accuracy. More about rms to supply power. The circuit draws Again, de coupling i;> preferred if avail-
this under Calibration. typically 20' to 25 rnA. able in your scope. Capacitive coupling
The circuit board is best mounted The pickoff point for the trigger signal will differentiate the blanking pulse.
inside the scope, although a separate depends on the scope being modified. While you may get satisfactory retrace
case can be used if desired. Inside the Ideally, it should be at a point in the blanking, the beam can . recover its
scope, try to locate the board as far as scope's vertical amplifier after the input brightness before beginning the next
possible from heat-producing compo- attenuator and any gain controls so that sweep, resulting in a vertical line at the
nents. Unless you wish to retain the the input voltage varies over a limited left side of the trace. Also, 'when swee.p
recurrent-sweep generatbr in the scope, range, in the region of 0.5 to 20 volts begins, the blanking signal switches
disable this circuit and remove .the peak-peak. (Refer to the schem~;~tic dia- state rapidly, causing the coupling ca-
associated controls from the front panel. gram of your scope.) In some cases, the pacitor to charge in the opposite direc-
When mounting the TRIG LEVEL control, scope manufacturer wili make this easy tion and resulting in undesirable intensi-
switc hes, and LED 1 on the panel, it may for you by using such a point as a source fication of the trace.
100 ELECTRONIC EXPERIMENTER'S HANDBOOK
signal generator and frequency counter.
INPUT : 60Hz . Before starting, wire the pc board ter-
minals to the rotor connections of SWEEP
SPEED selector S5, using a length of two-
IC1, PIN 6 (OUTPUT) conductor cable that will be appropriate
0
for the physical layout of your scope. It
~~in
is important that you do this before cali-
AMPLITUDE bration because the capacitance of the
---r-
0 n n IC2, PIN 7 (OUTPUT)
c;able will be in parallel with the selected
timing capacitors and at the highest
o~ I
tion of the timing capacitance.
IC3, PIN15 (Q) Begin calibration at the highest
sweep speed and work down. With the
I I
20~1 I
capacitance of the cable serving as the
10~ timing capacitor, feed a 1-MHz square
0
O
1
I 41 \<1
TIME - 5MS/OIV
I
IC4, PIN 2 (+) wave to the scope's inpllt. Adjust the
trigger and scope controls for a stable,
centered display. To obtain a stable dis-
play with low-bandwidth scopes, the
Fig. 3. Representative waveforms to be used in vertical amplifier may have to be
troubleshooting, with Sl on X l , S2 open, S3 on +, bypassed with the sweep c ircuit input
S4 on NORMAL, R7 three-quarters COW and the connected directly to the signal source.
timing capacitor selected for 1 msl div.
Experiment with several different capac-
itors connected to the switch until you
The last problem can be reduced by sine-wave signal to the scope's vertical find the value that produces a sweep
first passing the blanking signal through input. The sweep should automatically speed closest fO the desired 0 .5 ~s I
one coupling capacitor to differentiate it lock onto this signal and a steady dis- division but not slower than this. That is,
and then diad~ clipping the unwanted play of three to four cycles should be one cycle should occupy two divisions
half of the reslllting waveform and finally seen on-screen. Check for any obv!ous or sli~htly rnore. Unless you have a l~rge
connecting this signal to the Z-axis cou- nonlinearities. Rotate TRIG LEVEL control number of capacitors on hand, you will
pling c~pacitor. Rl; the trace shpuld disappear and find that the best way to obtain the
A word of caution : In many scopes, reappear and the tri~;~ger level should exact capacitance value needed will be
the coupling qapacitor is connected vary up and down one side of the sine to paralle.l one capacitor with a lower-
directly to the grid or cathode circuit of wave. Also note the change in the sensi- value capacitor .until you obtain the
the CRT, which may be operating Cit tivity Of Rl when ATIENUATOR S 1 is desired display. Do your measuring
1000 or ~ore volts. Do NOT attempt to switched from X 1 to X 10. between corresponding points in differ-
bypass this capacitor or St:lrlous dam- Center the scope trace and note its ent cycles of the waveform. Do not, for
age will result. A coupling capacitor can length. Before you can calibrate the example, measure between a rising and
be removed from the circuit only if it is sweep for a given time per unit length, a falling edge of one cycle or of conse-
not blocking a de bias voltage. overall length of the sweep must be set cutive cycles. By following this rllle, you
to a given repeatable value. (To ensure will avoid errors introduced by assym-
Test and Calibration. Temporarily that the sweep is not inadvertently metry fn the signal source and spl~ying
connect a 1-~F t antalum capacitor adjusted after calibration, the horizontal- or overshoot of the trace itself. For best
across the Cr terminals, observing po- gain control can be mounted inside the results, choose two points separated by
larity. Turn on the scope and adjust for a scope, or it can be replaced with a pair about six or eight divisions and equally
moderate-intensity dot in the middle of of fixed resistors.) spaced from the center line of the scope
the screen. Apply power to the sweep Adjust the length of the trace to fill the screen.
circuit. Set S4 t o AUTo; a horfzontal base- screen. In some cases, the frequen(;:y In the same manner, select the
line trace sho uld appear on the CRT and response of the scope's horizontal am- remaining timing capacitors, soldering
the TRIGGERED LED should come on. With plifier may roll off at a lower frequency them to the lugs of S5 as you proceed.
this value of capacitor, the trace and than those generated by this circuit at The next value should produce a 1 -~s l
LED indicator should flicker rapidly at the highest sweep speeds, resulting in a division sweep speed, then 2 ~s l divi
the same rate. shorter trace: You can compensate for sion, 5 ~s I division, etc., in the 1-2-5
If a trace does not appear, check the this by setting the horizontal gain so that format. For values larger than 0.5 ~F or
scope's BRIGHTNESS control and for + 15 the trace is longer than the width of the so, use high-quality tantalum capacitors
volts on the trigger-sweep bus. Repre- screen at slow speeds. This will not and take care fo observe polarity.
