"Tiptronic" Style: Gear Indicator

“TIPTRONIC” STYLE
GEAR INDICATOR
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SUNSE T S W I T CH
F or Q S ecur i t y
Q S a f e t y Vol 35 No 1 $5.95 US $7.99 CAN
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ISSN 0262 3617
PROJECTS . . . THEORY . . . NEWS . . .
COMMENTS . . . POPULAR FEATURES . . .
I N C O R P O R AT I N G E L E C T RO N I C S TO DAY I N T E R N A T I O N A L
VOL. 35. No. 1 JANUARY 2006
www.epemag.co.uk
EPE Online: www.epemag.com
Projects and Circuits

A “TIPTRONIC-STYLE” GEAR INDICATOR by John Clarke 10
Car and motorbike digital indicator
INGENUITY UNLIMITED – Sharing your ideas with others 24
Simple FM Radio
SUNSET SWITCH by John Clarke 26
On at dusk off when you want
PIC AMBILUX by John Becker 40
Colour changes to ambient temperature
CURRENT CLAMP ADAPTOR FOR MULTIMETERS by John Clarke 60
A low voltage converter to supply valve equipment
Series and Features

TECHNO TALK by Mark Nelson 22
An XMAX Tale
PIC N’ MIX by Mike Hibbett 33
NET WORK – THE INTERNET PAGE surfed by Alan Winstanley 36
Anti-virus and anti-spam plus Google conversions
CIRCUIT SURGERY by Ian Bell 38
More on gain and impedance calculations
TEACH-IN 2006 by Mike Tooley BA 50
Find out how circuits work and what really goes on inside them
Part 2: Charge and Capacitance, Introducing Capacitors
PRACTICALLY SPEAKING by Robert Penfold 57
Producing front panel overlays using a computer
Regulars and Services

EDITORIAL 7
NEWS – Barry Fox highlights technology’s leading edge 8
Plus everyday news from the world of electronics
SUBSCRIBE TO EPE and save money 48
READOUT John Becker addresses general points arising 68
CD-ROMS FOR ELECTRONICS 70
A wide range of CD-ROMs for hobbyists, students and engineers
BACK ISSUE CD-ROMs Did you miss these? 74
DIRECT BOOK SERVICE 75
A wide range of technical books available by mail order, plus more CD-ROMs
EPE PCB SERVICE 78
PCBs for EPE projects
ADVERTISERS INDEX 80
© Wimborne Publishing Ltd 2005. Copyright in all

drawings, photographs and articles published in
Seasons Greetings
EVERYDAY PRACTICAL ELECTRONICS is fully
protected, and reproduction or imitations in whole or to all our readers
in part are expressly forbidden.
Our February 2006 issue will be published on Thursday, Readers Services • Editorial and Advertisement Departments 7
12 January 2006. See page 3 for details
Everyday Practical Electronics, January 2006 1

Editorial Offices:
EVERYDAY PRACTICAL ELECTRONICS EDITORIAL
Wimborne Publishing Ltd., 408 Wimborne Road East, Ferndown,
Dorset BH22 9ND
Phone: (01202) 873872. Fax: (01202) 874562.
Email: enquiries@epemag.wimborne.co.uk
Web Site: www.epemag.co.uk
EPE Online (downloadable version of EPE): www.epemag.com
EPE Online Shop: www.epemag.wimborne.co.uk/shopdoor.htm
See notes on Readers’Technical Enquiries below – we regret
THE UK’s No.1 MAGAZINE FOR ELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY & COMPUTER PROJECTS technical enquiries cannot be answered over the telephone.
Advertisement Offices:
EVERYDAY PRACTICAL ELECTRONICS ADVERTISEMENTS
408 Wimborne Road East, Ferndown, Dorset BH22 9ND
VOL. 35 No. 1 JANUARY 2006 Phone: 01202 873872 Fax: 01202 874562
Email: stewart.kearn@wimborne.co.uk
Sharp-eyed regular readers will notice some changes to EPE this month – besides the obvious ones Editor: MIKE KENWARD
like the new logo, better quality paper and full colour throughout, which I know you will like. (The Consulting Editor: DAVID BARRINGTON
reason for these is to push the magazine into the 21st Century and, more importantly, to make sure we Technical Editor: JOHN BECKER
appeal to as wide a range of readers as possible. Younger enthusiasts are simply not used to seeing any Business Manager: DAVID J. LEAVER
magazine printed on paper “that changes colour as you read it” – as one contributor put it – or in black Subscriptions: MARILYN GOLDBERG
and white on most pages.) No, the changes I’m on about are to do with EPE staff and projects. General Manager: FAY KEARN
Editorial/Admin: (01202) 873872
Staff Advertising Manager:
This issue marks the retirement of David Barrington, Dave has literally worked on EPE (or PE or STEWART KEARN (01202) 873872
EE) “man and boy”, joining the team before the very first issue back in November 1964. It is Dave On-Line Editor: ALAN WINSTANLEY
who, to a very large extent, has been responsible for the high level of accuracy the magazine has EPE Online (Internet version) Editors:
enjoyed, for it is he who checks all the drawings in infinite detail and who lays out much of the mag- CLIVE (MAX) MAXFIELD and ALVIN BROWN
azine. Dave was our Production Editor for many years and for the last seventeen years has been our
Deputy Editor. We will, however, not miss him too much as he will keep working for us on a free- READERS’ TECHNICAL ENQUIRIES
E-mail: techdept@epemag.wimborne.co.uk
lance basis. Over 40 years of loyal service to “one” magazine is exceptional and we know that Dave We are unable to offer any advice on the use,
has helped many thousands of readers over the years, he actually joined George Newnes (the original purchase, repair or modification of commercial
publishers of PE) when he left school in 1955, just over 50 years ago. equipment or the incorporation or modification
Also, by the time you read this John Becker will have retired. John has been our Technical Editor of designs published in the magazine. We
for the last eleven years, responsible for the technical accuracy of our material and for his excellent regret that we cannot provide data or answer
PIC Tutorials and PIC-based projects. Again, we will not miss him too much as he will also contin- queries on articles or projects that are more
ue to work for us on a freelance basis. John was a contributor to PE back in the seventies, then an than five years old. Letters requiring a personal
reply must be accompanied by a stamped
advertiser selling kits for projects, followed by a stint as editor of PE prior to joining EPE. self-addressed envelope or a self-
We wish them both well and hope they find the extra leisure time to their liking. They have both addressed envelope and international reply
had great influences on the magazine and often kept me on the straight and narrow. We thank them coupons. We are not able to answer techni-
both and look forward to a new on-going way of working with them. cal queries on the phone.
Projects PROJECTS AND CIRCUITS

This month we are delighted to announce our association with another of the world's best elec- All reasonable precautions are taken to ensure
tronics magazines, Silicon Chip. This will allow us to feature a greater range of constructional pro- that the advice and data given to readers is reli-
jects each month, as well as greatly improved presentation, along with our better paper and four- able. We cannot, however, guarantee it and we
cannot accept legal responsibility for it.
colour printing. You will see much better circuits and wiring diagrams in colour, along with hi-res A number of projects and circuits published in
colour photos that enable you to see fine constructional detail in projects. EPE employ voltages than can be lethal. You
The first of these projects appear in this issue. This association will enable EPE to stay at the fore- should not build, test, modify or renovate
front of the UK hobby electronics market and ensure a greater selection of projects for enthusiasts, any item of mains powered equipment
with more kits being available as well. unless you fully understand the safety
We know you'll enjoy our new look and revised aspects involved and you use an RCD adap-
approach. We will continue to publish the regular fea- tor.
tures and series and we look forward to your positive COMPONENT SUPPLIES
feedback, to help us keep improving in the future. We do not supply electronic components or
kits for building the projects featured, these
can be supplied by advertisers.
AVAILABILITY SUBSCRIPTIONS
Subscriptions for delivery direct to any address in the We advise readers to check that all parts are
Copies of EPE are available on subscription still available before commencing any pro-
UK: 6 months £16.50, 12 months £31, two years £57;
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UK newsagents (distributed by COMAG) and £28.50 express airmail, 12 months £37 standard air ser-
from the following electronic component retail- vice or £55 express airmail, 24 months £69 standard air ADVERTISEMENTS
ers: Omni Electronics and Yebo Electronics service or £105 express airmail. To subscribe from the Although the proprietors and staff of
(S. Africa). EPE can also be purchased from USA or Canada see the last magazine page.
Online subscriptions, for downloading the magazine via EVERYDAY PRACTICAL ELECTRONICS take
retail magazine outlets around the world. An the Internet, $15.99US (approx £9.50) for one year reasonable precautions to protect the interests
Internet on-line version can be purchased and available from www.epemag.com. of readers by ensuring as far as practicable that
downloaded for just $15.99US (approx £9.50) Cheques or bank drafts (in £ sterling only) payable to advertisements are bona fide, the magazine
per year available from www.epemag.com Everyday Practical Electronics and sent to EPE Subs. and its Publishers cannot give any undertak-
Dept., Wimborne Publishing Ltd. 408 Wimborne Road ings in respect of statements or claims made
East, Ferndown, Dorset BH22 9ND. Tel: 01202 873872.
Fax: 01202 874562. Email: subs@epemag.wimborne.co.uk. by advertisers, whether these advertisements
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sent within seven days but please allow 28 days for transmitting and telephone equipment which
delivery – more for overseas. may be advertised in our pages cannot be
Payment in £ sterling only please. Visa, Amex, Diners legally used in the UK. Readers should check
Club, Maestro and MasterCard accepted. Send, fax or the law before buying any transmitting or
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provider in your local currency at the existing local laws.
exchange rate.

News . . . A roundup of the latest Everyday
News from the world of
electronics
COMPLAINTS ABOUT DAB

Not everyone is convinced that DAB offers better listening as Barry Fox reports
D AB digital radio started out as a hi-fi

system. But the broadcasters have cut
the data rates so drastically, to get more
tortion free” was used to allegorise the
technological benefits of DAB over ana-
logue, like the benefits of CDs over vinyl.
“We do not wish to make any further com-
ment”, says Danny Rose, spokesman for
Switchdigital.
programmes into each multiplex, that But Switchdigital admitted that there
audio quality varies wildly. Poor cover in might be digital “artifacts” and “if a listen- Improved Claims
some parts of the country, and the difficul- er was receiving a signal that was either too The Digital Radio Development Board,
ty of receiving DAB on the move, exacer- high or too low he/she might hear a “bub- of which Switchdigital is an official part-
bates the problem. But the broadcasters bly” noise”. ner, is already very careful to claim only
have not toned down their advertising This, decided the ASA, meant that an “improved sound quality” for DAB, and no
claims accordingly. Now they will have to. advert claiming “distortion free” and “hiss, crackle and fade so familiar on ana-
“crystal clear” sound was misleading. logue radio.” But the DRDB comes to the
Misleading Claims defence of Switchdigital. Says Ian
In early October the Advertising Beefier Preferred Dickens, Chief Executive, DRDB: “In a
Standards Authority upheld two com- The RACC also argued that the advert good signal area reception is clean, sharp
plaints against advertisements that claimed did not refer to analogue radio but merely and clear.
high audio quality for DAB radio. The highlighted the benefits of DAB. “The Switch ad seems to imply that
broadcast adverts, from London’s commer- Switchdigital said that many analogue DAB does some things better than ana-
cial radio multiplex operator Switchdigital, radio stations compressed their sound to logue” like “taking the hiss out of the way
promised “crystal clear” and “distortion- make it “richer” and “beefier”, which some you listen to the radio”, something with
free” sound which takes “the hiss out of the listeners prefer; DAB comes closer to the which the ASA actually seems to concur
way you listen to the radio”. original audio, and audio quality is a sub- when it says, “We noted that DAB digital
This was “misleading” says the ASA in a jective issue anyway. radio removed the hiss and crackle that
judgment published on October 5th The ASA was unimpressed and upheld could interfere with analogue radio.” So, is
(www.asa.org.uk). A listener complained the complaint. “We believe the advert the ASA penalizing Switch for saying
that the claims “distortion free” and “crystal would be understood by listeners to mean something that the ASA agrees with?
clear” were misleading because although that DAB digital radio is superior to ana- “The fact remains that 1.8 million peo-
DAB digital radio may be free from “hiss” logue in terms of audio quality (and) we ple have bought a DAB digital radio, and
or “crackle”, a “gurgling noise” can inter- received no evidence to show that DAB very few are returned on the basis of poor
fere with the sound; and in many cases ana- digital radio is superior to analogue radio audio or reception.” The ASA has rejected
logue audio quality is better. in terms of audio quality.” Says Nigel another complaint by another listener who
The Radio Advertising Clearance Centre Sharman, a PR Director for the classical thought the claim “distortion free” was
told the ASA that if a DAB digital radio set music industry and Royal Television misleading.
is correctly set up, it should not suffer from Society Council member who filed both On this complaint the Radio Advertising
“gurgling” interference noise because “the complaints: Clearance Centre argued that the advert did
signal was either on or off, which avoided “I just think they are selling DAB on the not claim that DAB duplicates the original
the fading in and out and background noise basis of claims the technology simply can’t sound of a recording. The ASA agreed,
that analogue radio is prone to.” support. For me, the low-pitched gurgling saying: “Listeners would understand that
Switchdigital argued that the terms “dis- noise you often get is far more annoying the claim ‘distortion-free’ refers merely to
tortion free” and “crystal clear” were used than a bit of hiss and interference; it the absence of interference”. The ASA still
as “an informative public service message” actually makes you want to tune away from has at least one further complaint on DAB
offered “in an entertaining way”; and “dis- the station because it is so unpleasant”. adverts to adjudicate.
Log the Loop

Lascar’s EL-USB-4 is the latest data log- USB-4 is removed from the computer and
ger to be added to their popular EL-USB the signal to be measured connected to the
range. It is the world’s first standalone logger via two screw terminals.
4-20mA data logger with direct USB Two l.e.d.s indicate when the unit is log-
interface and provides a cost effective and ging, when an alarm level has been
easy to use solution for data logging needs. reached, when the battery needs replacing
The unit is supplied with Windows or when the device has reached full
compatible software which is used for con- memory capacity (32,000 readings). To
figuration of the unit as well as download download data, the user reconnects the unit
and graphing of the data. With the logger to the USB port. The supplied software is
connected to a USB port, the software then used to download and graph the data For more information, contact Lascar
enables the user to set the required from the unit. Data, saved in .TXT Electronics Ltd., Module House, White
sampling rate (from one second), custom format, can be also imported to many Parish, Salisbury, Wilts SP5 2SJ. Tel:
calibration, high and low alarms, and the industry standard spreadsheet packages for 01794 884567, Fax: 01794 774 4616. Web:
logger start time. Once configured, the EL- customised analysis. www.lascarelectronics.com.
8 Everyday Practical Electronics, January 2006

