Circuits & Schematics - Measurement - 2

Introduction Photovoltaic (PV) modules are popular and affordable sources of renewable energy. Most photovoltaic modules last about 20 years, but thermal stress and moisture ingress, among other causes, can degrade a module’s output power ...

In 1986, famed analog innovator Jim Williams, in “Designs for High Performance Voltage-to-Frequency Converters” ( Reference 1 ) published his 100 MHz “King Kong” VFC. If anyone’s ever done a faster VFC, I haven’t ...

Analog-to-digital conversion based on the classic combination of a voltage-to-frequency converter (VFC) with a counter has been around for (many) decades, mainly because it has some durable time-proven advantages. VFC digitization is naturally ...

Some applications, such as ADC testing and calibration, require a DAC with extremely good resolution, monotonicity, accuracy, and resolution. In these categories of performance, the circuit in Figure 1 is hard to beat. Its typical specifications ...

The exposure tester in this Design Idea measures the on time of a light source, whether an LED, an incandescent lamp, a halogen lamp, or another source. It can be made with an ordinary stopwatch and a few simple components (figures 1 and 2). An ...

Recently I published a simple platinum resistance temperature detector (PRTD) design idea ( Reference 1 ) that was largely inspired by a deviously clever earlier DI by Nick Cornford ( Reference 2 ). Remarkable and consistently constructive critical ...

Frequent contributor Nick Cornford recently published a delightfully clever design idea ( Reference 1 ) using a platinum RTD calibrated to output a 1 mV/ C signal that’s perfect for direct readout via a standard DMM I thought Nick’s ...

Way back in 1986, famed analog innovator Jim Williams, in “Designs for High Performance Voltage-to-Frequency Converters” ( Reference 1 ) published his “King Kong” 100 MHz VFC. I have never seen its equal. Certainly Figure ...

Before shipping moving-coil meters, manufacturers may short-circuit the meters' terminals with a length of wire, which provides effective electromagnetic damping and results in better immunity to external mechanical vibration and shocks that ...

Psychologists tell us that frustration increases drive. I was driven to produce the circuit in this design idea by my increasing frustration with a collection of digital thermometers, all of which claimed accuracy to within 0.1 C but the readings ...