sentative waveforms tor trouble-shoot- affect acc uracy at any speed, since
ing are shown in Fig. 3. In this t est, S 1 is each range is individually calibrated. Operating Hints. The triggered-sweep
set t o X 1, S2 is open, S3 is at +, S4 is To calibrate the sweep, you ne.ed a c irc uit is very easy to use. For most
set to NORMAL, R l is three-quarters CCW, source of reasonable-accuracy ( 1% will applications, leave the input amplifier
and Cr is selected for 1 rns I divi~ion . do) square waves. A crystal-controlled selector set to X 10 and set the mode
Using this setup, apply a 1-volt, 60-Hz timebase is ide&l. You can also use a (continued on page 113)
BY J.F.P. MARCHAND
PARTS LIST
C 1-13,000-llF, 50-volt electrolytic
C2,C IO,C 12*,CI5*,CI7*,CI8-l-llF,
50-volt radial-lead electrolytic
C3,C4,C9- I 000-pF, 5% polystyrene
C5,C6,C7,C8,CI6- IO,OOO-pF, 5% poly-
styrene
C I I ,C 14* ,C20* -47-~LF, 50-volt radial-
lead electrolytic
C 13* ,C 19,C21 *- 470-llF, 25-volt radial-
lead electrolytic
C22 through C28- 0.l-11F disc ceramic
D I ,02-6.8 -vol t, !-watt zener diode
FI - 1-ampere fast-blow fuse
ICI,IC2- LM324N, TL074CN, or simi-
lar quad operational amplifier
IC3*,IC4*- LM379S dual six-watt au-
dio amp lifier
J I-RCA phono jack
QI*,Q3*- TIP31 npn power transistor
Q2*,Q4* - TIP30 pnp power transistor
The following, unless otherwise specified,
are 1/.t-watt, 5%, carbon-film resistors.
RI,R32- IOOO ohms
R2,R3,R4,R6,R8,R I O,R 12,R 13,R24*,
R25*,R31* - IOO,OOO ohms
R5,R7,Rll,Rl4,Rl5,Rl6,Rl7-68,000
ohms
R9- 51 ,000 ohms
R 18,R23* ,R30* ,R33- l 0,000 ohms
R 19*,R22*,R28*,R29*-150,000 ohms
R20* ,R2 1*- 5.1 ohms, 1/2-watt, carbon-
composition
R26- 22,000 ohms
R27* - 4700 ohms
R34,R35- 10,000-ohm, pc-mount, lin-
ear-taper potentiometer
RECTl - 6-ampere, 100-PlV modular
bridge rectifier
S 1- Spst toggle switch
T 1--24-volt, 2-ampere transformer
(Sta~cor No. P-8617 or equivalent)
Misc~ Printed circuit l:>oard, heat sinks
(four Thermalloy No. 6070 or equiva-
lent, two Thermally No. 6072 or equiv-
alent), line cord and strain relief, fuse-
holder, circuit board standoffs, hard-
ware, hookup wire, shielded cable, etc.
Note- An etched and drilled glass-epoxy
printed circuit board is available for
$I 5.00 from Marchand Electronics,
Inc., 1334 Robin Hood Lane, Webster,
NY 14580. /Vew York residents, please
add 7% state sales tax.
F ig. 2. Schem atic diagram of a pow er supply for the filters and am plifiers.
Capacitors supply filtering and zener diodes regulation for various voltages.
104 ELECTRONIC EXPERIMENTER'S HANDBOOK
Supply voltages for /C 1 and /C2 are provided by the Construction. Th~ assembly of the project is relat ive-
6 .8-volt zener diodes, 0 1 and 02. Capacitors C22 ly straightforward. All parts except the 24-volt power
through C28 provide power-supply decoupling . Power transformer are mounted on a single 5112- X -6112-inch
amplifiers IC3 and /C4 require high-frequency power- printed circuit board . The full-size etching and drilling
supply decoupling to prevent ultrasonic oscillation. This guide for this board appears in Fig . 3. A complementa-
decoupling is provided by C22 through C25. These ry parts placement guide is reproduced in Fig . 4. When
disc ceramic capacitors are mounted in pairs close to inserting electrolytic capacitors, diodes, transistors
the LM379 integrated circuits. and integrated circuits, be sure to observe proper
Note that two distinct ground symbols are employed polarity.
in the two schematic diagrams. This is so because the Resistors R2 through R 17 and R26 and capacitors
power supply is single-ended . The "earth ground" sym- C3 through C9 and C 16 determine the crossover fre-
bol is employed as the input and output signal ground quencies. For best performance , these components
and the negative supply line for the ICs. The "chassis should have a tolerance of no more than 5%. Poly-
ground" symbol signifies an artificial ground for opera- styrene capacitors are specified but other low-loss
tional amplifiers /C 1 and IC2 that is at a de level equal precision types, can be substituted.
to one half the regulated supply voltage. It is derived by Transistors Q 1 through 04 are mounted on Thermal-
means of the voltage-dropping action of zener diodes loy No. 6070_or similar heatsinks with suitable mounting
01 and 02. hardware. Cooling for the LM379 ICs is accomplished
The gains of the low and high channels can be by mounting them directly on Thermalloy No. 6072 or
adjusted with potentiometers R34 and R35. With the similar heatsinks with two No. 4-40 machine screws.
wipers of these controls at the center of their travel, The holes in these heatsinks do not line up with the
the gains of all amplifiers are approximately 15. An threads in the ICs, so two holes spaced 1 inch (2 .54
input sine wave of 460 mV rms will then result in full em) apart must be drilled in the heatsinks . Pin 1 of the
power output. power ICs is marked with a small white dot on the
F ig. 3. A ctual-size etching and drilling guide for printed circuit board.
1983 EDITION 105
F ig. 4. Component la yout diagram for the printed circuit boa rd.