Plug and Play Radio
RF Solutions has added to its range of
easy to use “SmartRadio” products with
the introduction of the RF620T transmitter
and RF620R receiver. The new modules
enable the simple implementation of low
cost, reliable, “plug and play” wireless data
communications in a wide range of appli-
cations that includes security systems,
EPOS terminals, meter reading and sensor
data logging.
The modules provide a serial data
communications solution and a remote
command and telemetry solution (four
remote control lines). A microprocessor is
integrated into the design of the modules to
automatically perform the necessary
encryption and decryption to optimize data
for transmission. This functionality helps
reduce design and development time and
ensures maximum range and reliability of
the radio link.
When used in serial comms mode the
RF620T and RF620R provide a transparent,
wire replacement radio solution. Operated in
remote command telemetry mode the mod-
Other key features include an on-board For more information contact R.F.
ules give a high security four-channel
buffer and optional host flow control. Solutions Ltd, Dept EPE, Unit 21, Cliffe
telemetry link where the output on the
Both the transmitter and receiver modules Industrial Estate, South Street, Lewes,
receiver mirrors the input to the receiver.
have an operating temperature range of East Sussex BN8 6JL.
The new 433MHz AM modules use
-20°C to +85°C. The RF620T measures Tel: 01273 898000. Fax: 01273 480661.
advanced hybrid technology. A host inter-
50.8mm × 14.5mm × 3mm and the RF620R Email: sales@rfsolutions.co.uk
face Baud rate of up to 19200 is specified
measures 63.5mm × 14.5mm × 3mm. Web: www.rfsolutions.co.uk
and operating range is up to 100 metres.
Alternative Toys Art Pad

If you are looking for alternatives to the Selwyn Electronics has announced The Art
usual stocking fillers this year, Teaching Pad, a graphics tablet that looks like a small
Resources Ltd is offering a range of gifts mousemat and comes with a clever artist pen.
that should keep children and teenagers The Art Pad connects to a PC or Mac and
entertained this Christmas. comes complete with software that pro-
Teaching Resources is Middlesex vides a full colour pallet on screen with a
University’s award-winning design and choice of high quality painting and draw-
technology company and one of the UK’s ing applications – pen, pencil, crayon,
biggest education suppliers. They design, paintbrush, chalk etc.
manufacture and distribute educational By using the special pen on the pad, the
products for retail sale in the UK’s leading Art Pad allows you to create superb draw-
museums, visitor attractions and high street ings, paintings and artwork on your PC,
shops such as Marks and Spencer and The either freehand or tracing, with a range of
Natural World. special effects that can recreate a range of
TR’s Bletchley Park kits produce a finishes – from oil paintings and water
device with paper and pipes capable of the colours to cartoons and sketches.
same level of encoding as the original Its features include: a 3-button cordless pen
WW2 Enigma machine. Other kits include and graphics tablet; adjustable pressure sensi-
the Super Spy Kit, Camera Obscura, tivity; tip pressure changes line width, colour
Electric Cannon, Station X Rocket, density and opacity; resolution 2540lpi; accu-
Electric Plane Launcher, and Alien. The racy: ± 0.01%; customisable pen buttons; can
latter is a “spitting, talking and moving” be used as a mouse replacement or alongside
design developed for the Science a plug & play USB device; compatible with
Museum’s touring exhibition. Windows and Macintosh systems; Art
A full range of Teaching Resources Dabbler software included.
products can be found at www.mutr.co.uk. The Art Pad has been designed to
encourage adults and children alike to
develop their creativity and imagination. It
MERG Newsletter costs £35, and is available from Selwyn
The Model Electronic Railway Group Electronics at www.selwyn.co.uk.
(MERG) have sent us their latest newsletter.
It confirms that their range of activities is
ever-increasing, as is their membership. If
you are interested in such enthralling activi- Points Arising
ties, why not find out more by contacting Speed Camera Watch Mk2 (November
John Ferguson, Secretary MERG, 5 Butts ’05). In Fig.4. Connector 1 pin 1 (not
Lane, Danbury, Essex CM3 4NP. Tel: 01245 pin 7) should go to PCB JP9 pin 6.
223 888. Email: secretary@merg.info. Web:
www.merg.org.uk. Mention EPE!

• Indicates up to 9 gears
• Neutral indication
• Reverse indication
• Easy gear calibration
• Adjustable parameters
• Adjustable reverse gear
switch level
• Display dimming
A “Tiptronic-style” Gear
Indicator
Do you know what gear your car is in at any downhill). It’s all too easy to forget to
flick it back into Drive later on. As a re-
given time? “Just look at the gear stick”, you sult, you could finish up driving quite
say. Actually, it’s not that easy, especially if some distance in a low gear and that’s
not good for fuel consumption.
you have a 4-speed automatic or a 5 or 6- The same problem can happen if you
ride a motorbike. Wouldn’t it be nice
speed manual gearbox. And what if you ride a to have a digital display to show the
motorbike? So you need the Gear Indicator – it gear you’re in? In fact, when driving an
automatic it can still be useful to know
will give you the answer on a digital readout. which gear you are in, even if Drive is
correctly selected. Modern automatics
By JOHN CLARKE are so smooth that it can be difficult to
“pick” the changes. Now you can “see”
I
F YOU’RE DRIVING in traffic, it is Why would you be in the “wrong what the transmission is doing.
quite easy to be in the wrong gear, gear” in the first place? If your car is This idea is not new, of course. All
especially as the noise of the traf- stuck in heavy traffic you might easily cars with Tiptronic transmissions and
fic can drown out the engine. And if continue on for some time in 2nd or the latest Honda Jazz with its 7-speed
you have your stereo system blaring 3rd after the traffic clears, particularly gearbox have a digital gear indicator
as well, then what chance have you if your engine is not noisy. on the dashboard.
got? Yes, you can deliberately look at Much the same can happen with an
the gearstick but you’re not likely to automatic, if you are in the habit of Main features
do that unless you suspect you might “flicking” back to 3rd or 2nd (eg, when Basically, the Gear Indicator con-
be in the wrong gear. going up a hill or for engine braking sists a small box which incorporates

a single-digit LED display. This can
show gear selections from 1-9, Neutral
(which is shown on the display as a
dash; ie, “-”) and Reverse (which is
shown as an “r”).
Inside the case are several switches
which allow the unit to be calibrated
and set up for best gear detection
results. Once it’s all set up, that’s it
– there are no user controls on the
front panel to fiddle with.
As presented, the unit is designed to
be mounted on the dashboard. Alterna-
tively, you could hide the unit under
the dashboard and mount the LED dis-
play separately, if space is a problem.
A 9-strand cable (eg, rainbow cable)
would then be required to connect the
display back to the main circuit.
The right gear Fig.1: block diagram of the Gear Indicator. It works by counting the
The Gear Indicator works by moni- number of ignition pulses that occur during a fixed number of pulses
toring both the speed of the vehicle from a speed sensor and comparing the result with a “lookup” table
and the engine RPM. It then decides that’s stored in memory.
which gear has been selected by feed-
ing the results into a lookup table
that’s programmed into an internal Block diagram The gear selection number is shown
microcontroller. And that means that Fig.1 shows the basic operation of on the 7-segment LED display. This
the unit must first be calibrated, so the Gear Indicator. There are three number is obtained by comparing the
that it knows what the results are for external inputs: speed sensor pulses, number of ignition pulses counted
each gear. ignition coil pulses and the reversing with the stored values (in a microcon
Note, however, that neutral (-) is switch input. troller). These stored values are ob-
always shown when the unit is first The speed sensor pulses can be tained during calibration of the Gear
powered up and also if the vehicle is obtained from a rotating magnet Indicator.
stationary (or almost stationary) while and coil assembly mounted on the Fig.2 shows how the Gear Indicator
the engine is running. By contrast, tailshaft. Alternatively, you can use the compares the ignition pulse counts
reverse (r) is shown when ever the ve- digital speed signal that comes from with the calibration values. These
hicle’s reversing lights are activated. the vehicle’s engine computer, if this calibration values are different for
One thing you should note is that can be identified (and accessed). The each gear and are obtained by driving
the Gear Indicator does not work by ignition pulses can either be obtained the vehicle in each gear during the
detecting gear changes – eg, by fitting from the ignition coil or you can use initial setup.
switch actuators to the gearstick. This the low-voltage tachometer signal from This means that comparing the
method would not only be unreli- the engine management computer if counted pulses with the calibration
able but would also be a mechanical this is available. values should give the correct gear
nightmare to set up. What’s more, The reversing input is obtained, number. However, in practice, the
the position of the gear selector in an naturally enough, from the reversing calibration number may differ from the
automatic car doesn’t tell you which switch. When this switch is closed value obtained during driving. That’s
gear the transmission is in (unless 1st (ie, when reverse gear is selected), the because the number of ignition pulses
gear is manually selected). display will show an “r” for reverse counted may vary by up to several
That’s because the transmission can as indicated previously. Conversely, counts for the same number of speed
still select any one of the lower gears in when the switch is open, the display pulses, depending on the phase differ-
the remaining positions. For example, will show either neutral (when the ence between the two.
if the gear selector is set to 3rd, 2nd unit is first powered up or if there are To counter this effect, a set amount
and 1st can also be selected. no pulses) or a gear number. of hysteresis is added to each gear
Of course, it is conceivable that the If the vehicle is moving, the cir- range – see Fig.2. This can be varied
signals from an electronically control- cuit counts the number of ignition to suit the vehicle during calibration
led automatic transmission could be coil pulses that occur during a fixed and also corrects for any slippage in
used to drive a gear display. However, number of speed pulses. If a low gear the transmission – either in the clutch
we have not provided for this in the is selected (eg, 1st gear), it follows or in the torque converter.
Gear Indicator because these signals that there will be more ignition pulses As a further refinement, a slight
would be different on each type of counted for a given speed compared delay is added between each display
vehicle and may be difficult to utilise to those counted at the same speed in update. This delay prevents the dis-
effectively. a higher gear. play from behaving erratically during

then clamped by pin 6 (via internal
diodes) to 0.6V above IC1’s supply rail
(5V), as before.
In operation, IC1’s pin 6 input is
set as an interrupt – ie, the microcon-
troller’s embedded software incre-
ments the count each time pin 6 goes
low.
Display brightness
Trimpot VR1, light dependent resis-
tor LDR1 and op amp IC2b are used
Fig.2: a small amount of hysteresis is added at the end of each gear range to control the display brightness. As
to correct for phase errors and transmission slippage. This is set to suit the shown, IC2b is connected as a voltage
vehicle and is one of several parameters that are adjusted during the setup follower and this drives buffer transis-
procedure. tor Q1 (which is inside the negative
feedback loop) to control the voltage
applied to the anode of the 7-segment
gear changes, when clutch slippage This output is fed to pin 12 (RB6) of LED display.
and changes in engine RPM could IC1 via a 3.3k current limiting resis- When the ambient light level is high,
otherwise produce an incorrect gear tor. The internal diodes at RB6 then LDR1 has low resistance and so the
indication. clamp the signal voltage to about 5.6V. voltage on pin 5 is close to the +5V
Note that the feedback signal for IC3 supply rail. As a result, the voltage on
Circuit details is derived from this point to ensure a Q1’s emitter will also be close to +5V
Refer now to Fig.3 for the circuit consistent hysteresis level, regardless and so the display will operate at full
details. As indicated above, it’s based of the 12V supply level. brilliance.
on a PIC microcontroller (IC1). This As the light level falls, the resistance
device accepts inputs from the various Ignition coil pulses of the LDR increases and the voltage
sensors and switches and drives the As shown, signals from the ignition on pin 5 of IC2b decreases. As a result,
7-segment LED display. coil are first fed to a voltage divider Q1’s emitter voltage also falls and so
OK, let’s start with the speed sensor consisting of 22k and 10k resistors. the display operates with reduced
circuit. This consists of a sensing coil The associated 68nF capacitor then brightness.
which mounts on the chassis, plus shunts any signals above 700Hz to When it’s completely dark, the
four magnets which mount on a drive ground to eliminate noise. LDR’s resistance is very high and the
shaft (or tail shaft). As the magnets spin From there, the signal is AC-coupled voltage on pin 5 of IC2b is determined
past, they induce a voltage into the via a 1µF capacitor to diode D3 and solely by VR1. This trimpot is adjusted
coil and this is detected by compara- thence to pin 2 of op amp IC2a. Zener to give a comfortable display bright-
tor stage IC3. diode ZD2 limits the signal amplitude ness at night.
One side of the speed sensing coil at D3’s anode to 20V, while D3 prev The 7-segment LED display is driven
connects to a 2.5V supply, derived ents negative signals from being fed via the RA1, RB1-RB5 and RB7 outputs
from a voltage divider consisting of into IC2a. The associated 10k resistor of IC1 via 470 resistors. A low output
two 2.2k resistors between the +5V pulls pin 2 low in the absence of a on any one of these output lines lights
rail and ground. This 2.5V rail is signal input via D3. the corresponding display segment,
decoupled using a 47µF capacitor A low input (LOW IN) has also with the output at RA4 controlling the
and biases pin 3 (the non-inverting been provided at the junction of D3 decimal point.
input) of IC3 via a 22k resistor. It and ZD2. This input allows the tacho-
also biases pin 2 of IC3 via the coil meter signal from an engine manage- Switch inputs
and a series 1k resistor. Diodes D1 & ment computer to be applied instead Pushbutton switches S1, S2 and S3
D2 clamp the input signal from the of using the ignition coil input. The are monitored using the RA2 and RA3
coil to 0.6V, while the associated signal level at this input can be any inputs. These two inputs are normally
10nF capacitor filters the pickup where from 2.3V up to a maximum tied high via 10k resistors and are
signal. of 20V. only pulled low when the switches
IC3 is wired as an inverting Schmitt IC2a is wired as an inverting com- are pressed.
trigger comparator. Its hysteresis is set parator with hysteresis. Its pin 3 input When S1 (Mode) is closed, RA2
by a 1M positive feedback resistor, is nominally biased to about 1.6V via is pulled low and this is recognised
which prevents false triggering due a voltage divider connected to the 5V as a closed switch by the software.
to noise. rail, while the 47k feedback resistor Similarly, when S2 (Number) is closed,
The output signal from the speed provides the hysteresis to set the high RA3 is pulled low, while pressing S3
sensor is a 250mV peak-to-peak pulse and low trigger points (1.7V and 1.5V (Store) pulls both RA2 & RA3 low to
waveform and this is fed to pin 2 of respectively). ground (via diodes D4 & D5). As a re-
IC3. Each time the input swings nega- The resulting square-wave signal at sult, the software can recognise which
tive, IC3’s output (pin 1) goes high (ie, IC2a’s output is fed to pin 6 of IC1 via switch has been pressed and respond
to about 10V). a 3.3k resistor. The signal on pin 6 is accordingly.

