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10 Kohm Thermistor — Parallax Forums

10 Kohm Thermistor

ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
edited 2003-03-26 01:38 in General Discussion
Hi , I have spent the last few days on the web looking for the best way to
monitor standard industrial (10k ohm @ 77deg. F / 25deg.C ) thermistors. I
have found plenty of reference material but failed to find details. Like a
formula to compensate for the non-linier curve of the thermistor. Is it
better to use a RC circuit with RCTIME or is it better to use a AD
converter.
I'm using a BSIIp24. Thanks in advance for any help. Kirt


[noparse][[/noparse]Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Comments

  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2003-03-25 18:49
    The answer, I'm afraid, is "it depends".

    RCTIME is limited somewhat in the range of resistance it can handle. If you
    have a small range of temperature that you want to monitor, then you can
    probably use RCTIME, even if you have to add resistance in series or
    parallel to get into the proper range. There are some techniques for
    "linearizing" the T vs R curve over limited temp ranges.

    And you can use table lookup and linear (or other) interpolation to get
    the temperature.

    Even if you use an external A/D converter, you still have to convert the
    voltage you get to temperature, again using table lookup and interpolation.

    I finally came to the conclusion that using a thermistor to measure
    temperature over a wide range was a non starter, and switched to using
    chips line the LM34/35 that give a linear voltage vs temperature driving an
    A/D converter. There are, of course, chips that give you digital values.

    Larry

    At 10:15 AM 3/25/2003 -0800, you wrote:
    >Hi , I have spent the last few days on the web looking for the best way to
    >monitor standard industrial (10k ohm @ 77deg. F / 25deg.C ) thermistors. I
    >have found plenty of reference material but failed to find details. Like a
    >formula to compensate for the non-linier curve of the thermistor. Is it
    >better to use a RC circuit with RCTIME or is it better to use a AD
    >converter.
    > I'm using a BSIIp24. Thanks in advance for any help. Kirt
    >

    Larry Bradley
    Orleans (Ottawa), Ontario, CANADA
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2003-03-25 21:33
    Thanks Larry. I am stuck with these thermistors. I was able to make a chart
    using the Steinhart-Hart equation so I guess that I will have to determine
    the resolution and range I want and make the table and sacrifice a little
    memory. Thanks Again

    Original Message
    From: Larry Bradley [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=rmRVroXqye1SULYHUwYvWeF0hakek5fTPIDRgi5b5j-FycRUNUG64HjwZUBGy_h_55_-LCsVYMkXuWGq]lhbradley@i...[/url
    Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2003 10:50 AM
    To: basicstamps@yahoogroups.com
    Subject: Re: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] 10 Kohm Thermistor


    The answer, I'm afraid, is "it depends".

    RCTIME is limited somewhat in the range of resistance it can handle. If you
    have a small range of temperature that you want to monitor, then you can
    probably use RCTIME, even if you have to add resistance in series or
    parallel to get into the proper range. There are some techniques for
    "linearizing" the T vs R curve over limited temp ranges.

    And you can use table lookup and linear (or other) interpolation to get
    the temperature.

    Even if you use an external A/D converter, you still have to convert the
    voltage you get to temperature, again using table lookup and interpolation.

    I finally came to the conclusion that using a thermistor to measure
    temperature over a wide range was a non starter, and switched to using
    chips line the LM34/35 that give a linear voltage vs temperature driving an
    A/D converter. There are, of course, chips that give you digital values.

    Larry

    At 10:15 AM 3/25/2003 -0800, you wrote:
    >Hi , I have spent the last few days on the web looking for the best way
    >to monitor standard industrial (10k ohm @ 77deg. F / 25deg.C )
    >thermistors. I have found plenty of reference material but failed to
    >find details. Like a formula to compensate for the non-linier curve of
    >the thermistor. Is it better to use a RC circuit with RCTIME or is it
    >better to use a AD converter.
    > I'm using a BSIIp24. Thanks in advance for any help. Kirt
    >

    Larry Bradley
    Orleans (Ottawa), Ontario, CANADA


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  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2003-03-26 01:38
    Parallax has a BS1 app note which explains the use of GAUSFIT.EXE
    to construct stamp-friendly polynomials - Takes a bit of fiddling
    but may do what you need.

    The general subject is called curve fitting, btw.

    regards, Jack

    Kirt Boynton wrote:
    >
    > Hi , I have spent the last few days on the web looking for the best way to
    > monitor standard industrial (10k ohm @ 77deg. F / 25deg.C ) thermistors. I
    > have found plenty of reference material but failed to find details. Like a
    > formula to compensate for the non-linier curve of the thermistor. Is it
    > better to use a RC circuit with RCTIME or is it better to use a AD
    > converter.
    > I'm using a BSIIp24. Thanks in advance for any help. Kirt
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