T ra nsistor:; Ql th rov.gh Q4 a re mounted on heat sinks.
underside of the package. The large filter capacitor, separate zener-diode regulator section should be used
C 1, is mounted on the board with standard hardware. for each channel. The loudspeaker system will have to
Should you decide to use other power amplifiers, be fitted with a separate set of connectors for each
/C3 and /C4, Q 1 through 04, and their associated driver. If desired, the drivers can be protected by
components (see parts list) can be omitted. Outputs for individual fuses of appropriate ratings.
the external amplifiers can be taken from the solder
pads intended to accommodate pins 6 and 9 of IC3 Setting it Up. Whic hever arrangement you use, pay
(high and mid frequencies) and pin 7 or 9 of /C4 (low careful attention t o the polarity of the drivers, some-
frequencies). Use shielded cable with phone jacks and times indicated with a red dot meaning "plus" ( + ).
the shield grounded only at the jacks. Keep cables Some authorities feel that, with 18-dB I octave cross-
short, adding 100-ohm buffer resistors if needed to overs, the best phase response near the crossover
prevent oscillation. frequencie s is achieved by c onnecting adjacent drivers
If you use the on-board power amps, it will be con- out of phase. You may want to experiment to see which
veflient to mount the entire project inside the loud- arrangement gives you the best results.
speaker enclosure. Potentiometers R34 and R35 can In some cases, c oupling the amplifier directly to a
b e mounted in place of the original crossover controls, woofer will inc rease damping to the point where a small
and the fuse holder, input connector, and on-off switch amount of bass response is lost. This can be cured by
can be installed on the rear of the enclosure. To allow connecting a small resistor, generally 1 ohm or less, in
adequate ventilation , mount the circuit board as low in series with the driver. To protect the speaker drivers
the box as possible, positioning it so that damping from transients, be sure that the power amps are
material does not intedere with air circulation. Leads to turned on after the crossover is powered and t urned off
the pots and speakers should be twisted together . before crossover power is removed .
To use the project with cxternal power amps, it wi!l Once you are certain that the project is operating
be nec essary to fabricate some form of enclosure. The correctly, make all necessary corrections and set the
c ontrols, input arid output connectors, fuse holder, and level c ontrols for flattest frequency response. The
on-off switch can be mounted on one of its panels. improvement in the sound of your speakers will not be
Power-supply components T1, B 1, C 1 are more than e arth-shaking but should be clearly audible. Many lis-
adequate for two stereo channels of filtration . Decou- teners who use tri-amping report c learer, tighter sound
pling capacitors C22 through C2 5 can be omitted, but a with reduced distortion. 0
(B):==== 0 0 0 1
the feedback from the last to the first
flip-flop of a basic ring counter produces
the shift counter shown in Fig. 6A . Un-
like the ring counter, the shift counter is
usually used as a synchronous event
(Cl counter rather than as a waveform gen-
0 0 1 0 Fig. 4. Each clock pulse
to a ring counter (A)
erator. Shift counters can easily produce
causes a logic 1 to "walk" any even modulus (number of states)
(D) 0 1 0 0 down the counter as count at extremely high rates of speed,
shown in (B), (C), (D), and (E). with illegal states and high power con-
sumption and component count being
(El 1 0 0 0 the only drawdacks. Another difference
(CLOCK INPUTS NOT SHOWN) between the ring counter and the shift
counter is that the latter does not have to
be Preset to a specific pattern or starting
state. The shift counter can naturally
If both J and K equal 0, and a nega- tern shifted through the group of flip- fall into the correct counting sequence.
tive-going Clock pulse occurs, the Q out- flops, or register as they are collectively A typical count sequence for a three-
put will remain unchanged. If J is equal called, is not limited to a single I, but bit shift counter is shown in Fig. 68 .
to 1 and K equals 0 during the Clock can be any one of many patterns. These Whenver a Clock pulse occurs, the feed-
edge, Q will become a logic 1 (set) . bit patterns can be forced into the regis- back connection between flip-flops C
When J equals 0 and K equals 1, a ter, before the application of Clock and A causes the inverse of the state of
Clock pulse will force Q to equal 0 (re- pulses, by the use of the Preset and flip-flop C to be loaded into flip-flop A .
set). Finally, if J and K equal 1, the This means that, when C = 0 before a
Clock will force Q to change its state or Clock pulse, A will become the opposite
toggle. That is to say: if Q had been 0, it CLOCK D C B A of C (I) after the pulse ends. Converse-
becomes 1 and if Q had been 1, it 1 0 0 0 1 ly, if Cis a I just before the Clock pulse,
2 0 0 1 0
becomes 0. 3 0 1 0 0 A will become a 0. This odd, but repeti-
Now that the operation of the J-K 4 1 0 0 0 tive count scheme will produce the deci-
5 0 0 0 1
flip-flop is firmly within grasp, let us 6 0 0 1 0 mal count 1,3,7,6,4,0, which is obtained
7 0 1 0 0
examine one of the special counters. 8 1 0 0 0 by converting each three-bit number in
9
10
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
Fig. 68 to its decimal equivalent.
Ring Counter. A simple synchronous 11 0 1 0 0 One question that often arises is:
12 1 0 0 0
ring counter is shown in Fig. 4A. Note "What will happen if the state 010 or
that the outputs of flip-flop D are fed 101 occurs?" Since neither of these two
back to the J and K inputs of flip-flop A, states is part of the normal counting
thus forming a "ring." The clock feeds Fig. 5. Ring counter truth table
sequence, their effects should be deter-
shows how a 1 moves through the
all four clock inputs simultaneously. mined . It has aready been established
counter with successive clock pulses.
This circuit differs from most other that the state of flip-flops A and 8 will
counters in that its entire operation de- Clear inputs. More complicated bit pat- ultimately be shifted to flip-flops 8 and
pends on the initial (power-up) states of terns can be generated by using more C respectively, and that the inverted
its flip-flops . If, for eAample, output A flip-flops . contents of C will be shifted into A after
equals 1 while outputs 8, C and D Ring counters are used primarily in each Clock pulse. It is clear, then, that
equal 0 as in Fig. 48, then the applica- the production of complex waveforms the state 010 (decimal 2) will force 8 to
tion of a single Clock pulse will set 8, that generate timing pulses for comput- become the former state of A, C to
but Reset A, C and D because the J and ers, music synthesizers and similar sys- become the former state of 8, and A to
K inputs of 8 were 1 and 0 (the condi- tems. The voltage-versus-time waveform become the inverse or opposite of C . It is
tion for Set) the instant before the Clock
pulse, but the J and K inputs of all of the
other flip-flops were 0 and I respective-
ly. The new condition is shown in Fig. CLOCK C B A DECIMAL
4C . The next Clock pulse will set C and 8 t 0 0 1 1
FFB t
reset A, 8 and D, as shown in Fig. 4D . CLK t
0 1 1
1 1 1
3
7
Figure 4E shows how a third Clock t 1 1 0 6
ii K A t 1 0 0 4
pulse will Set D and Reset A, 8 and C.