Fig.3: the complete circuit of the Gear Indicator. The PIC microcontroller (IC1)
processes the signals from the various inputs and drives a single 7-segment LED also used to give a precise time period
display (DISPLAY1) to show the result. IC2b, Q1 & LDR1 automatically dim the to count the speed pulses.
display at night, so it is not too bright.
Power
Clock signals correct loading and to ensure that the Power for the circuit is derived from
Clock signals for IC1 are provided oscillator starts reliably. the vehicle’s battery via a fuse and
by an internal oscillator and a 4MHz The crystal frequency is divided the ignition switch. This supply line
crystal (X1) connected between pins internally to produce clock signals for is decoupled using a 10 1W resistor
15 & 16. The two associated 22pF the internal circuitry and the various and filtered using a 47µF electrolytic
capacitors are there to provide the parameters used in the software. It is capacitor. ZD1 provides transient pro-

Table 2: Capacitor Codes
Value IEC Code EIA Code
100nF (0.1µF) 100n 104
68nF (.068µF) 68n 683
10nF (.01µF) 10n 103
22pF (22p) 22p 22
Construction
Fig.4 shows the assembly details.
Most of the work involves building
two PC boards: a microcontroller
board coded 549 and a display board
coded 550. These two boards are then
stacked together piggyback fashion
using pin headers and cut down IC
sockets, so that there is very little
external wiring.
Begin by carefully checking the PC
boards for defects, by comparing them
with the published patterns. It’s rare to
find problems these days but it doesn’t
hurt to make sure.
The microcontroller board can
be assembled first. Install the three
wire links first, then follow with the
resistors and diodes. Table 1 shows
the resistor colour codes but we also
recommend that you check each value
using a digital multimeter as some
colours can be hard to decipher.
Fig.4: install the parts on the two PC boards as shown here. Note that Note that the six 470 resistors are
all the electrolytic capacitors must be mounted so that their bodies lie mounted end-on to save space. Take
parallel to the board surfaces (see photos), so that the boards can later be care when installing D1 & D2 as they
stacked together.
face in opposite directions. Similarly,
watch the orientation of ZD1.
REG1 can go in next. It is mounted
tection by limiting any spike voltages 3-terminal regulator REG1 to derive a with its metal tab flat against the PC
to 16V. It also provides reverse polarity +5V rail. This rail is then filtered using board. As shown, its leads are bent
protection – if the supply leads are 10µF and 100nF capacitors and used down at right angles so that they pass
reversed, ZD1 conducts heavily and to power IC1. IC2 and IC3 derive their through their respective mounting
“blows” the 10 resistor. power directly from the decoupled holes. This is best done by slipping
The decoupled supply is fed to +12V rail. an M3 screw through the hole in the
Table 1: Resistor Colour Codes

o No. Value 4-Band Code (1%) 5-Band Code (1%)
o 1 1MΩ brown black green brown brown black black yellow brown
o 2 47kΩ yellow violet orange brown yellow violet black red brown
o 2 22kΩ red red orange brown red red black red brown
o 5 10kΩ brown black orange brown brown black black red brown
o 2 4.7kΩ yellow violet red brown yellow violet black brown brown
o 2 3.3kΩ orange orange red brown orange orange black brown brown
o 3 2.2kΩ red red red brown red red black brown brown
o 2 1kΩ brown black red brown brown black black brown brown
o 7 470Ω yellow violet brown brown yellow violet black black brown
o 1 10Ω brown black black brown N/A

100nF (0.1µF) 100n 104
68nF (.068µF) 68n 683
10nF (.01µF) 10n 103
22pF (22p) 22p 22
Construction
Fig.4 shows the assembly details.
Most of the work involves building
two PC boards: a microcontroller
board coded 549 and a display board
coded 550. These two boards are then
stacked together piggyback fashion
using pin headers and cut down IC
sockets, so that there is very little
external wiring.
Begin by carefully checking the PC
boards for defects, by comparing them
with the published patterns. It’s rare to
find problems these days but it doesn’t
hurt to make sure.
The microcontroller board can
be assembled first. Install the three
wire links first, then follow with the
resistors and diodes. Table 1 shows
the resistor colour codes but we also
recommend that you check each value
using a digital multimeter as some
colours can be hard to decipher.
Fig.4: install the parts on the two PC boards as shown here. Note that Note that the six 470 resistors are
all the electrolytic capacitors must be mounted so that their bodies lie mounted end-on to save space. Take
parallel to the board surfaces (see photos), so that the boards can later be care when installing D1 & D2 as they
stacked together.
face in opposite directions. Similarly,
watch the orientation of ZD1.
REG1 can go in next. It is mounted
tection by limiting any spike voltages 3-terminal regulator REG1 to derive a with its metal tab flat against the PC
to 16V. It also provides reverse polarity +5V rail. This rail is then filtered using board. As shown, its leads are bent
protection – if the supply leads are 10µF and 100nF capacitors and used down at right angles so that they pass
reversed, ZD1 conducts heavily and to power IC1. IC2 and IC3 derive their through their respective mounting
“blows” the 10 resistor. power directly from the decoupled holes. This is best done by slipping
The decoupled supply is fed to +12V rail. an M3 screw through the hole in the

o 1 1MΩ brown black green brown brown black black yellow brown
o 2 47kΩ yellow violet orange brown yellow violet black red brown
o 2 22kΩ red red orange brown red red black red brown
o 2 4.7kΩ yellow violet red brown yellow violet black brown brown
o 2 3.3kΩ orange orange red brown orange orange black brown brown
o 2 1kΩ brown black red brown brown black black brown brown
o 7 470Ω yellow violet brown brown yellow violet black black brown
o 1 10Ω brown black black brown N/A

device tab, positioning it on the PC
board and then gripping one of the
leads with a pair of needle-nose pli-
ers, just before it reaches the mounting
hole. The device is then lifted clear of
the PC board and the lead bent down at
right angles, after which the procedure
is repeated for the next lead.
Next, install a socket for IC1, taking
care to ensure that it is the right way
around. Don’t plug the microcontroller
in yet – that step comes later, after
you’ve checked out the power supply.
IC3 can then be installed, followed by
the capacitors.
Note that the 47µF capacitor near the
speed sensor input must be installed so
that it lies parallel with the PC board
– see photo. Similarly, the adjacent
47µF & 10µF capacitors below REG1
lie over the regulator’s leads. In each This is the fully-assembled microcontroller board. Note particularly how the
case, it’s simply a matter of bending the three electrolytic capacitors are mounted – ie, so that they lie horizontally
capacitor’s leads at right angles before across other components.
installing it on the PC board.
Crystal X1 mounts horizontally
on the PC board and can go in either
way around. It is secured by solder-
ing a short length of wire between
one end of its case and an adjacent
PC pad.
Finally, you can complete the as-
sembly of this board by fitting PC
stakes to the external wiring points
and fitting the 7-way single in-line
(SIL) sockets. The latter are made by
cutting down two 14-pin IC sockets
into in-line strips using a sharp knife
or fine-toothed hacksaw.
Clean up any rough edges with a
file before installing them on the PC
board.
Before plugging in IC1, it’s a good
idea to check the supply rails (note: The pin headers on the underside of the display board plug into the in-line
you don’t need to have the display sockets on the microcontroller board. Take care to ensure that the 7-segment
board connected to do this). All you LED display is correctly oriented.
have to do is connect a 12V supply to
the board and check that there is +5V Watch the orientation of the LED Final assembly
on pins 4 & 14 of the socket (use the display – its decimal point goes to- Work can now begin on the plastic
metal tab of REG1 for the ground con- wards bottom right. case. First, remove the integral side
nection). If this is correct, plug IC1 in LDR1 can go in next. It’s mounted so pillars with a sharp chisel, then slide
as shown in Fig.4 – ie, pin 1 towards that its top face is about 3mm above the the microcontroller board into place.
bottom right. face of the 7-segment display. Once it’s That done, mark out the two mount-
in, you can install switches S1-S3 and PC ing holes on the base – one aligned
Display board stakes at the external wiring points. with the hole in REG1’s metal tab and
Now for the display board. Install The three 7-way SIL pin headers are in- the other diagonally opposite on the
the wire link first, followed by the stalled on the copper side of the PC board lefthand side.
resistors, diodes D3-D5, ZD2 and with their leads just protruding above the Now remove the board and drill
transistor Q1. The three capacitors can top surface. You will need a fine-tipped these two holes to 3mm. Once drilled,
then be installed, along with trimpot soldering iron to install them. Note that they can be slightly countersunk on
VR1 and the 7-segment LED display. you will have to slide the plastic spacers the outside of the case to suit the
Note that the 1µF bipolar capacitor along the pins to allow room for soldering, mounting screws.
is installed so that it lies across ZD2 after which the spacers are pushed back In addition, you will have to drill
– see photo. down again. two holes in the back of the case to ac-

to trim some of the pigtails on the
Parts List display board to prevent this.
The panel artwork can now be
1 microcontroller PC board, code (The hex file is available from used as a template for marking out
549, 78 x 50mm the downloads section of our and drilling the front panel. You
1 display PC board, code 550, 78 website at www.epemag. will need to drill a hole for the LDR
x 50mm available from the EPE co.uk – preprogrammed plus a series of small holes around
PCB Service microcontrollers are available the inside perimeter of the display
1 plastic utility case, 83 x 54 x from Magenta Electronics) cutout.
30mm 2 LM358 dual op amps (IC2,IC3) Once the holes for the display
1 dark red transparent Perspex or 1 7805 or LM340T5 5V 1A cutout have been drilled, knock
Acrylic sheet, 14 x 16 x 2·5mm 3-terminal regulator (REG1) out the centre-piece and clean up
1 4MHz parallel resonant crystal 1 BC337 NPN transistor (Q1) the rough edges using a small file.
(X1) 1 HDSP5301, LTS542A common Make the cutout just big enough so
1 LDR anode 7-segment LED display that the red Perspex is a tight fit.
4 or 6 button magnets (DISP1) A few spots of superglue along the
1 coil former, 15mm OD, 8mm ID 5 1N914, 1N4148 signal diodes inside edges can be used to ensure
x 7mm (D1-D5) that the window stays put.
1 20m length of 0·18mm 1 16V 1W zener diode (ZD1) That done, you can affix the front
enamelled copper wire 1 20V 1W zener diode (ZD2) panel label and cut out the holes with
1 6mm x 25mm steel bolt, 2 a utility knife.
washers and nut Capacitors
6 PC stakes 2 47µF 25VW PC electrolytic Testing
3 7-way pin head launcher 1 10µF 16VW PC electrolytic Now for the smoke test! First, ap-
2 DIP-14 low-cost IC socket with 1 1µF bipolar electrolytic ply power and check that the display
wiper contacts (cut for 3 x 3 100nF MKT polyester shows “-”. If it doesn’t, switch off im-
7-way single in-line sockets) 1 68nF MKT polyester mediately and check for wiring errors
3 PC-mount tactile membrane 1 10nF MKT polyester and solder faults.
switches (S1-S3) 2 22pF ceramic Assuming that everything is OK, you
2 6mm long M3 tapped spacers can test the dimming feature by hold-
1 10mm Nylon spacer or 2 x 6mm Resistors (0.25W 1%) ing your finger over the LDR. Adjust
spacers with one cut to 4mm 1 1MΩ 2 3·3kΩ VR1 until the display dims to the level
1 9mm long untapped metal 2 47kΩ 3 2·2kΩ you want at night.
spacer 1 22kΩ 2 1kΩ Next, connect the leads from the
2 M3 x 6mm countersunk screws 1 22kΩ 1W 7 470Ω ignition coil (or low level input),
2 M3 x 15mm brass screws 5 10kΩ 1 10Ω 1W the reversing switch and the speed
1 100mm length of 0.8mm tinned 2 4·7kΩ sensor. These leads all connect to
copper wire the underside of the PC board and
1 2m length of single core shielded Alternative speed sensor the ignition and reversing switch
cable 1 PC board, code 551, 14 x wires pass through to the base of the
1 2m length of 7.5A mains rated 30mm, available from the EPE case via notches cut in the side of
wire PCB Service. the microcontroller PC board. These
1 2m length of red automotive wire 1 UGN3503 Hall senosr notches are located on either side
1 2m length of black or green 1 100nF MKT polyester capacitor of the adjacent 7-way socket and
automotive wire (ground wire) 1 2m length of twin-core shielded their positions are marked on the PC
1 2m length of white automotive cable board using a fine track outline.
wire 3 PC stakes
1 200kΩ horizontal trimpot (VR1) Speed sensor
Miscellaneous Two different speed sensors can be
Semiconductors Automotive connectors, heatshrink made up, one based on a coil pickup
1 PIC16F84P microprocessor tubing, aluminium bracket, self- and the other using a Hall sensor
programmed with gear.hex (IC1) tapping screws pickup. However, both rely on the
use of an adjacent rotating magnet
assembly .
The coil pickup is likely to be more
rugged and less prone to water damage
cept the power leads, the shielded ca- board and the assembly fastened but the Hall sensor will allow for very
ble from the speed sensor, the ignition together and installed in the case, low speed operation. That’s because its
coil and the reversing switch. These as shown in Fig.5. Once it’s all to- output voltage doesn’t depend on the
holes should be located so that they gether, check that none of the leads speed at which the magnets rotate past
line up with the relevant PC stakes. on the display board short against the sensor. It’s just a matter of water-
The display PC board can now be any of the parts on the microcon- proofing it correctly, using heatshrink
plugged into the microcontroller troller board. It may be necessary tubing and silicone sealant.

