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couple questions regarding current draw. — Parallax Forums

couple questions regarding current draw.

ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
edited 2003-07-17 08:43 in General Discussion
ok, application is COUNTing pulses from a Inductive Proximity sensor.
The sensor is running at 12.5v and spitting out 11.6v
I am lowering that voltage to 5v using a regulator (is that correct)?
it seems to be working fine, I'm using a 10k pulldown resistor to
zero the voltage... but not sure if thats too big.
reasong for thinking this, is, I'm using PIN9 for SEROUT, and PIN10
is one of my inputs, and PIN10 always mesures wrong.
PIN11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 are all fine.
I only have 1 sensor atm, so don't know if they are going to affect
each other..
My other concern on this project is, if I put the multimeter in line
from the regulator and the BS2e, its mesuring about 120mA.
should I be going for a lower voltage?
how could it possibly be drawing that much current?
am I mesuring it wrong?

TIA

Comments

  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2003-07-14 12:01
    Hi

    I think a regulator is definitely the wrong device to convert the
    sensor voltage down to 5V!
    These regulators are meant for power supply purposes and delivering
    currents and not to convert (more or less current free) signal
    voltages. You are going to fry your stamp this way (the 12V supply
    voltage through the regulator into the stamp's pin which is a couple
    of ohms input resistance).
    I would use a pullup resistor to the input and a transistor to ground
    and drive the base of the transistor through a resistor and may be a
    voltage divider.

    Regards
    Adrian
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2003-07-14 16:49

    Original Message
    From: "emmertex" <emmertex@y...>

    > The sensor is running at 12.5v and spitting out 11.6v
    > I am lowering that voltage to 5v using a regulator (is that correct)?

    Well, if it works, it works, but I would have thought a 5V zener or a
    resistor would have been more appropriate.

    - Robert
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2003-07-15 01:13
    so would this do?
    8K resistor in line from the output of the inductor, to the BS2, and
    then a pulldown of about 3.9K going to earth?

    that should supply me with about 1mA current at about 3.9v
    is that correct.

    or would you still reccomend going through the tranny for safety
    reasons?

    if I did do that.. how do I choose the transistor and do the math?

    I'm sorry bout the stupid questions, its been a long time since I've
    done anything with electronics, and I never knew that much to start
    with :/

    --- In basicstamps@yahoogroups.com, "Adrian Schneider"
    <adrian.schneider@t...> wrote:
    > Hi
    >
    > I think a regulator is definitely the wrong device to convert the
    > sensor voltage down to 5V!
    > These regulators are meant for power supply purposes and delivering
    > currents and not to convert (more or less current free) signal
    > voltages. You are going to fry your stamp this way (the 12V supply
    > voltage through the regulator into the stamp's pin which is a
    couple
    > of ohms input resistance).
    > I would use a pullup resistor to the input and a transistor to
    ground
    > and drive the base of the transistor through a resistor and may be
    a
    > voltage divider.
    >
    > Regards
    > Adrian
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2003-07-15 08:29
    Hello

    What you mentionned is a simple voltage divider, in fact I wanted to
    suggest that too. However, the stamp's inputs are low impedance, just
    a couple of ohms (I don't remember how much exactly), so this
    solution sould not work. That is why I brought up the transistor
    variant - e.g. a 2n2222.
    You might want to try this:

    12V (sensor)
    |
    \8k
    /
    \
    20k |
    BS2----/\/
    +
    |
    \3k9
    /
    \
    _|_

    Regards
    Adrian
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2003-07-15 12:57
    If you're going with resistors and transisitor why not use an
    integrated opto-isolator/coupler with TTL digital O/P? That would
    give the isolation as an extra and a bit of shaping via Schmitt
    trigger. All in a neat 6 pin DIP package (eg H11L1).

    Adrian
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2003-07-16 13:16
    Thanks for those who helped me on this.

    I have ordered the components for testing it to see how it goes.

    thanks alot guys!
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2003-07-17 08:43
    does this look right?
    looks nice on the multimeter [noparse]:)[/noparse]

    12V (sensor)
    |
    \ 6K7
    /
    \
    18K |
    BS2 ---/\/
    + NPN 2N2222
    | |
    \ /
    / 10K \ 3K9
    \ /
    |
    |
    |
    -
    ---

    Will be receiving about 800hz

    --- In basicstamps@yahoogroups.com, "emmertex" <emmertex@y...> wrote:
    > Thanks for those who helped me on this.
    >
    > I have ordered the components for testing it to see how it goes.
    >
    > thanks alot guys!
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