The final Clock pulse will cause A to set
once again, and the cycle will repeat.
~
t
,
0 0 0
o o 1
0
1 I
Sequence begins agai
FOR UP
II FOR DOWN
Fig. 9. Up or down counting depends
on the signal applied to the inverter.
gates or the F pair of AND gates (but because A is effectively gated to B clock, tion of this circuit can essentially be du-
not both) to be enabled at any given while B is effectively gated to C clock. plicated by a conventional TTL 74193
instant. If the E pair is enabled, the Q If the capability to load a given count IC with two small exceptions. The
output of each flip-flop serves as the into the up j down counter is provided, 74193 is an up j down decade counter
clock input for the next flip-flop, since the utility of the circuit will be greatly and, as such, will count only to I 00 I
the F input to each OR gate will always enhanced. One approach which could be (decimal 9) before resetting to 0000.
be at logic 0, and the OR gate output used to achieve parallel entry of data The second minor difference between
will simply take on the va lue of the pre- into an up j down counter is shown in the circuit of Fig. 10 and the 74193 is
vious flip-flop Q output. This coupling Fig. 10 . The application of a logic 0 to the method of parallel data entry. The
of A to B clock and B to C clock will the normally high clear (CLR) line IC abandons the cumbersome, two-step
result in an up count. forces the Q output of all four flip-flops Clear-Shift approach for a simple one-
If the count input is set to logic I, the to a logic 0. This would be followed by a pulse load technique.
F-pair of AND gates will be enabled brief logic-! shift pulse to load bina ry The combination of a 74193 a nd a
and each OR gate output will take on I 's into the appropriate flip-flops. The BCD-thumbwheel switch (for ease of
the value of the previous not-Q output. sequential application of clock pulses entry of the initia l count) can be used to
This is electrically similar to the circuit will now force the circuit to count up or produce a handy count down t imer using
of Fig. 8. A down count will result down from this initial value. The opera- the logic shown in Fig. II. If the clock
period is one minute, the circuit will
require a number of minutes equal to
the initial setting of the thumbwheel
switch to reach the 0000 state. The BCD
outputs of the 74193s a re a lso used to
+S V
IK
T HE current-measuring function of
digital multimeters (DMMs) is
flowing through it will develop heat that
the resistor must dissipate. The power
inches of the heavy plastic insulation
from each end, being careful not to nick
usually limited to I or 2 amperes at dissipated as heat can be calculated as the wire strands. This leaves 10.5 inches
most. How then can one use a DMM to W = 12R, where I is the current and R of insulated wire. The electrical connec-
measure the tens or hundreds of am- the resistance of the shunt: thus a cur- tions should be 11.0 inches apart, yield-
peres that may be associated with auto- rent of 50 amperes would develop 2500 ing a resistance of 0.001 ohm, taking
motive starter and battery-charging sys- milliwatts of heat. into account the resistance of the clamps
tems, or heavy-duty appliances? The an- Note that the shunt is, for all practi- and soldered connections. Carefully sep-
swer is: use a high-current shunt. cal purposes, a short circuit and should arate one or two strands of wire from
A DMM set to its current function not be connected directly across a power each end and cut them so that the ends
really measures the voltage developed source. Always place the shunt in series are as close as possible to 11.0 inches
by a current in a known shunt resis- with the load! apart. (Bear in mind that different sam-
tance. Since all DMMs measure de volt- In all metallic elements including ples of this wire may have slightly dif-
ages, an internal rectifier is used to con- copper wire, resistance increases with ferent resistances due to variations in
vert ac voltages to de. Even though the temperature. Therefore, the thicker the manufacture.)
DMM is operating as a voltmeter, the wire the less the resistance change and Carefully tape a tip-jack connector
current function display is calibrated in the better the tolerance to J2R heat (see Figs. 2 and 3) to the end of the plas-
milliamperes or amperes. build-up. Ambient temperature also af- tic insulation, then solder the loose wire
If the resistance of the shunt is low, a fects conductor resista nce. Commercial strands to the electrical connector. Do
large current through it will develop shunts often use manganin, an alloy that the same at the other end.
only a small voltage drop. For example, was specially developed to have very lit- Carefully solder together and mount
as shown in Fig. I, a shunt resistor of tle resistance change with temperature. the remaining bundle of wires to the
0.001 n (one milliohm) will produce a The typical experimenter may not have hand clamp. Use a high-wattage solder-
drop of 0.001 volt for each ampere that access to a manganin shunt, but he can ing iron to make a secure electrical con-
flows through it. If a DMM is capable of use a heavy-duty ca ble specifically de- nection. Replace the heavy plastic sleeve
displaying 0 .001 volt at the least-signifi- signed for very high current work- over the connection. Do the same at the
cant digit (the one on the extreme automotive jumper cables using multi- other end.
right), this range can be interpreted di- strand #10 wire. If desired, smaller clamps, or even qa-
rectly in amperes. Thus, a display of nana plugs can be used at the ends of the
0.028 represents 28 amperes flowing Shunt Construction. Remove the shunt cable as shown in Fig. 4. Regard-
through the 0.001-Q shunt resistor. clamps from one of the jumper cables less of the termination used, make sure
Then there is the matter of wattage. and cut the cable to exactly 13.5 inches. that the high current flows in the shunt
Since the shunt is a resistor, a current Then, as shown in Fig. 2, remove 1.5 and its end connectors and not through
1983 EDITION 111
al ac outlet box having one or two The shunts' accuracy can be im-
ID.DD IJ appliance sockets mounted on it with the proved by connecting the shunt in series
_ DMM +
-f-<l 0-- 0 .00 !-ohm shunt in series with one of with a lab-grade ammeter, a suitable
the leads can be used . There is enough load and a power source capable of de-
room within the enclosure to allow the livering several amperes. With a known
=
R .OOIJl
shunt to be placed inside and the two tip value of current flowing (lab ammeter
1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 13.5 " - - - - - - - - - - - - l
TIP
JACK
STRANDED WIRE
Fig. 2. As described in the text, a
0. 00 1-ohm, high-power shunt can be
constructed as shown here from a
conventional battery jumper cable
and a pair of standard tip jacks.