Fig.5: this diagram shows how the two PC boards are
stacked together and secured to the bottom of the case
using screws, nuts and spacers. Be sure to use nylon
spacers where specified.
Fig.6: the pickup coil used in the speed sensor is mounted

on a L-shaped bracket that’s secured to the vehicle’s
chassis. Position the coil so that it is no more than 10mm
away from the magnets as they pass, to ensure sufficient
signal pickup. Note that the magnets must all be installed Fig.7: the alternative speed sensor
with the same pole facing outwards – either North as uses a Hall effect device mounted
shown here or South. on a small PC board.
The coil sensor version is shown in

Fig.6. It is made by winding about 400
turns of 0.18mm enamelled copper wire
onto a plastic bobbin measuring 15mm
OD x 8mm ID x 5mm. Use electrical tape
to secure the turns and leave about 10-
20mm of lead length at each end.
Once the coil has been wound,
solder its leads to a suitable length of
shielded cable – ie, one lead goes to
the shield wire and the other goes to
the core. Secure this lead to the side
of the coil with some tape, then cover This is the completed PC board assembly, ready for mounting in the plastic
the coil with silicone sealant (prefer- case. Note that the various external leads are all soldered to PC stakes on the
ably the non-acid type such as roof copper side of each board, with the leads from the display board resting in
and gutter sealant). small grooves cut into the microcontroller board.

Adjustable Parameters For The Gear Indicator
pe
ar
sp
Because each vehicle is different, is
the Gear Indicator requires correct Table 3: Adjustable Parameters th
setup to obtain the best results. Con- Display Speed co
Hysteresis Delay (d) Timeout (-) Reverse (r) Clear (C)
sequently, the unit has been designed Value Pulses (S) st
to cater for up to nine gears and there 1 4 2% 0.1s 0.5s 12V = r* - (-)
are various parameters that can be
2 8 4% 0.2s* 1s 0V = r -
adjusted to control its operation. se
Table 3 shows the details of the 3 12* 6% 0.3s 1.5s 12V = r* - in
various parameters. These are as 4 16 8% 0.4s 2s 0V = r - nu
follows: 5 20 10% 0.5s 2.5s* 12V = r* - co
(1) The first parameter that can be tra
set is the number of speed pulses 6 24 12% 0.6s 3s 0V = r - lo
used to gate the ignition pulses. 7 28 14% 0.7s 3.5s 12V = r* - a
This is adjustable from 4-36 pulses 8 32 17% 0.8s 4s 0V = r - to
in increments of 4, using numbers
from 1-9. The initial setting is for 12 9 36 20% 0.9s 4.5s 12V = r* - sw
pulses but this may have to be varied Note: an asterisk (*) denotes the default value. be
to cater for various speed sensor ca
characteristics. w
(2) Next is the amount of hyster- lower if this tendency is not apparent RPM can vary widely when chang- C
esis for each gear comparison. In and then adjusted back the other way ing gears. (2
practice, this value is made just large until the effect disappears. The initial setting for this is 0.2s sh
enough so that the display does not In practice, you can adjust the which should be suitable for most to
sometimes briefly show the next high- hysteresis over a range from 2-20%. cars. However, depending on the
est gear number. The default value The lower the value the better, since driver, the 0.1s setting may be bet- th
is 6% of the ignition pulse count this gives the greatest range of igni- ter for cars with manual gearboxes. th
and this should be suitable in most tion pulses that are counted for each Conversely, a longer delay may
cases. gear. be needed for cars with automatic w
This value will have to be increased The third parameter is the delay transmissions. va
if the display shows a tendency to between gear changes. Without this You can set the delay to any value ne
occasionally jump to the next highest delay, the display could show the between 0.1s and 0.9s. op
gear. Conversely, it should be made incorrect number since the engine The fourth parameter is the timeout un
Finally, cover the coil with a short and the fusebox will provide a suitable the next magnet and remove it and so
length of heatshrink tubing and shrink connection point. Be sure to choose the on until all the magnets are separate.
it into place using a hot-air gun fused side of the supply rail, so that The magnets can then be attached to
The sealant should now be left to dry the existing fuse is in series. the driveshaft with the marked faces
for about eight hours. A 100mm-long You should also be able to access on the outside.
cable tie can be placed around the coil the reversing switch connection at The magnets should be equally
to secure the lead in place. the fusebox. The ground connection spaced around the driveshaft and can
The alternative Hall sensor is as- can be made by connecting the lead to be affixed using builder’s adhesive (eg,
sembled on a small PC board coded the chassis using a solder eyelet and Liquid Nails, Grip Fill, etc). Covering
551. Fig.7 shows the assembly details. self-tapping screw. the magnets with some neutral cure
Apart from the Hall sensor itself, Fig.6 shows the mounting details silicone sealant will protect them from
there’s just a single 100nF capacitor for the speed sensor. Note that the damage due to stones and other debris
to be installed. four magnets must all be installed thrown up by the wheels.
Note that the UGN3503 Hall sensor with the same pole facing outwards The pickup coil can be secured by
is mounted flat against the PC board – ie, they must all have either their bolting it to an L-shaped bracket which
with the label side up. The connect- north pole facing outwards or their is then fastened to the chassis. Position
ing lead to the main unit is run using south pole facing outwards (it doesn’t it so that there is about a 10mm maxi-
twin-core shielded cable. matter which). mum gap between it and the magnets
This is done by attaching the mag- as they pass.
Installation nets together in a stack. This will Alternatively, you can use a Hall
Be sure to use proper automotive either give an N-S-N-S, etc stack or sensor instead of the pickup coil, as
cable and connectors when installing an S-N-S-N, etc stack. You then mark shown in Fig.7.
the unit into a vehicle. The +12V sup- the outside face of the top magnet and The ignition coil input is connected
ply is derived via the ignition switch remove it from the stack, then mark directly to the switched (negative) side

period. Normally, the ignition pulses
are counted during a set number of Setting The Parameters
speed pulses. However, if the vehicle The various parameters are set by the Store switch to store the value in
is moving very slowly or is stopped, first pressing (and holding down) the memory.
the speed pulses may not reach the Mode switch while the Gear Indicator Once the “S” (speed) parameter
count setting. Instead, the timeout is powered up. The display decimal has been set, the other parameters
stops the count and places a neutral point then lights to indicate that the are selected and set in turn. These
(-) reading on the display. unit is in the “setting mode”. are “H” (hysteresis; “d” (delay); “-”
The timeout parameter is initially The first parameter shown is an (timeout) and “r” (reverse). These
set at 2.5s but can be set anywhere “S” which refers to the speed pulses. are all modified and stored exactly
in the range from 0.5-4.5s, using If the Mode switch is then released, as before.
numbers from 1-9. Its setting is a the display will show the value stored Note that no changes are stored
compromise between showing neu- (from 1-9) after 1s. Conversely, if the until the Store switch is pressed.
tral only when stopped or at a very Mode switch is held down, the other This enables you to cycle through
low speed (long timeout) and getting parameter indicators will appear in the parameters to check their values
a fast neutral indication after coming succession, at a 1s rate. without making any changes.
to a stop (short timeout). The parameter values are altered The last parameter to be selected
The next parameter is the reversing by pressing the Number switch. simply shows a “C” on the display,
switch sense. Setting an odd number Each press increments the number without any value. Pressing Store will
between 1 and 9 (1, 3, 5, 7 or 9) will by one, while holding the Number clear all the gear settings.
cause the display to show reverse button down causes the value to Finally, you exit from the Param-
when the reverse input goes to +12V. automatically increase at a 1s rate eter Mode, by switching off and then
g- Conversely, setting an even number – ie, the numbers cycle from 1-9 reapplying power. The display will
(2, 4, 6 or 8) will cause reverse to and then back to 1 again. When the then show a “-” (ie, the neutral gear
2s show when the reverse input goes required value is selected, you simply indication) and the decimal point will
st to 0V. release the Number switch and press be off.
he This selection is simply made so
et- that the unit shows reverse (“r”) when
es. the reversing lights come on.
ay
ic
The final parameter is “clear”,
which clears all the gear calibration Gear Calibration
values. The gear ranges will then Pressing the Mode switch after calibration. If the car is an automatic,
ue need to be recalibrated. This “clear” the unit has powered up places the be sure to select 2nd gear and drive
operation should be carried out if the unit into the “Calibrate Mode”. The fast enough to ensure that the car is
ut unit is fitted into another vehicle. decimal point will light to indicate this in this gear (ie, not 1st).
mode and the number shown initially The remaining gears are calibrated
will be a “1” (ie, 1st gear). in exactly the same manner.
To calibrate the unit, just follow (3) Once you have calibrated all the
of the ignition coil using a 250VAC these step-by-step instructions: gears, press the Mode switch again
rated cable. (1) Drive the vehicle at light throttle and the decimal point will extinguish.
with 1st gear selected (for automatics, The unit will now revert to the “Gear
Using computer signals
you have to select 1st gear rather than Indicator” mode.
As mentioned earlier, instead of Drive). After a few seconds, press the If you make a mistake during cal-
making you own speed sensor, you Store button and the calibration for ibration, or if the unit is to be used
may be able to obtain the speed signal 1st gear is saved. in a different vehicle, the data should
from the engine management compu- Note that it may be necessary to be cleared using the “C” parameter
ter. This signal is simply fed to the 1kΩ drive relatively fast in 1st gear to before re-calibrating the unit.
resistor at the speed input. ensure that the speed pulses are Note too that if you subsequently
If the car’s speedometer stops counted within the timeout period. change the speed pulses parameter
operating after connecting the Gear Also, with an automatic, be sure to after calibration, the gears will need
Indicator, increase the 1k resistor on drive along a flat section of road with- to be recalibrated. Also, if you don’t
the speed input to 10k and remove the out accelerating to eliminate torque obtain a successful 1st gear calibra
10nF capacitor. converter slip. tion, this gear can be recalibrated
Similarly, you can use the low-volt- (2) Next, press the Number but- after extending the timeout delay. In
age tachometer signal from the com- ton so that the unit shows a “2” (ie, that case, the Store button should
puter instead of ignition coil pulses 2nd gear). Now drive at light throttle be pressed after about 10 seconds
if this is available. In fact, it will be in 2nd gear for a few seconds and to ensure a suitable count for the
necessary to do this if your car uses press the Store switch to calibrate ignition pulses.
several double-ended coils to fire the the 2nd gear. Note that some automatics start in
spark plugs, rather than a single coil. Note that it is not necessary to drive 2nd gear rather than 1st when light
The low-voltage tachometer signal at a fast speed in this gear to achieve throttle settings are used.
should be applied to the low input

549
Fig.8: this full-size artwork can be used as a drilling

template for the front panel. You will need to make
cutouts for the LDR and the 7-segment LED display.
Fig.9 (right): check your etched PC boards 550

against these full-size patterns before installing
any of the parts. The smallest board (ie, 551) is 551
for the optional Hall speed sensor.
Reproduced by arrangement with SILICON CHIP

magazine 2006. www.siliconchip.com.au
due to clutch or torque converter

slippage.
The compromise is that the time
required to count the pulses will be
longer and the display will have a
tendency to show the neutral (-) indi-
cation at a higher speed compared to
using a smaller speed pulses number.
This is because the timeout period will
occur before the pulses are counted at
slower speeds.
Gear change response will also be
slower with a higher speed pulse
count number.
In general, use 16 or more speed
pulses if you use four magnets on the
tailshaft and use 12 or less if you use
magnets on the wheel shaft. Use of
the speedometer sensor signal should
require 28 or more speed pulses but
this may need to be smaller if the
The corners of the two PC boards must be cut away to clear the mounting pillars
response at slow speeds is too long,
inside the case. This should be done before any parts are installed. causing neutral indication at not so
slow speeds.
Note also that using magnets and
terminal on the Gear Indicator (not to The speed pulses setting for the pa- a coil pickup will not provide gear
the ignition coil terminal). rameters can be made a larger value as indication at very slow speeds since
described earlier. This will give more the output from the sensor will be too
On-road testing ignition pulses to be counted and give low to register. The Hall effect pickup
Once fitted to the vehicle, the vari- a better resolution for the differences will be much better at slow speeds and
ous parameters can be set and the unit in counts for each gear ratio. will provide gear indication down to
calibrated as described in the accom- The larger value will also provide where the speed pulse count takes
panying panels. less tendency to show a lower gear longer than the timeout. EPE