Fig. 4. Shunts can be terminated in banana
plugs or small clips as shown here.
112
ELECTRONIC EXPERIMENTER'S HANDBOOK
resistance of solid copper wire to four
significant digits. For example, a 0.001-
ohm resistor can be fabricated from 10
parallel strands of #16 Formvar or
enamel-insulated copper wire, each
strand 30.6 inches long. Scrape about l/4
inch of the insulation from each end
and, after affixing a flexible bare wire to
make the connections to the tip jacks,
solder the bundle together. To calibrate
other shunts, connect them in series with
your "standard" and adjust the lengths
of the meter connections until both resis-
tors generate the same voltage. Al-
though a DMM is accurate on de, on the
ac functions, signals that are not sine
waves can produce measurement errors.
One common source of error is the unfil-
tered de output from an automotive bat-
tery charger. The current measured
across a shunt from the 60-Hz rectified
charger can be as much as 18% low.
However, the -high-frequency, 3-phase
rectified output from an automotive al-
ternator is only a few percent low, not
enough to worry about.
Although readers are encouraged to
build for their own use the shunt tech-
Fig. 5. To measure sc cu"ent, the shunt csn be coiled 'insides conventions/ nique described, many features de-
sc outlet box snd the two tip jscks mounted on the top plste. scribed here are covered in patent appli-
cations now pending. 0
switch to AUTO . Then set the number of is present. This is due to the very low switch that can disconnect the input of
cycles of the waveform you wish to view duty cycles in these situations. the sweep circuit from the vertical ampli-
with SPEED selector S5. The period of any As mentioned previously, bandwidth fier and connect it to an internal line-
waveform can be obtained directly from and I or noise limitations of the vertical voltage source simplifies sweep sync-
the screen as the time it takes the beam amplifiers of some low-cost scopes may ing. The pickoff point can be the secon-
to "write" one cycle, while the frequen- make triggering on high-frequency sig- dary of any low-voltage transformer in
cy is the reciprocal of this time. nals jittery at best or even impossible. In your scope.
Obtaining a stable display of a frac- some of these cases (CMOS or TTL If you wish to gate an external device,
tion of a repetitive waveform cycle is logic running in the low megahertz- such as an oscillator, in sync with the
also easy. First, adjust the scope's ver- range, for example), where signal ampli- sweep generator, a CMOS-compatible
tical-gain, brightness, and centering con- tudes are in the 1-to-20-volt range and signal is available at the Q output of /C3,
trols for a stable display of several circuit loading tolerance is not too criti- which is at 0 volt during retrace and
cycles. Set S4 to NORM and adjust Rl cal, the trigger signal can be routed + 15 volts during sweep. The inverse of
until the beginning of the portion of inter- directly to the input of the scope sweep this is present at not-0. In some applica-
est is at the left side of the screen. circuit. tions, you may wish to sweep an exter-
Large-amplitude signals may drive Another situation in which the best nal oscillator directly, using the sweep
IC 1 into saturation, causing clipping and choice of trigger source is not immedi- output of the circuit. Use a buffer ampli-
an apparent reduction in the range of the ately obvious occurs when you are look- fier if necessary to prevent excessive
TRIG LEVEL control. If you cannot position ing for 60-Hz line noise. For example, if loading by low-impedance inputs.
the waveform properly, close S 1 to you are checking the output of a de
reduce the gain of the input op amp power supply with 1 or 2 mV of ripple, Summing Up. By substituting the high-
stage to unity. there will often be insufficient gain in the performance triggered sweep described
Once the waveform is positroned, scope's vertical amplifier to yield a here for the recurrent sweep in an older
increase sweep speed until desired clean trigger pulse and the sweep will scope, you can upgrade the instrument
magnification is reached. Advance the run free. However, since the ripple will to permit better waveform analysis as
brightness as necessary. When using occur exactly at the power-line frequen- needed for examining modern circuits.
very high-speed sweeps with relatively cy or a whole-number multiple thereof, Cost is modest and installation is fairly
low-repetition-rate triggers, the scope syncing the sweep to the 60-Hz line will simple. It will also enable you to hold off
beam and TRIGGERED LED will be very dim provide a rock-steady trace. on purchase of a costly modern scope
or appear to be off even when a sweep Providing a trigger-source selector for a while longer. 0
added to the divisor. Pin 8 (which should Calculate the vco frequency as fol- The delta-tune circuit is designed so
be 128) is permanently connected to lows. From Table I, the IC2 sum output that when the transmitter is keyed on,
ground, hence it has no weight and can frequency is 37.660 MHz. Since the vco Q/7 is forward biased. With S2 set to -
be disregarded. frequency is mixed with 20.480 MHz to and the MODE switch set to RECEIVE,
. As shown in Table I, the truth table obtain 37.660 MHz, Fvco = 37.660 Q/6 conducts. Supply point 8 has 7.88
for the /C/ programming pins, each MHz - 20.480 MHz ~ 17.180 MHz. volts applied to it on tra nsmit a nd 0 volt
channel has a unique array of I 's and The difference of the vco frequency and on receive. Similarly, point 9 is "live"
O's. In the case of channel I, pins 9, 12 20.480 MHz is 3.300 MHz, )\'hich is only on transmit: So, when the transmit-
and 14 are selected high (I). Therefm:e, present at pin 9 of IC2 and pin 2 of ICI. ter is keyed, forward bias on Q16 is
the divisor is 256 (pin 7) + 64 (pin 9) + The programmable divider then divides removed because point 8 is dead. Simul-
8 (pin 12) + 2 (pin 14) which equals the input by 330 to yield 10 kHz. This taneously, point 9 is "hot" and Q/7 con-
330, the divisor for channel I. I 0-kHz signal is fed, within /C/, to one ducts, returning the oscillator to the
Also contained in /C/ is a phase com- of the inputs to the phase comparator. proper frequency.
parator a nd a constant divider_, the latter The oth-e r 10-kHz signal Used for the When S2 is set to +, both Q/6 a nd
dividing the input at pin 3 by I 024. Both reference is derived as foilows. A Q/7 are cut off and remove C/3! and
inputs of the phase comparator are fed 10.240-MHz signal from the emitter of C/32 from the circuit. A decrease in cir-
with separate I 0-kHz signals and the QI is amplffied by Q2 and fed to pin 3 of cuit capacitance and an increase in os-
comparator's output frequency is deter- ICI, where it is divided by 1024. This cillator frequency result.
mined by the relative frequency or phase yields the 10-kHz reference signal re- The purpose of the transmit-stop cir-
differences between the two input sig- quired for the reference input to the cuit is to !<ill the transmitter if the PLL
nals. This output is then filtered to ob- phase comparator. system should go out of lock to prevent
tain a steady de-level "error" signal that The comparator constantly compares off-frequency transmission. When an
is used to control a voltage-controlled the phases of the two .10-kHz signals fed out-of-lock condition occurs, pin 6 of
oscillator (vco). to it, and its output varies with the dif- ICI goes low and forward biases D22
ferences. Since the reference oscillator is and kills forward bias on Q22. Since for-
Yeo and Mixer. Contained in IC2 are crystal controlled, its output is very sta- ward bias to Q3 is supplied through
a
a vco a nd mixer. When two di-fferent ble. The frequency of the signal from the Q22, if the latter cuts off, forward bias
frequencies are fed to pins 2 and 4, their vco, on the other hand, is likely to drift. on Q3 is killed. This .shuts down the
sum and difference appear at pins 6 and Any drift is interpreted by the compara- transmitter until lock is restored to the
9, respectively. 0
tor as'a phase change, which results in PLL system .
The heart of the vco is Varactor diode an error voltage at pin 5 of ICI.
Dl, whose capacitance varies with Th.e error voltage is fed to Dl, where Getting Acquainted. To properly
changes in bias voltage. The oscillator in it changes the bias (hence, capacitance) troubleshoot a PLL system, you should
IC2 is controlled by the external compo- and, in turn, changes the vco frequency. get to know all its nuances through ac-
nents connected to pin I. The LC net- The vco "hunts" for the correct frequen- tual hands-on experience. Begin by
work that parallels Dl also has an effect cy. When it finds it, the error voltage monitoring the de "command" voltage
on the nominal 17-MHz operating fre- stabilizes to keep the voltage-controlled that keeps the vco on track at pin 5 of
quency of the vco. oscillator on frequency. / C I . The actual measurement here is
Although IC2 a nd IC3 are identical, In the receive mode, the 37.660-MHz about 3.7 volts on ,channel 1. The read-
the oscillator in IC3 is crystal co'iltrolled signal from pin 6 of1C2 goes to the first ing will steadily decrease as you switch
at 10.695 MHz. The outputs from pin 6 r-f mixer, where it combines with the up-channel, uritil it is about 1.9 volts on
of IC2 and the 10.695-MHz oscillator 26.965-MHz channd-1 signal to yield channel40.
TO lsi RF MIXER
9
8.57V
-
t
...
Fig: 1. The PLL circuit used in the Boman CB-930 transceiver.
116
ELECTRONIC EXPERIMENTER'S HANDBOOK
Due to instrument loading effects, If any frequency obtained by mixing clue that one of the comparator's inputs
very few frequency-counter readings are two other frequencies can be measured, is missing.
possible around the PLL. When the test the two mix frequencies must be pres- First, check for a 10.240-MHz signal
probe is touched to pins 1, 2, 4, and 6 of ent. For example, if you cannot measure at pin 3 of ICI. Finding nothing here, go
/C2 , PLL operation will cease. The the /C2 vco signal nor the 20.480-MHz directly to the oscillator. Check for the
3.300-MHz mixer output at pin 9 is the signal but are able to measure 3.300 presence of r-f at the emitter of QJ ; no
only frequency you will be able to meas- MHz on pin 9, you automatically know r-f here pinpoints the trouble.
ure on IC2 (on channel 1) . However, the other two signals must be _present. A missing vco signal will also cause
you can measure 10.240 MHz at the one of the comparator's inputs to be ab-
emitters of QJ and Q2 and at pin 3 of Troubleshooting Examples. Many sent. If the 1024 divider or the program-
ICI. You can also measure 3.300 MHz conditions can render . a pLL system mable divider is not working properly, it
on pin 2 of ICI . On iCJ , you can meas- inoperative. Suppose, for example, that can cause one comparator input to be
ure the signal frequency at pin 9 with the reference oscillator stops working. missing . A malfunctioning mixer in IC2
the transmitter keyed , but the transmit- W ithout a reference, the PLL would not can also cause a comparator input to be
ter's output will cease every time the operate and the voltage on pin 5 of ICI missing.
probe tip is touched to pin 9. If you use a would be high and would not vary when Now, suppose the PLL is dead. About
frequency counter with a top end of 50 switching through the channels. This is 5.5 volts is on pin 5 of /CJ and there is
megahertz or greater, you can even a clue that one of the inputs to the phase no output at pin 9 of /C2, but the refer-
measure 37 .660 megahertz at TP4 comparator is missing. Also the voltage ence oscillator is working . You must de-
(point 73 in Fig. I) . on pin 6 of ICI would be near 0, another termine if the voltage at pin 5 of ICI is
high because the vco stopped working or
the vco stoppeo working because the
voltage is so high as a result of some
defect in ICI .
TABLE I....,.TRUTH TABLE FOR ICI PROGRAMMING PINS To determine where the fault lies,
tune to channel I and feed a 3.300-MHz
IC1 Rec~ & Xmt. signal to the iriput of ICJ via pin 2.
Program Div!der Divider Synthesizer Assuming ICI is working properly,
Pins Input Output .
there should be near 0 volt on pin 6 until
(64) (32) (16) (8) (4) (2) (1) in MH~ at in MHz at Channel
Chan. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 TP3 TP4 frequency the correct frequency is applied to pin 2,
at which time, the voltage should rise
0 0 0 3.300 37.660 26.965 and fall as the PLL tries to lock. Moni-
0 0 1 3.290 37.670 26,9'75 tor the voltage at pin 5 as you vary the
0 0 0 3.2Bo 37.680 26.985 frequency above and below 3.300 MHz.