T E C H N O - TALK MARK NELSON
AN XMAX TALE
No, not a seasonal misprint but an interesting story of a datacomms
technology that appears to defy the laws of science. Sounding as
credible as Father Christmas, it’s probably just an agreeable myth.
But who knows? Mark Nelson assesses the claims.
HE value of investments, and the doubt if they would get 18 yards, let alone 18
Single Cycle
T income from them, can fall as well as
rise, and you may not get back the full
amount you invest. This familiar and sober
Quoted in The Guardian, the system’s
inventor, Joe Bobier, declares: “While other
modulation schemes take a thousand cycles
miles!
Perhaps I’m overstating my case, but
there’s nothing intrinsically special about that
government wealth warning will ring true to demonstration. In any case, wireless works
to send one bit, we can send a bit in a single
everyone who remembers the trumped-up much better (goes much further) at 900MHz
cycle.” How this is achieved is not revealed
claims made for many high-tech investment than the microwave bands that xMax would
and the website (www.xgtechnology.com)
“opportunities” during the dot-com boom of says that xMax is “a novel modulation and be allowed to use in most parts of the world.
around five years ago. encoding technology that boosts the range It’s an accident of history that the USA has
Although the hype of that era has evaporat- and power efficiency of all wired and wire- the 902-928MHz frequency band allocated as
ed to a large extent since then, every now and less communications. It is not a compression a free-for-all ISM (industrial, scientific and
then something crops up to astound even sea- technique, but rather a synergistic mix of medical) radio band, but this is not the case in
soned observers (OK, cynics) like yours truly. two well-established communication most territories.
And one of them is xMax. approaches that dramatically improves spec-
Let’s first look at xMax and the claims trum utilization.” Flash in the Pan?
made for it, then take a reality check and see If so, it’s doubtful if the system can be So how does it work? The website states
how it might make out. The experimental patented and if a patent is issued, rival com- that at the heart of the xMax solution is xG’s
technology – and it certainly is still experi- panies will be rushing to examine it for “prior Flash Signal technology, using single-cycle
mental – is a wireless broadband system, in art” that they can exploit to bust the patent. In waveforms to transmit information at a
essence no different from the wireless local fact it is well known that publishing a patent minimum effective rate of 1Mbit/s for each
area networks (WLANs) that provide is the best way to lose competitive advantage; megahertz of spectrum utilized in the infor-
localised “hotspots” at airports, stations and far better to bring your novelty to market and mation-bearing channels. This means even
motorway service areas. Small hotspots are leave your competitors struggling while they traditionally weak signals are usable, claims
not what it’s designed for, however, since attempt to catch up. the inventor. “Moreover, because the receiver
xMax aims to provide wide area service to includes a passive wavelet path filter that
whole neighbourhoods. Weasel Words acknowledges only single-cycle waveforms,
all other RF signals are ignored.”
The company states that xMax can be
No New Wires designed to operate at any frequency and it is There’s much more verbiage in this vein,
Fundamentally, it’s a “no new wires” sys- suitable for use on licensed and unlicensed all sounding highly technical but without a
tem. Being wireless, or more accurately, wire- spectrum. These weasel words may entice scintilla of plain “brass tacks” or block dia-
free it does not use phone lines nor does it investors but will not fool readers like you. grams. Pardon my scepticism but as a pretty
force you to subscribe to cable service. Unlicensed spectrum is of course unlicens- good hot air merchant, I can smell the aroma
Telephone exchanges don’t require upgrading able because it “belongs” to other users. of bull with great acuity.
nor does it involve remodelling electric sup- There are of course some licence-free parts of The company also thinks it can brush aside
ply mains to carry data signals. It works by the spectrum but these are already “getting existing radio regulations too; it says that new
radio waves. mighty crowded”. entrants can use xMax to break into the
That’s not new in itself. The UK has seen “By combining elements of traditional nar- wireless broadband market community by
several wireless broadband systems already, rowband systems with key elements found in re-using existing sub-gigahertz spectrum.
most of which have “risen without trace” and wideband systems,” the blurb continues, Pardon me but existing users will not take
then collapsed with even less attention. “xMax delivers broadband data rates orders kindly to sharing their hard-earned alloca-
Remember Tele2 or Atlantic Telecom? No? I of magnitude farther than other technologies tions like this, nor will regulatory bodies
think I’ve made my point then. operating at the same frequency and power coalesce willingly. Protagonists of ultra-
What marks out xMax as something differ- level. Conversely, xMax achieves equal range wideband (UWB) thought they could march
ent, however, are the modulation method and with far less power, thereby improving bat- in and claim this territory – and have failed.
the extremely low power of the radio waves tery life.”
used. Press reports describe a “new low This tells us very little but the reports of the Season of Goodwill
power wireless revolution”, and speak ecstat- demonstration to journalists speak more loud- It’s possible to go on picking holes in this
ically of a technology “a thousand times more ly. The test transmissions were made from the drivel, but it’s just too easy. You doubtless get
efficient than WiMAX” that can deliver a top of an 850ft tower across flat territory the message, and in any case this is supposed
3·7Mbit/s data stream 18 miles using just 50 using 50mW to a gain antenna at 915MHz to be the season of goodwill. Suffice to say
milliwatts of radio frequency power at across an 18-mile path. that the broadband marketplace is already
900MHz. So what? Frankly there’s nothing special pretty crowded and with rates starting to tum-
Even more intriguingly, the system is about that. I used to work Northampton to ble in an inevitable price war to come, who on
based on a 50-cent integrated circuit and can Malvern (a 90-mile path) on the old 934MHz earth would want to get embroiled in a mas-
operate on several different frequencies personal radio band with not much more sive investment to upstage some very well-
simultaneously. The promoters, a startup power than that, using narrowband FM mod- entrenched players?
wireless company called xG Technology in ulation and a 1980s technology radio. The We can be sure that 2006 will bring some
Florida, refuse to release any more informa- only reason it worked was the line-of-sight fascinating developments, but if xMax is one
tion until their patent is granted and have so path and the same applies to xMax. Try their of them, look out for a fulsome apology from
far allowed observers to see only a black box. same experiment in downtown Chicago and I me in twelve months’ time!

Readers’ Circuits
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Simple FM Radio – Euro Set

HILE innumerable circuits for sim-
W ple medium or shortwave radios
have been published over the years, the
former, which is then removed. After that
coil L1 should be stretched carefully and
evenly to a length of about 13mm, which is
to battery positive – see Fig.1) until, at
about the half-way point, a sudden
slight increase in background noise will
author has never come across anything a good starting point for later adjustment. be heard, indicating the onset of oscilla-
similar for the f.m. band. So this is an The tuning capacitor VC1 is one of the two tion. It should then be backed off, very
attempt to fill the apparent gap. It was f.m. sections of a miniature “transistor radio” slowly, until oscillation just stops; it
developed as part of a school project. type, with built-in trimmers (VC2). The should then be possible to tune in some
The full circuit diagram for the Simple “earthy” end (moving vanes and spindle) is stations. The correct frequency range of
FM Radio is shown in Fig.1. It consists of connected to the 22p capacitor C1. The value 87MHz to 108MHz can be obtained by
a regenerative r.f. stage, TR1, followed by of the r.f. choke L2 is not critical, anything adjusting trimmer VC2 at the high fre-
a two or three-stage audio amplifier, TR2 from 1µH to 10µH being suitable. quency (h.f.) end of the band (108MHz)
to TR4. In some areas three stages of a.f. The output is suitable for ordinary and slightly stretching or squeezing
amplification may not be necessary, in Walkman-type earphones connected in together the turns of coil L1 at the other
which case transistor TR3 and its associat- series, i.e. using the tip and ring connections end (87MHz).
ed components can be omitted and the free on the plug to provide an impedance of 64 The radio has been “field” tested at var-
end of capacitor C5 connected to the col- ohms. Several equivalents of transistor TR1 ious locations in three different countries
lector (c) of transistor TR2. worked equally well in this circuit. including England and has always brought
The critical part of the circuit is the first in several stations at good volume.
stage, TR1/VC1, where the wiring must be Tuning-In
kept as short as possible. Coil L1 is formed To operate the receiver, potentiometer Francis Hall,
by winding 8 turns of 1mm (20s.w.g.) VR1 must first be advanced slowly Meinerzhagen,
enamelled copper wire on a 6mm diameter (towards the end of the track connected Germany
Fig.1. Complete circuit diagram for the simple FM Radio

Want to switch on an appliance at dusk Main Features
and off again after a few hours or at dawn?
This sunset switch can do this automatically • Switches on mains power at
preset darkness
level
for you. It is ideal for security and garden • Optional timeout
lighting. • Four timeout selections
By JOHN CLARKE • Manual on and off switching
• 6A mains switching
P athway lights, entrance foyer
lighting, house numbers and out
side security lights all need to be lit
What you need is a sunset switch – a
fully automatic switch which turns on
at dusk and off at sunrise. You prob
at the onset of darkness; ie, sunset. ably also want a timer that switches This gives a total load of 1440W of
Of course you can switch these lights the power off after a few hours (select lights or whatever. The unit is housed
on manually each day when dark able). And we’ll throw in manual ON in a rugged plastic case with a clear lid
ness falls and switch them off in the and OFF switching so that you can which allows the ambient light to be
morning but it is too easy to forget. override the system. detected by the internal light depend
The result is that lights are often left So that’s what we’ve done. The Sun ent resistor. There is also an LED inside
on all day and that can waste a lot of set Switch has all of the above features the box to indicate whenever power
electricity. and can switch up to 6A at 240VAC. is applied.

Fig.1: block diagram of the Sunset
Switch. An LDR monitors ambient
light and this triggers the electronic 3
circuitry when the light falls below
a certain level.
Fig.1 is a block diagram showing when exposed to daylight is around Trimpot VR1 sets the light threshold
the operation of the Sunset Switch. 10kΩ, so the voltage at pin 2 of IC1a for the Sunset Switch. You can set it
An LDR monitors ambient light and in daylight is normally below 1V. from twilight to quite dark.
when the light drops below a certain This is lower than the voltage at pin 3 The output from IC1a is fed via
threshold, the following Schmitt trig- so the output of IC1a will be high. an RC delay network consisting of a
ger changes its output level and this In darkness, the resistance of the 100kΩ resistor and 100µF capacitor.
is sent through a delay. It takes a few LDR rises and so the voltage at pin This delays the triggering of the fol-
seconds before the second Schmitt 2 rises above that at pin 3 and the lowing Schmitt trigger, IC1b, by a few
trigger changes its output level. This output of IC1a goes low. The 100kΩ seconds. This prevents false triggering
delay prevents momentary changes resistor between pins 1 & 3 of IC1a pro- due to sudden changes in light level.
in light level from causing the circuit vides about 200mV hysteresis which Low light levels result in IC1b’s
to trigger. prevents the output from erratically output going high and this triggers the
The second Schmitt trigger clocks switching low and high as the light clock input of the D-type flipflop IC2 at
a flipflop and its output drives a tran- level changes. pin 3. This causes the Q output at pin
sistor (Q1) and the relay. The relay
switches power to the mains outlet.
At the same time, the flipflop starts
the timer and after the selected time
(set via the DIP1 switches) it resets
the flipflop and the relay is switched
off. If the switches are left open, the
flipflop will be reset when the LDR
receives sufficient light to trip the
Schmitt trigger outputs again and reset
the flipflop.
Under manual control, the flipflop
is set (ON) with switch S3 to turn on
the relay and reset (OFF) with switch
S2.
Circuit details
Fig.2 shows the full circuit of the
Sunset Switch. There are just three
ICs and a 3-terminal regulator.
IC1 is an LM393 dual comparator
and both comparators are connected
as Schmitt triggers IC1a monitors the
LDR voltage at its inverting input, This is the view inside the completed unit. Be sure to use mains-rated cable for
pin 2. The resistance of the LDR all 240V AC wiring to the fuse, power switch & mains socket.

MAINS SOCKET
Fig.2: the complete circuit of the Sunset Switch. IC1a & IC1b function as Schmitt triggers, while flipflop IC2 drives
the relay (via Q1) and resets timer IC3 (a 4060 counter). VR1 sets the light threshold at which triggering occurs.
1 to go high. This turns on transistor In this case, the only way the flipflop IC2 is reset at switch-on via D11 and
Q1 which powers relay RLY1. LED1 can be reset is if the Off switch, S2, the associated 10µF capacitor.
lights to indicate whenever the relay is pressed or the ambient light on the
is switched on. LDR increases and causes IC1a and Construction
At the same time as pin 1 of IC2 goes IC1b to respond accordingly; ie, IC1b’s The Sunset Switch is built on a PC
high, the complementary output at pin output goes low and transistor Q2 board coded 547 (138 × 76mm). This
2 goes low and this releases the reset turns on. This resets the flipflop via the is housed in a plastic case measuring
on counter IC3. IC3 includes a free run- 100nF capacitor and diode D10. 165 × 85 × 55mm which has the control
ning oscillator at 1.2Hz, as set by the Manual switch-on is via switch S3 switches and mains socket mounted
components at pins 9, 10 and 11. As a which sets the flipflop so that pin 1 is on the transparent lid. Note that, to
result, the outputs at Q10, Q12, Q13 and high and pin 2 is low. ensure safety, you should use the
Q14 go high after 15 minutes, 1 hour, Power for the circuit comes from specified plastic case for this project.
2 hours and 4 hours, respectively. If a mains transformer with a centre- Note also that everything must be con-
one of the DIP switches is closed, the tapped 12.6V winding. This feeds a tained inside the case – there must be
selected output will reset flipflop IC2. bridge rectifier consisting of diodes no metal screws or other metal parts
This causes the relay to switch off. D1-D4 and the rectified output is fil- passing through from inside the case
Should all the DIP switches be tered with a 470µF capacitor. The 3- to the outside (or vice versa).
open, flipflop IC2 will not be reset by terminal regulator, REG1, provides the The wiring layout and component
the timer; ie, the timer has no control. required 12V for the relay and ICs. overlay for the PC board is shown

SOCKET
WARNING:
LETHAL VOLTAGES
ARE PRESENT ON
PC BOARD
Fig.3: install the parts on the PC board and complete the wiring as shown here. Exercise extreme care when
installing the mains wiring and make sure that all exposed mains terminals are sleeved with heatshrink tubing to
avoid accidental contact with the mains voltages.
in Fig.3. You can begin construction Next, you can install the ICs, taking with the exception of the 10µF bipolar
by checking the PC board against care with their orientation. The DIP (NP or BP) type which can be mounted
the published pattern (see Fig.6). switch and trimpot VR1 can also now either way around.
Check for any shorts or breaks in be inserted and soldered in place.
the tracks and fix any faults as When installing the diodes, transis-
necessary. tors and 3-terminal regulator, take care Table 2: Capacitor
Start assembly by inserting PC stakes with their orientation and be sure that
at all the external wiring points on the the correct transistor is in each posi-
100nF (0.1µF) 104 100n
PC board (8 required), then insert the tion. The electrolytic capacitors must
links and the resistors. be oriented with the polarity as shown 10nF (.01µF) 103 10n

o 9 100kΩ brown black yellow brown brown black black orange brown
o 1 3.9kΩ orange white red brown orange white black brown brown