0 0 3.260 37.700 27.005 There should be a voltage below but
0 3.2q0 37 .710 27.015 none above 3.300 MHz. These results
0 0 3.240 37.720 27.025
0
are a good indication that /C/ is okay .
0 3 .230 37.730 27.035
0 0 1 3 .210 37.750 27.055
Suspicion is now on the vco or mixer
1 0 0 0 0 0 3 .200 37.760 27.065 in IC2. Generator substitution for the
10 Q 1 1 3 .190 37.770 27 .075 vco output is called for. Remove all con-
11 0 1 0 3: 160 37.780 27.085 nections from pin 2 of /C2 by cutting
12 0 1 1 p 0 3.160 37.800 27. 105 through the foi'l trace on the pc board.
13 0 l 0 1 1 3.150 37.810 27. 115 Feed a 17 .180-MHz (on channel1) sig-
14 0 1 0 1 0 3.140 37.820 27.125 nal through a coupling capacitor to pin
15 0 1 0 0 1 3.130 37.830 27.135 2. Have a modulated signal feeding the
16 0 0 1 1 3.110 37.850 27.155
input of the receiver so you know when
17 0 0 1 0 3 .100 37.860 27.165
18 0 0 0 1 3 .090 37.870 27.175 and if the PLL starts to work. If it does,
19 0 0 1 0 0 3.080 37 .880 27.185 the problem is in the vco .
20 0 0 0 1 0 3 .060 37.900 27.205 .To determine if the trouble is within
21 0 1 0 0 0 1 3 .050 37.910 27.2 15 /C2 or in the external circuitry, measure
22 0 1 0 0 0 0 3.040 37.920 27.225 the voltages on the IC pins . If this fails
23 0 0 0 3.010 37.950 27.255 to produce results, you may have to sub-
24 0 0 1 1 3.030 37.930 27.235* stitute another IC and / or check all ex-
25 0 0 1 0 3 .020 37.940 27.245* ternal compon ~ nts .
26 0 0 0 0 3.000 37.960 27.265
27 0 0 0 1 2 .990 37.970 27.2'{5
28 0 0 0 1 0 2.980 31'.980 27.285 Summing Up, The material pre-
29 0 0 0 0 1 2 .970 37 .990 27.295 sented here is the result of actual tests
30 0 0 0 0 0 2,960 38.000 27.305 and measurements on a commonly used
:f1 0 0 1 1 2 .950 38.010 27.~15 PLL system . Using the material pre-
~2 0 0 1 0 2 .940 38.020 27.325 sented here as a guide, you should be
33 0 0 0 1 2 .930 38.030 27.335 able to troubleshoot virtually any CB
34 0 0 1 0 0 2 .920 38.040 27.345 PLL system you encounter. Note, how-
35 0 0 0 1 2 .910 38.050 27.355 ever, that FCC regulations require any-
36 0 0 0 0 2.900 38.060 27.365
1 2 ;890 38.070
one repairing or adjusting the frequen-
37 0 0 0 27.375
38 0 0 0 0 2.880 38.080 27 .385 cy-determining sections of a CB trans-
39 0 2 .870 38.090 27.395 ceiver to have a First-Class Commercial
0 0 2.860 38. 100 27.405 license. However, a radio amateur who
is modifying a CB PLL rig for I 0-meter
*Out of sequence-see text. operation need not have the license. 0
~~
v .::,
<0 (}
.. eC>
tr::J
.:;;. {,;;? 0
~ (jtf2)
'
<;
..,
(,;>
..::.
Novel circuit
provides
variable
on and off time
for windshield
BY WILLIAM KRAENGEL wipers
WIPER
FUSE
-- - - - - - - ,t
WIPER
SWITCH I
I
I
I
OFF :
R5
120/l. I
_.J
04
R6
120/l.
BREAK
01
I
R2 Rl I
33K IM
WIP ES I
I
I
I
I
02 RUN
I
- - - - - - - - - __ j
R4 R3 WIPER MOTOR
IK 10M
PAUSE
Fig. 2. The Auto-Wiper connects between the wiper switch and wiper motor after one lead is broken.
1983 EDITION 119
I I I tions of the cam before the voltage on
I
I D~Y
C5
I -R6-
C6
I+
C2 Cl reaches the upp~r threshold of ICJ .
I -R5- Similarly, as Cl is discharged through
~
+' /
C9 PAUSE control R3 toward the lower
-D3- threshold of ICJ, time constant R3Cl
varies the discharge time from zero to
G
I ~/ +I '~ I
60 seconds.
AUTO BATTERY
TESTER BY HANK OLSON
How Far
Didl'ou
Cycle Today?
BY ARTHUR V. CLARK
Low-cost electronic
odometer indicates
distance traveled
in miles on a
three-decade
liquid-crystal
display
~53
'i
DIS I
RESET
I LXD 34DXX02X
vDD 37 21
a
38 20 TENS
-
-=-
b
Rl
20K -=-
--
81
4.5V
c
d
39
40
19
18
2 17
e
3 22
f
16 14 16 4 23
g
vDD VDD vDD
4 2
I.! CLOCK Q7
9 12
CLOCK QO
9 27
QO
I
Q4
5 8
A Ql
7 I 28
Ql a
6 25
Q2
7 I II
~ CM Q2
6 I 29
Q2
b
7
8
24
15
UNITS
c~ I c
"'D.w
~ CM Q3
5 30
Q3 d
9 14
.001
~
IC2 IC4 I 10 13
~F IC5 e
4040 4553 vDo DF411 12 26
Nc.....!! 2 5 4 31 f
iiST 8 DSI II 27
g
I 3 2 32
Ig~~
Dl
DS2 A DS2
~ r-B==
12
E: tr
NC 14 29
8
I" 8 110
D
10
NC
b
c
15
16
II
10
d
6
~7
/~-,
17 9
e
Yss ~ CM f
19 31
l -:::.----- \ ICI 8 18 32
'- I g
---- / R2 4049
5 I
IK BP
?Oi]
BACK PLANE
4(g~Opl ("".
34,35
I 2, 28, 34,
TO PIN 16 35, 36, 37,
DIS I (ALL UNUSED
PINS OF
DIS I)
-L....