Parts List
1 PC board, code 547, 138 x 1 black or blue momentary 250VAC 10 PC stakes
76mm, available from the EPE pushbutton switch (S3)
PCB Service 1 7.5A mains cord and moulded Semiconductors
1 sealed enclosure with clear lid, plug 1 LM393 dual comparator (IC1)
165 x 85 x 55mm 1 cordgrip grommet to suit mains 1 4013 dual D flipflop (IC2)
1 mounting foot pack (4) cord 1 4060 counter (IC3)
1 12V relay with 10A 250VAC con- 1 150mm length of 4.8mm heat- 1 BC337 NPN transistor (Q1)
tacts (RLY1) shrink tubing 1 BC557 PNP transistor (Q2)
1 chassis-mount mains socket 1 250mm length of 3.2mm heat- 1 7812 1A 12V regulator (REG1)
1 12.6V 150mA mains transformer shrink tubing 5 1N4004 1A diodes (D1-D5)
with thermal fuse (T1) 1 150mm length of blue 7.5A mains 6 1N4148, 1N914 diodes (D6-D11)
1 M205 mains safety panel-mount wire 1 3mm green LED (LED1)
fuseholder 1 150mm length of brown 7.5A
1 M205 10A fast-blow fuse (F1) mains wire Capacitors
1 DPDT 6A mains rocker switch 1 150mm length of green/yellow 1 470µF 25V PC electrolytic
with neon (S1) 7.5A mains wire 2 100µF 16V PC electrolytic
1 LDR dark resistance 1MΩ light 1 200mm length of 3-way rainbow 4 10µF 16V PC electrolytic
resistance 5kΩ cable 1 10µF bipolar electrolytic
1 4-way DIP switch (SDIP1) 1 100mm length of 0.8mm tinned 1 100nF MKT polyester
6 100mm long cable ties copper wire 1 10nF MKT polyester
1 500kΩ horizontal trimpot (VR1) 1 M3 x 6mm screw
1 3mm crimp eyelets 1 M3 x 15mm screw Resistors (0.25W, 1%)
1 red momentary 250VAC push- 3 M3 nuts 9 100kΩ 1 3.9kΩ
button switch; (S2) 2 M3 star washer 6 10kΩ 4 2.2kΩ
The LDR can be mounted with its In some cases, it may be necessary screws supplied. That done, run
body about 5mm above the PC board. to scrape away the lacquer coating the remaining connections to the
The LED and relay is mounted next. on the transformer mounting foot fuseholder, mains switch and mains
to allow a good contact. Secure socket as shown and use heatshrink
Drilling the case the other side of the transformer to tubing over the terminals. Tie the
Drill out and shape the hole in the PC board using an M3 × 10mm wires with cable ties to prevent
the end of the case for the cordgrip screw and nut. them breaking and coming loose
grommet. When fitted, the cordgrip Next, secure the PC board to from their terminations. Note that
grommet must be such a fit that it will the integral spacers inside the the fuseholder must be a mains
continue to hold the mains cord in case using the small self-tapping safety type.
place even if the cord is pulled with If your plastic case doesn’t have
considerable force. matching integral standoffs, then
Mark out and drill the front panel WARNING you can secure the PC board using
for the mains outlet, switches and fuse- Nylon spacers and Nylon
holder. Then mount the mains socket, This circuit is connected to the 230VAC screws. Do not, under any circum-
switches and fuseholder. stances, use metal spacers and screws
mains supply and lethal voltages are
The incoming earth lead (green/yel- to secure the board – we repeat, there
low) goes direct to the mains socket
present on the PC board. must be no exposed metal screws on
as shown in Fig.3. A second (mains- Do not operate the unit unless it is the outside of the case.
rated) earth lead is then run from the fully enclosed in a plastic case and DO Switches S2 and S3 are wired using
mains socket and is either soldered or NOT TOUCH any part of the circuit 3-way rainbow cable which is sheath-
crimped to a solder lug attached to one when it is plugged into a mains outlet. ed in heatshrink tubing. This prevents
of the transformer mounting screws. Always remove the plug from the mains the wires from accidentally making
Fig.4 shows the mounting details before working on the circuit or making contact with any mains terminals.
for this solder lug. It is secured us- any adjustments.
ing an M3 x 15mm metal screw, two Setting up
Finally, do not build this project unless
nuts and a star washer. Make sure the Before going any further, refer to the
transformer case is indeed earthed; ie,
you are completely familiar with mains warning panel at the left. Set all DIP
check for a short circuit between earth wiring practices and techniques. switches off, plug a test lamp into the
and the transformer mounting. mains socket and apply power. Cover

Fig.4: the mounting details for the
earth solder lug attached to the
transformer.
MAINS SOCKET
Please note that the photos in
this article show an Australian
style mains socket. This should be
replaced with an approved panel
mounting socket suitably rated for
the country of use; ie in the UK a
13A panel mounting mains socket
or an IEC chassis socket.
Reproduced by arrangement with

SILICON CHIP magazine 2006.
www.siliconchip.com.au
A length of heatshrink tubing should be used to sleeve the wiring to switches
S2 & S3 (see text). Secure all mains wiring using cable ties.
the unit and the light should come S1. Set it to on, plug in the test lamp, longer times, swap the two 100kΩ
on immediately. Uncovering the unit apply power and cover the unit. The resistors at pins 10 and 11 of IC3 for
should turn the light off. test lamp should stay on for about 15 larger values. Two 220kΩ resistors
Trimpot VR1 is best adjusted by trial minutes. If this is the case, then you should about double these times.
and error. Switch off power and re- can expect S2 to switch the lamp on
move the mains plug. To set the unit to for one hour, S3 for two hours and S4 Installation
trigger at a darker light level, turn VR1 for four hours. The Sunset Switch should be
anticlockwise. To have it switch on at a By the way, if you have more than installed where it receives outside
brighter level, turn VR1 clockwise. one DIP switch on, say, S2 and S3, it light but must not be exposed to the
Also test the operation of the Off and will give the low setting (15 minutes), weather. It should also be shielded
On switches. Then check DIP switch not the sum of the two. If you want from the lights that it controls,
otherwise it may get
into a “race” condition
whereby it switches on
and off continuously.
Do not drill inside
the case to mount it
on a wall. Instead, use
mounting feet and self-
tapping screws into the
special screw holes pro-
vided on the underside
of the case. EPE
547 Fig.6: this is the full-size

etching pattern for the
PC board. Check your
board carefully against
this pattern before
installing any of the
parts.

PIC N’ MIX
Our periodic column for your PIC programming enlightenment
MIKE HIBBETT
Using SPI Bus Devices

ICROCONTROLLERS, espe- I2C is also a much more complex proto- The SPI bus is just so much quicker
M cially PICs, come pre-equipped

with many useful peripherals
such as serial ports, analogue-to-digital
col and provides support for multiple mas-
ters driving the bus. This means that I2C is
more complex to implement on-chip, but
than I2C. Although the write cycle times of
the devices used were the same, the main
limiting factor in the design was how
converters, non-volatile memory and requires fewer connections when large quickly the processor could read from
more. When specifying a project, howev- numbers of devices are being accessed. memory. In an I2C device the data transfer
er, one often needs to add more, for exam- In an embedded system where you have rate is 100kHz, while in an SPI it is
ple, larger non-volatile memory, or an only a few external devices to talk to, SPI 10MHz. Clearly SPI based memory was
interface to other sensors or controllers. can be a better solution because the proto- the right technology for this design.
col is simpler, and in most cases the trans-
Interface Standards fer speeds are much higher. SPI Signals
Decades ago microcontroller manufactur- There have been many articles pub- Physically, the SPI interface consists of
ers recognised this fact and came up with a lished by EPE that used I2C interfaces three main signals:
number of simple interfaces in an attempt to over the years, and few using SPI. So for ɀ SI Serial Data (into the device)
standardise the way in which microcon- this article we will concentrate on the SPI ɀ SO Serial Data (out of the device)
trollers communicate with other complex bus, and look in particular at interfacing to ɀ SCK Clock Signal (latches data into
integrated circuits. Three interfaces came to two memory devices; the 25C256 32K or out of the device)
dominate the market; the Inter Integrated byte EEPROM, and the 25P32 4M byte
Circuit (I2C) bus from Philips, the Serial flash device. Both devices use the SPI bus As you may have guessed, data bytes are
Peripheral Interface (SPI) from Motorola but operate differently. transferred serially, that is bit by bit with the
and (to a much lesser extent) Microwire most significant bit being sent or received first.
from National Semiconductor.
While other standards such as CAN bus
SPI Benefits All SPI enabled devices have an addi-
tional chip select input, called CS, that is
So why would you want to move over to
exist today for linking circuits together, SPI? What are the benefits? used to enable the device (low level) or
these three standards have dominated the Let’s take an example. EPE recently disable it (high level). Don’t forget that
market for connecting individual compo- published the author’s Speed Camera there is no device addressing within the
nents together. Watch Mk2 (Nov ’05), where we SPI protocol itself, you must explicitly
Philips and Motorola have aggressively described how this was ten times faster enable one and only one device at a time
marketed their standards over the years to the than the original design (Jan ’05). Half of prior to communicating with it.
extent that either or sometimes even both this performance increase was attributed SPI enabled memory devices typically
interfaces are the de facto method for con- to improvements in the processor, but the include two additional inputs:
necting a peripheral device to a microcon- other half was directly as a result of ɀ WP Write Protect – writes to the
troller. Microcontroller manufacturers, from changing from I2C to SPI based serial device will be ignored
Microchip up to Motorola, provide direct EEPROM for the memory. ɀ HOLD Pause data transmission
support for both standards through highly
configurable on-chip peripheral interfaces.
Devices such as low density EEPROM
are supplied by many manufacturers to
both standards; The 24 series of devices
are I2C, and the 25 series are SPI.
However, at around 256K bit densities and
above, SPI parts are hard to find. Then
when you look at large density serial flash
memory, SPI is the dominant standard.
Clearly, if you are going to interface exter-
nal ICs to your microcontroller projects
then you are going to want to have both
SPI and I2C in your design toolbox.
There are also some very interesting
devices that come equipped with an SPI
interface. Microchip, for example, are
coming out with a 28-pin Ethernet con-
troller, with just an SPI interface to the
micro. Maybe now is the time to get inter-
ested in this simple protocol.
Twin Standards
So why do two standards still prevail?
It’s because they actually support two dif-
ferent system design approaches. I2C bus
uses an addressing scheme embedded in
the data transmission to select the device it
wants to talk to. SPI relies on a unique
chip select signal per device, so there is
only one device active at any one time. Fig.1. Interfacing a PIC 18F2420 to a 25C256 SPI Device

HOLD may be hard wired high to dis- Software Requirements ɀ Mode 2 – The inactive state of the
able the feature. The author has yet to dis- So that’s the hardware requirements clock signal is 1. Data is read in on the ris-
cover a use for it! WP can also be hard covered – now to the software. ing edge of the clock. Data is written on
wired high to disabled it too, since most Data is transferred bit by bit in a synchro- the falling edge.
designs will want the device to be pro- nous fashion. This simply means that the ɀ Mode 4 – The inactive state of the
grammable. WP is sometimes used to data signals are only tested for a “1” or “0” clock signal is 1. Data is read in on the
reduce the likelihood of accidental data level when the clock signal changes its level. falling edge of the clock. Data is written
changes, especially during power up and This makes talking to a device very easy in on the rising edge.
power down situations. In most hobby software since, unlike the asynchronous Creating some confusion, these modes
(and many commercial) applications such RS232 protocol, accurate data bit timings are often referred to by the two configura-
use is an over-kill and is normally handled are not required. This means that SPI lends tion bits used by Motorola microcon-
by careful software design. itself very well to “bit-bashing” software trollers, CPOL and CPHA:
Example Connections implementations, allowing the use of very
simple microcontrollers not equipped with Mode CPOL CPHA
Typical connection requirements to a 0 0 0
PIC microcontroller are shown in Fig.2. integrated SPI peripheral modules.
If you can use an integrated SPI module it 1 0 1
As you can see, it’s even simpler than for 2 1 0
the I2C interface as there are no pull-up will always be better to do so as it will require
less code, and much less processor time – you 3 1 1
resistors required. We show the connec-
tions to the PIC18F2420’s SPI port, plus do not need to clock each data bit in. You will need to refer back to this
an output port to drive the chip select sig- To allow for maximum flexibility for information if you are using the micro-
nal. For bit-bashed software any four I/O device manufacturers, Motorola have controllers built in SPI peripheral mod-
pins will suffice. A 100nF decoupling allowed for four different operational ule since you have to tell it in which
capacitor across the supply rails close to modes to be implemented: mode to operate. Individual devices will
the chip is probably a good idea, though ɀ Mode 0 – The inactive state of the support different modes of operation,
not essential. clock signal is 0. Data is read in on the ris- sometimes several. This flexibility is
The distance between the processor and ing edge of the clock. Data is written on confusing, but thankfully that is as con-
the device should be kept reasonably the falling edge. fusing as it gets!
short, say less than 20cm, especially if you ɀ Mode 1 – The inactive state of the
intend to run the interface at high speed. clock signal is 0. Data is read in on the Next Month
The signals will pass through PCB con- falling edge of the clock. Data is written Next month we describe communica-
nectors without trouble. on the rising edge. tion with a SPI device.
PLEASE ENSURE YOU TELEPHONE TO CHECK AVAILABILITY OF

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Surfing The Internet
Net Work
Alan Winstanley
Protect and Survive power: 9^2 gives 81 and 9^4 gives 6,561. For multiplication, use an
Welcome to Net Work – last month I highlighted an anti-virus asterisk as usual: 2*8 is 16. (Use the PC keyboard’s numpad.)
package from the Czech Republic that is proving itself to be a very Percentages too: “50% of 125” = 62·5, Google assures us.
credible alternative to better-known Western software. ALWIL Square roots: use “sqrt 64” and the answer 8 is given. Google
Software’s Avast! Anti Virus claims a 100% detection record and Calculator understands some constants as well: type “pi^2” to
you can download a free version from www.avast.com. obtain the square of pi, 9·8696044. Logarithms and the value of “e”
Registration is free for home users and lasts twelve months – then are understood as well.
simply renew it again. There is now no reason why home users Google can convert units queried in ordinary English. Type “185
should not be shielded against incoming viruses – and protecting pounds in kilos” and it shows an answer of 83·9145885. Enter “13
other users against any outgoing ones. stones 8 ounces in pounds” and Google responds with 182·5
Some ISPs will filter out viruses or spam (or both) before they pounds. “37 miles in kilometres” is no problem: 59·545728. Try
reach a subscriber’s mailbox. In 2003 Demon Internet, for exam- your car’s fuel consumption: “35 miles per gallon in kilometres per
ple, introduced filtering based on Brightmail’s anti-spam filtering, litre” produces 14·8800297.
but after nearly 11 years there is still no virus protection included
on the writer’s “epemag” account, which still costs £141 per year.
A number of commercial third party filtering services are avail-
able that screen out viruses and spam before they can reach their
destination. These include MessageLabs and EmailFiltering, the
latter being a service that I reviewed several years ago when it was
first introduced. This type of service avoids the need to download
viruses or spams to begin with, though using local AV software is
still a wise precaution.
Emailfiltering (www.emailfiltering.com) offered home-based
users an anti-virus and anti-spam service for just a few pounds per
month, and this proved to be an extremely effective and invaluable
service to protect the author’s main mailbox: installing EMF’s filter- Google helps you convert confusing capacitance values
ing service came as a breath of fresh air.
The need for the past tense is because EMF has discontinued its
services for home users as from this month. Depressingly, it has A query of “180 degrees Celsius in Fahrenheit” displays the
been necessary for EMF’s home users to revert to fetching their answer of 356 Fahrenheit. Ask Google “227 degrees Kelvin in
mail in its raw, unfiltered mode. Renewing the old and, hopefully, Celsius” and the result is minus 46·15 degrees Celsius. “50 million
long-forgotten battle against spam and viruses has proved to be as light years in kilometres” shows 4·7302642 × 1020 kilometres. 17
welcome as having to stem the flow in a leaking sewage pipe. EMF knots is 19·5632506 miles per hour.
still offers highly effective filtering systems, but with the more Cap That
profitable enterprise user firmly in mind. Let’s try capacitance, then: type “1,000 nanofarads in picofarads”
Spam Out and the answer is 1,000,000pF, and “1 nanofarad in microfarads” is
0·001 microfarads. Inductance: “1 microhenry in henries” is 1 × 10-6
Spam is a lot more problematic: Demon Internet’s Brightmail-
powered filters seem to do a reasonable job: however, filtered-out Henries. Google struggled with resistance values though.
mails are irrecoverable by users, so whether genuine mails (false Cooks everywhere can learn that “half a cup in teaspoons” is 24
positives) are also being filtered in error is unknown, but the prob- US teaspoons and “three tablespoons in ounces” is actually 1·5 US
abilities are hopefully remote. fluid ounces. Furthermore, “one imperial tablespoon in imperial
Other software-based anti-spam systems include the popular ounces” is 0·625 Imperial fluid ounces.
Mailwasher program, free from www.mailwasher.net and Our American readers may be unaware that US gallons differ
SpamButcher from www.spambutcher.com. There are many more from British (Imperial) ones: “imperial gallons in a US gallon” is
virus, spyware and spam products available at the software portal sites 1 US gallon = 0·832673844 Imperial gallons.
of www.downloads.com and www.snapfiles.com for you to try. How about Roman numerals: “MCXXV in English” shows one
thousand one hundred twenty-five and “1958 in Roman” shows
A Google Convert! MCMLVIII. Binary and hexadecimal: “137 to binary” produces
Google is the omnipresent search engine that strives to provide 0b10001001 (“b” for binary). To convert the hex value ‘df283784’
directly relevant results based on over 100 different criteria. One must- to decimal, try “0xdf283784 in decimal” noting the 0x prefix. (The
have free utility is Google’s toolbar (www.toolbar.google.com), answer is 3,743,954,820.) Binary to decimal conversion:
which is available for MSIE and Firefox, and should be part of every “0b100110101011 to decimal” returns 2,475 as the answer.
serious surfer’s armoury. Google will be the ideal online conversion tool for many, and
Did you know that Google is also a fine one-line calculator and more details of Google’s features can be found at www.google
conversion tool? It has a remarkable ability to answers queries made .co.uk/help/cheatsheet.html
in plain English. Type the expression “37 + 587” into the Google Wishing all readers Compliments of the Season and a happy and
toolbar (or search page) and the answer 624 is calculated. For divi- safe 2006. You can email comments to alan@epemag
sion, try typing 132/11 and the result 12 is shown. Raising to a .demon.co.uk.

Regular Clinic
Circuit
Surgery
Ian Bell
Continuing his response to a reader’s question, our “consultant surgeon” amplifies

gain and impedance calculations in respect of FETs.
AST month we started to address a to look at JFET circuits. Before we get to mutual conductance. Conductance (and
L question on transistor amplifier circuits
posted on the EPE Chat Zone by Alan
the circuits it is useful to consider the fun-
damental differences between the bipolar
transconductance) is measured in Siemens,
symbol S, although it is often written in the
Jones: transistor and the JFET. form A/V (Amps per Volt), or more com-
For a simple, single transistor amplifier, The input to a JFET is basically a reverse monly mA/V for FET gains.
gain equals value of collector resistor biased diode junction so the gate current is Transconductance is sometimes also
divided by value of emitter resistor. If the effectively zero. Compare this with the called forward transfer conductance (gfs).
emitter resistor is bypassed by an elec- bipolar transistor, which has a forward Units of mhos were once used to measure
trolytic capacitor, gain is increased as the biased diode junction as its input, causing conductance, the name is simply Ohm
emitter resistance is reduced to something significant currents to flow into the base. backwards! Mhos and Siemens have the
like 25 ohms. This is a rough approxima- same value, they are just different names
tion but close enough for most purposes. High Impedance for the same thing, but Siemens are part of
My question: does a similar calculation The very high input impedance of FETs the SI standard for measurements.
apply to a simple FET circuit (or a valve is a key advantage, but voltage gains of Typical values of gm for discrete JFETs
circuit for that matter) and what is the FET amplifiers are typically smaller than aimed at amplifier applications range from
impedance value equivalent to “emitter similar bipolar transistor amplifiers. 2mS to 10mS, but higher and lower values
resistance” when a bypass capacitor is However, if source loading is taken into occur too.
used? account the effective gain of a FET circuit
In fact last month we only got at far as connected to a high impedance source may Clarification
looking at the bipolar transistor circuit. We be greater than that obtained using a bipo- Actually, the definition of transconduc-
looked at the fact that the emitter resistor lar transistor. This accounts for the use of tance given above is not quite correct.
provided negative feedback which stabi- FET input stages followed by bipolar tran- The gain varies with the operating point,
lized the transistor’s bias and made the cir- sistor gain stages in some amplifier so it is defined in terms of the change of
cuit’s gain dependent on the resistor values designs. output caused by an (very small) input
rather than the transistor gain. We usually think of the bipolar transistor change. So more strictly, the transcon-
We also saw how by replacing the tran- as being a current amplifier, that is, we ductance of a FET is the change in the
sistor with a simple equivalent circuit we have an input current (the base current) drain current divided by the change in the
could use some basic circuit theory to which controls the output current (the col- gate-source voltage at a constant drain to
come up with a formula for the gain. By lector current). The bipolar transistor source voltage.
making some assumptions about the rela- therefore has a current gain of collector Transconductance is not exclusive to
tive size of different bits of this formula, current divided by base current. As we are FETs, and in fact it is possible to describe
we were able to remove some parts that dividing two currents the gain is a pure bipolar transistor gain in terms of transcon-
had a minor effect and so simplify the for- number and is not measured in any physi- ductance as the variation of a bipolar tran-
mula to the well known RC/RE (collector cal units. sistor’s base-emitter voltage controls the
over emitter resistor as mentioned in the However, for a FET the input is voltage – collector current. So for a bipolar transis-
question). the gate source-voltage – which controls tor, transconductance is the change in the
Next we considered what happens if the the drain (and source) current. The gain is collector voltage divided by the change in
emitter resistor is bypassed by a largish therefore given by drain current over gate- the base-emitter voltage. It is equal to cur-
capacitor. For DC, the bias of RE’s affect source voltage. rent gain over base-emitter resistance (gm =
remains and we still get our bias stability. If we think of Ohm’s law (R = V/I) we β/rbe or hfe/hie in h-parameter terms). The
For AC the effective emitter resistor value see that the ratio of current over voltage collector current is given by Ic = gmvbe.
is very low. The simplifications we made corresponds to 1 over resistance, or con- As an aside, note that as well as
earlier to the formula no longer work. We ductance, (G = 1/R = I/V). So the gain of transconductance amplifiers (voltage in,
have to go back to the full formula and the FET is not a pure number, like bipolar current out) there are also transresistance
apply the new situation. This gives us the transistor gain it is a conductance; howev- amplifiers (current in, voltage out). The
RC/25 value for gain at room temperature er it is not a simple conductance but one gain of a transresistance amplifier is mea-
at around 1mA of bias current in the col- relating the transfer of a signal from input sured in Ohms.
lector path. to output, so it is called transconductance. In Fig.1 is shown the basic bias circuit
The simple answer to Alan’s question is: for an n-channel JFET. The transistor
yes you can do the same thing for FET cir- Transconductance needs a negative gate-source voltage to
cuits, but there are some differences. Alan The usual symbol for transconductance bias it to a suitable operating point and this
does not say if he is specifically interested is gm. The m in the symbol means “mutual” could be supplied by a battery as shown.
in JFETs or MOSFETs, so we have chosen – another name for transconductance is As the gate current is effectively zero, the

Note that the FET equivalent circuit has The output voltage, vo, is equal to idRD
nothing connected to the gate. This reflects (Ohm’s law), so substituting id = vo/RD into
the very high impedance of the gate, which the previous equation and rearranging to
we approximate to being infinity. The open give the circuit’s voltage gain (vo/vi) we
gate node also means no current will flow get:
into the gate when we use this model of the
transistor. For a more detailed analysis, gmRD
particularly if we are looking at frequency Av=
1+gmRS
response, we would have to include the
gate-source capacitance and possibly other
capacitances within the FET. At this point it would be tempting to try
For our purposes here, though, we can to simplify the above formula to RD/RS
make do with a very simple transistor thus making it very similar to the RC/RE
equivalent. Recall that to perform this formula mentioned above for the bipolar
analysis we assume that our signal is so transistor. Unfortunately the relatively low
small that it does not change conditions in value of the FET gm and hence the fact that
Fig.1. Basic JFET bias circuit the circuit, thus we refer to the procedure gmRS is not much larger than one, means
as small signal analysis. Under this we cannot do this. Typical values might be
assumption we can ignore the bias voltages gm = 2mS, RD = 4kΩ, RS = 1kΩ, which
and currents and still get the right answer, would give a voltage gain of 2.
so before analyzing the circuit we set all As with the bipolar transistor, it is possi-
the DC voltages to zero, which means that ble to bypass the source resistance to
power supplies appear as short circuits in increase the AC gain, whilst retaining its
the equivalent circuit used for the analysis. role in providing bias. The circuit is shown
in Fig.5.
Fig.2. Self-biased JFET amplifier
current in RG is also zero and no voltage is

dropped across it.
The gate source bias voltage is therefore Fig.4. Small signal equivalent circuit of
equal to the VGG battery voltage. Note that Fig.2. using the transistor equivalent
circuit of Fig.3 Fig.5. JFET circuit with source capaci-
RG is needed because if the battery was
tor bypassed
connected directly to the gate the gate-
source voltage would be fixed and unable Equivalent Circuit
to respond to the input signal. If we do not want to analyse frequency
The circuit in Fig.1 is not very conve- response, we can replace the coupling If we put RS = 0 in the above formula we
nient to implement, so we turn to the cir- capacitors with short circuits too. Fig.4 get:
cuit in Fig.2, which is referred to as the shows the small signal equivalent circuit
self-biased configuration. Here the gate is for Fig.2, in which the JFET has been AV = gmRD
connected to ground via RG, so to get the replaced by the circuit from Fig.3,
required negative gate-source voltage we Note that vgs is labelled on the diagram. which is indeed the voltage gain of the
use RS. This drops a voltage of RSID, where We have also included RG in the circuit for bypassed circuit.
ID is the drain bias current, making the clarity, although we will not use it in the The gain formulae for both the bypassed
source positive with respect to the gate, so calculation. If the input signal source and non-bypassed versions of the circuit
VGS = –RSID. impedance was comparable with RG it are correct if the output or drain-source
As with the bipolar transistor circuit we would have an impact, but we are assum- resistance of the JFET is much larger (10
looked at last month, we have a negative ing zero source resistance for simplicity. times or more) than the value of RD. If this
feedback situation. An increase in ID As mentioned above the capacitors have does not apply, a more detailed analysis
increases RSID making the gate-source been removed so the input signal source producing a more complex formula is
voltage more negative and hence tending to connects directly to the gate. required. A typical value of JFET output
reduce ID. The input voltage, vi, is equal to the volt- resistance might be 50kΩ, in which case it
age across RS (idRS by Ohm’s law) plus the would be satisfactory to use RD = 4kΩ as
Calculations gate-source voltage vgs. So: in the above example.
We can work out an expression for the Note that the output resistance of FETs is
voltage gain for the circuit in Fig.2 using vi = vgs + idRS. often expressed as conductance rather than
the same approach that we used for the a resistance so instead of 50kΩ the value
bipolar transistor circuit last month. We We can rearrange this to: would be written as 20µS.
start with the equivalent circuit for the
FET, which is shown in Fig.3. vgs = vi – idRS.
Now from the transistor model, id =

gmvgs, or vgs = id/gm, which we can substi-
tute into the previous equation to give:
id = gm(vi – idRS).
Rearranging we get:
gmvi
Fig.3. Simple equivalent circuit model id =
of a JFET 1+gmRs

1 PIC-based
1 Easy to build
1 Changes colour with
temperature
1 Can interface to
other sensors
Got the moody blues? Add some ambient and that of D2 starts to rise. When the input
is at about 0·625V, both D1 and D2 have
sensing colour to your life with this PIC based the same brilliance, and the other l.e.d.s
design! still remain off.
By JOHN BECKER When the voltage has risen to about
1·25V, D1 is fully turned off and D2 fully
I
N Techno Talk of May ’05, reference was The PIC is operated in RC mode, with turned on. As the voltage rises above 1·25V,
made to an ambient-sensing light display its clock rate set by resistor R12, preset so D2 now starts to dim as D3 starts to glow,
known as the “Stock Orb”. It was quoted VR3 and capacitor C3. With VR3 set for until at 1·875V, both are equally bright. As
as being an ornament that glows in various minimum resistance, the clock rate is about the voltage continues to rise, so the intensity
colours depending on a number of external 4MHz or so. The rate is far from critical of the respective l.e.d.s fades up and then
factors. These factors ranged from sensing (also see later). down. This continues until the voltage has
the surrounding temperature, to the ever- Via its analogue-to-digital converter risen to 5V, at which point only l.e.d. D5
changing ups and downs of values on the (ADC), the PIC inputs the signal voltage will be fully on, and all other l.e.d.s will
Stock Market. The concept caused the author produced by a particular source, such as the be turned off.
to slip on his thinking cap, yet again! temperature sensor, though it could equally Depending on the order in which the
The design described here is a much well be just from a manually controlled colours have been arranged in the sequence,
simplified version of what the Stock Orb can potentiometer. In response to that voltage, a so the effective colour hue perceived inside
probably do, using just a handful of compo- bank of five l.e.d.s having different colours a translucent enclosure (a “frosted” glass
nents on a small printed circuit board. As pre- is triggered accordingly so that a particular globe for instance) will change. If the col-
sented, it simply interfaces to a rudimentary colour hue is set to glow. our sequence is as above, and the voltage
temperature sensor and controls five coloured The choice of colours and their order change is progressively from 0V to 5V, the
l.e.d.s. Its ultimate use and interface to other of activation is up to the user, but the displayed colour will appear to change from
sensors is up to the ingenuity of the reader, basic range of l.e.d. colours available is red to orangy-red, orange, yellowy-orange,
although some ideas are given later. typically red, orange, yellow, green and yellow, greeny-yellow, green, bluey-green,
blue, although other colours are available, blue, and around 128 shades between these
Colourful world including white. groups.
The heart of the Ambilux coloured light As the input voltage falls again, so the
controller is shown in the circuit of Fig.1. Basic principle colour-changing sequence is reversed. If
Naturally, it is based around a PIC micro- The maximum voltage range that can the voltage remains static at any point in the
controller, IC1, in this instance a PIC18F242 be processed by the PIC’s ADC, which is sequence, so does the colour at that level.
(or PIC18F252) device – one of the newer accessed in this instance via pin RA0, is
PIC family beginning to show itself in our from 0V to +5V d.c., a range which must Software technique
pages. In point of fact, a PIC16F876 could not be exceeded. The software technique that causes the
just have readily been used instead, although Suppose the input voltage is 0V, the colour response is quite straightforward,
the author chose the 18F device to show software has been written so that l.e.d. D1 but deserves a bit of explanation. The PIC’s
how easy it is to use. Note, however, that the is at full intensity and the other l.e.d.s., D2 ADC is sampled on a continuous basis and
software cannot be used with a 16F device to D5, are turned off. As the input voltage each conversion value can range from 0 to
without suitable code translation. increases, the intensity of D1 begins to fall, 1023 for an input voltage range of 0V to 5V.