- BICYCLE FRAME
F ig. 1. Sc hematic diagram of the bicycle odometer. Counter 10:2 converts closures of Sl
into pulses representing distance traveled. These are tallied by IC3 and displayed by DIS1.
27-inch wheels), pins 4, 5, and 7 are at
logic one (V 00 ). These logic levels are PARTS LIST
applied to the three inputs (pins 1, 2,
and 8) of NAND gate IC3A and cause its
output (pin 9) to go to logic zero. This B 1-Three series-connected 1.5-volt al- Sl - Normally open reed or LC2 mercu-
negative-going pulse clocks IC4, a kaline or NiCd cells ry-film spst switch
three-decade counter I BCD decoder C! - 0.001-#F disc ceramic 82- Spst toggle switch
C2- 390-pF disc ceramic S3- Normally open momentary pushj:>Ut-
with multiplexed outputs. The pulse is D 1- 1N914 silicon switching diode ton switch
also applied to NAND gate IC38, which DIS 1- LXD 34DXX02X liquid-crystal Misc.-Printed circuit boa rd, IC sockets
inverts it to provide a positive-going seven segment display or Molex Soldercons, suitable enclo-
reset pulse for 12-stage binary counter ICJ - CD4049 hex inverter sure, No. 16 A WG brass wire, wood or
IC2-CD4040 12-stage binary counter aluminum block, two-conductor cable,
IC2. The binary counter then starts to
IC3- CD4023 triple 3-input NAND hookup wire, battery holder, printed
tally the clock pulses generated by S 1 gate
circuit board standoffs, solder, epoxy
during the next tenth of a mile . IC4-F4553 or MCI4553 3-decade coun- cement, permanent magnet, etc.
Each clock pulse applied to pin 12 of ter/BCD decoder with multiplexed out-
puts Note-The DF4/J display driver is man-
IC4 is counted and stored in the chip's
IC5-DF411 multiplexed BCD-to-seven- ufactured by Si/iconix Inc. , 2201 Lau-
latch, up to a maximum count of 999. segment decoder /liquid-crystal display relwood Road, Santa Clara, CA 95054 .
Because each pulse corresponds to a driver
The LXD 34DXX02X liquid-crystal
tenth of a mile of travel, the maximum Jl - Subminiature phone jack display is manufactured by Liquid Xtal
tally will signify a total distance of 99.9 PI-Subminiature phone plug Displays Inc., 24500 Highpoint Road,
R 1-20,000-ohm, l/4-watt, I 0% carbon- Cleveland. OH 44122. A suitable LC2
miles. This stored information is time- composition resistor
division multiplexed and presented se- mercury-film normally open spst
R2- IOOO~ohm, 1/4-watt, 10% carbon- switch is manufactured by Fifth Di-
quentially, one BCD digit at a time, at composition resistor mension Inc., Box 483, Princeton. NJ
output pins 5, 6, 7, and 9 . 08540.
124
ELECTRONIC EXPERIMENTER'S HANDBOOK
Fig. 2, Full-size
etching and
drilling guide
for a suitable
printed circuit
board is at left.
TO
DISPLAY
DRIVER
Fig. 3. Component
layout for the
printed circuit
board is at right.
An on-chip oscillator, whose frequen- demand is very modest, long alkaline for some close work, so be sure to use a
cy is determined by the value of Ct, cell life (or, in the case of NiCd bat- fine-tipped soldering pencil and small-
governs the multiplexing of the BCD teries, extended intervals between re- diameter solder. When soldering compo-
digits ancj provides DIGIT SELECT control charges) can be expected. nent leads to the board, apply the mini-
pulses at pins 2, 1 and 15 of IC4 for the mum amounts of heat and solder needed
multiplexed LCD driver. Logic levels Construction. The use of a printed cir- for good connections.
appearing on these stobe lines are cuit board is recommended because it A single-sided printed circuit board is
inverted by /CtA, /CtB and /CtF to be results in a compact, rugged assembly. employed to simplify its fabrication . This
compatible with the levels required by A full-size etching and drilling guide for a means, however, that several insulated
IC5. The BCD numbers presented at pins suitable board is shown in Fig . 2. The jumpers must be used. These jumpers
5, 6, 7, and 9 of IC4 are applied to the corresponding component placement must be installed first, because compo-
input terminals (pins 27 through 30) of guide i.s shown in Fig. 3 . This board calls nents will be mounted on top of them .
IC5, a BCD-t.o-seven-segment decoder I Next, install the fixed resistors, capaci-
latch I multiplexed driver designed for tors and convenient lengths of flexible
use with a liquid-crystal display. hookup wire that will be used to connect
This complex chip's multiplexing func- the circuit board to the battery holder,
tion and the ac drive required by the switches, and phone jack.
liquid-crystal display are generated by The last components to be installed
an internal oscillator whose operating REFLECTOR are the semiconductors and the display.
frequency is determined by the value of Be sure to orient each semiconductor
C2. The outputs of /C5 drive directly the carefully, observing its polarity and pin
active segments of DIS 1, a three-digit basing. Follow the standard procedure
liquid-crystal display. At the same time, for handling MOS devices. The use of IC
the common back plane of the display is sockets or Molex Soldercons will mini-
driven by a voltage that is 180 out of mize the risks posed to the chips by
phase with respect to the voltage improper handling, the application of
applied to the activated segments of the excessive heat during soldering, etc. Be
WOOD OR sure to inspect your work carefully for
display. In accord with good design ALUMINUM
practice, the unused inputs of CMOS BLOCK solder bridges.
logic chips /C 1 and /C3 are committed to In the author's prototype, that portion
logic zero. of the circuit board containing the liquid-
BICYCLE
Power for the Odometer circuit is pro- FRAME crystal display was sawed and sepa-
vided by 81, the series connection of Fig. 4. Details of the rated from the rest of the board . It was
three 1.5-volt alkaline or rechargeable author's actuating magnet/motion then interconnected with the display
NiCd cells. Because the circuit's current sensor switch assembly. driver using convenient lengths of flexi-
SELECTING A LOAD
The Cooper Group PO Box 728 Apex NC 27502 USA Tel (919) 362-7510 Telex 579497
@lef.1frfft tole]~