Fig.1. Circuit diagram for the PIC Ambilux coloured light
controller. Naturally, it’s based on a PIC microcontroller
– in this case the PIC18F242
This value is 10 bits long, with the MSB

(most significant byte) holding the upper
two bits, and the LSB (least significant byte)
holding the low eight bits.
The value of the MSB when considered
separately can range from 0 to 3. This value
determines which of the first four l.e.d.s (D1
to D4) is to be the one primarily controlled.
The LSB value, which can lie between 0 and
255, determines the duration for which that
l.e.d. is turned on or off.
The control is performed using pulse
width modulation (PWM). The LSB value is
inverted and placed into a counter specific to
the primary l.e.d. (e.g. D1), call it counter 1.
It is also placed “as is” into another counter
specific to the l.e.d. that follows the first (e.g.
D2), call it counter 2.
Both counters are then decremented until
zero is reached. While a counter value is
greater than zero, so its associated l.e.d. is
turned on. If the counter value is zero, the
l.e.d. is turned off.
Because one counter starts off at an
inverted value compared to the other, the
total duration of the loops is always 255
cycles, resulting in an overall consistent
timing pattern.
Suppose, for example, that D1’s counter
is initially set to 255, D2’s counter is the
inverse of 255, i.e. zero. In the 255-cycle Fig.2. Full l.e.d. sequence progressing from an input of 0V up to +5V

loop, D1 will be turned on for all 255 Brightly normal and with Vs = 9V
steps, while D2 is never turned on at all. The l.e.d.s catered for in the circuit of
Suppose, though, D1’s value is 127, D2’s R = (9 – 2·5)/0·02 = 325W (say 330W)
Fig.1 are those which fall into the “normal”
inverse value is thus 128 (255 – 127). Con- to “high brightness” categories, i.e. those Be aware that the ballast resistor value
sequently, both l.e.d.s will be turned on for normally used in a basic design powered needed may be different for different colour
effectively the same duration (within one at 5V. It is also possible to use two l.e.d.s l.e.d.s, even though they may appear to be
cycle), so an equal mix of the two l.e.d. in sequence in any of the five control paths the same type. The values for Vf and If for
colours will be seen. As a third instance, from PIC pins RC0 to RC4. any given l.e.d. are shown in the catalogues
if D1’s value is 63, then D2’s value will be In both cases the ballast resistor value (R1 of major electronic component retailers.
192 (255 – 63), and so D2 will appear to to R5) needs to be that which provides the Note that the PIC can only provide a
be brighter than D1. required current. The formula for calculating maximum current of 25mA from each of
The same principle applies to all the ballast resistor values in respect of l.e.d.s and its output pins. Furthermore, the total cur-
l.e.d.s in the sequence, the primary one control voltages is given by the formula: rent output by the PIC must not exceed the
depending on the value in the MSB. The
maximum limit of 200mA.
MSB has only four possible values, though, R = (Vs – Vf) / If
so what about l.e.d. D5? The principle is still
Super-bright
the same – with D4 selected as the primary, where:
it is D5 which becomes the secondary and The ability to control even the brightest
gradually fades up to full intensity as D4 of l.e.d.s available has been provided, but
R = resistor value in ohms not directly from the PIC’s outputs. As you
fades down to minimum intensity. Vs = supply voltage
A waveform diagram of the full sequence are probably aware, there are some really
Vf = forward voltage drop across l.e.d. super-bright l.e.d.s around now, including
progressing from an input of 0V to one of If = forward current through l.e.d.
5V is shown in Fig.2. such visual wonders as the Luxeon V type.
It is worth appreciating that due to the As component advertiser’s catalogues will
Example: confirm, even these super-brights are avail-
persistence of vision in the human eye, the
l.e.d. brightness will not appear to change able in several colours.
Vf = 2·5V
in such a linear fashion as the triangular Beware that some of these super-bright
If = 20mA
waveform would suggest. The effect is that l.e.d.s can be damaging to the eyes if viewed
Vs = 5V
if, for example, the unit is fed with a slow directly.
but visibly changing sinusoidal or triangular The current required by many ultra-high
therefore:
waveform, an l.e.d. may appear to be on intensity l.e.d.s far exceeds the 25mA that a
longer than it appears to be off. PIC can supply, some types even consume
R = (5 – 2·5)/0·02 = 125W (say 120W)
up to 800mA! The Ambilux, though, has had
an interface provided which can cope with
these high currents, and with an l.e.d. supply
Parts List voltage greater than the PIC’s 5V limit.
These devices are still controlled by the PIC,
1 mono jack socket, size to suit 1 500k (or 470k) min. preset, this time via Port B (RB0 to RB4). Moreover,
2 s.p.s.t. min. toggle switch round (see text) they can be controlled at the same time as those
3 s.p.d.t. min. toggle switch 1 10k rotary or preset (test l.e.d.s on Port C, the same control code being
1 printed curcuit board, available purposes only) written simultaneously to both ports.
from the EPE PCB Service,
Capacitors Interface
code 546;
2 100n ceramic disc, 5mm pitch
1 8-pin d.i.l. socket; The circuit diagram for the Interface is
1 22p ceramic disc, 5mm pitch
1 16-pin d.i.l. socket; shown in Fig.3. The interfacing chip is the
2 22m radial elect.16V
1 28-pin d.i.l. socket; now-familiar device ULN2004A. This is a
1 9V battery and clip (see text); Semiconductors 7-way Darlington driver, of which only five
1 enclosure(s) to suit (see text); 5 standard or high-brightness ways are used. It is an inverting device which
connecting wire; solder, etc. l.e.d.s. colours of choice sets its outputs low in response to high (e.g.
(see text) 5V) voltage levels at its inputs.
Resistors (0·25W 5%)
5 ultra-high intensity l.e.d.s., Each input has its own internal buffer
10 select values to suit l.e.d.s (see text)
colours of choice (see text) resistor and does not need external resistors
1 1k
2 1N4148 signal diode between it and its driving source. It also has
1 3k3
1 78L05 +5V 100mA voltage internal back-e.m.f diodes which are benefi-
1 22k
regulator cial when the device drives inductive loads
1 470k (see text)
1 PIC18F242 or PIC18F252 (but of no importance in this design).
4 10k
microcontroller, pre-pro- The device can be powered at 9V (from
2 100k
grammed (see text) 6V to 15V), allowing it and the l.e.d.s it
1 ULN2004A 7-way Darlington controls to be powered from the same bat-
Potentiometers
array (see text) tery source that supplies the +5V voltage
1 100k min. preset, round
1 TLC2272IP dual rail-to-rail regulator (IC1) on the main circuit. It and
1 47K min. preset, round
op.amp (see text) the l.e.d.s it controls can also be powered
from a separate battery, say 12V.

Note that the device can control up to
500mA of current. Those l.e.d.s which
can accept more than this must be limited
accordingly.
It is also possible to use the interface with
chains of standard l.e.d.s connected between
it and the positive supply line. Whatever the
l.e.d. types with which the interface is used,
though, the ballast resistor values (R6 to
R10) must be chosen to suit the particular
type and its power voltage. Again refer to
the formula given earlier.
Temperature sensor
For the sake of demonstrating how the
Ambilux can be used to provide a colourful
indication of ambient conditions, a simple
temperature sensing circuit has been includ-
ed, although its use is optional. Its circuit On the cathode (k) side, it is connected to ×100 (the ratio of R17 to the total of R14
diagram is shown at the left of Fig.4. the 0V line via preset VR1. The cathode is plus VR2, plus 1). With VR2’s wiper set
Silicon diodes such as the 1N4148 can also connected to the non-inverting input midway, an approximation of the required
be used as temperature detecting devices. (pin 5) of op.amp IC4a. gain can be set, and subsequently adjusted
The basic bias volt- if desired. The resulting output voltage can
age level seen at IC4a then be fed via switch S4 (Thermo) to the
pin 5 can be set by the PIC’s RA0 ADC pin.
adjustment of VR1 Adjustment of VR2 should be made (in
– increased resist- the light of experience) so that the tempera-
ance raising the bias, ture typically experienced in a house can
decreased resistance produce a reasonable range of display colour
lowering it. In this bands. It is suggested that blue indicates the
way a mid-way bias lowest temperature, and red the highest – but
representing, say, a the choice is yours.
temperature of 15°C If you wanted a narrower range, say a
can be set. 10°C swing between 15°C to 25°C, the
In practical terms, calculation is then 10 × 2·3mV = 23mV.
Fig.3. Bolt-on PIC Ambilux Interface circuit diagram
if we take the tempera- The gain then needed is 5000mV/23mV =
ture range we want as 217, thus requiring a feedback resistance of
When a small current flows through a silicon being 0°C to 30°C, the change in current 2170kW, say 2M2W. In this case amend R14
diode, such as the 1N4148, it yields a nearly between the extremes is 30 × 2·3mV = to 1M5W, but leave VR2 at 500kW (a 470kW
linear relationship between the voltage and 69mV. The PIC’s ADC input range is 0V preset may be used in either instance).
temperature with a typical sensitivity of to 5V. The gain required by IC4a is thus
about 430°C per volt (2·3mV per °C). The 5000mV / 69mV = 72. Amplifier stage
equation for computing junction tempera- Preset VR2 in the feedback path between It is perfectly feasible to apply a voltage
ture from the measured diode voltage is the the op.amp’s output (pin 7) and inverting of between 0V and 5V d.c. directly to PIC
straight line equation: input (pin 6) can be used to adjust the pin RA0. However, it is envisaged that lower
op.amp’s gain, to between about ×47 and range voltage levels might be supplied by
Tj = m × Vf + To
where Tj is the junction temperature, m

is the temperature sensitivity expressed in
terms of °C per volt, Vf is the diode forward
voltage and To is the offset temperature.
The current through the diode must be
sufficiently large to establish conduction
in the body of the junction rather than just
a superficial leakage conduction. It must,
though, not be so large as to artificially
raise the internal temperature of the diode.
Generally 0·1mA is taken as the required
current.
In Fig.4 the temperature sensing diode is
notated as D12. On the anode (a) side it is
biased from the +5V line via resistor R13. Fig.4. Circuit diagram for an optional “colourful” ambient temperature sensor

Fig.5. Printed circuit board component layout, wiring details and full-size master for PIC Ambilux. Take care with
component orientation
other sensing device sources. To this end, an Construction required. This must be the most current-
a.c./d.c. amplifying stage has been provided, The printed circuit board component hungry l.e.d. of course. Thus if Luxeon V
via IC4b in Fig.4. This not only provides for and track layout details for the Ambilux are devices are used for control at 500mA, your
a gain choice of ×1 or ×10, as selected by shown in Fig.5. This board is available from connecting wires each need to be rated at a
switch S2, but also a choice of a.c. or d.c. the EPE PCB Service, code 546. little over this, say 1A.
input, as selected by S3. Note that only l.e.d.s D1 to D5 can be Assemble the board in the usual order of
Via the selected path, the input mounted on the board. If other l.e.d.s are to ascending component size, and use sockets
signal from socket SK1 is routed to the be driven via the Interface circuit (Fig.3), for IC2 to IC4. The latter should not be
inverting input (pin 2) of IC4a. The non- they must be mounted off-board in a suit- inserted until the output from regulator IC1
inverting input (pin 3) is biased to a mid- able manner. This will depend on the type has been confirmed to be 5V.
level voltage (2·5V) by resistors R15 and of display you wish to create, and could No specific housing is recommended for
R16. Capacitor C5 enhances the stability even be on an insulated vertical pillar. In the Ambilux. Choose whatever enclosure(s)
of this input. (The same bias level is also this type of instance, the l.e.d.s could be for the controller and its l.e.d.s as you wish.
used by IC4a.) mounted some distance away from the Even one of those paper globes used with
The output from IC4b pin 1 can be routed control board via insulated and stranded low-cost domestic ceiling lights might be
to the PIC’s ADC pin RA0 via switch S4. connecting wires. used. More elegant globes can probably be
The op.amp type shown in Fig.4 is a The wires must be suitable for carrying purchased from a decent lighting shop. Bath-
TLC2272IP rail-to-rail device, providing an the maximum current to be drawn. In this room ceiling light globes come to mind.
output that can fully swing between 0V and context, though, it is worth noting that only
5V on a 5V supply. Other rail-to-rail dual two l.e.d.s can appear to be on at the same Testing
op.amps may be used instead. time. But, in reality, only one l.e.d. is ever Having thoroughly checked the assem-
If you know precisely how you wish to use actually turned on as the software multi- bled board for accuracy of assembly and
the interface in Fig.4, you may prefer to omit plexes the individual outputs from both Port component positioning, and with the d.i.l.
switches S2 to S4, hard-wiring only those B and Port C. i.c.s omitted, connect a meter between the
connections that you want. Furthermore, any Consequently, you can consider the maxi- cathode (k) of D12 (TP8) and the 0V line.
then-unused components in Fig.4 could be mum current required by a single l.e.d. as With power on, adjust preset VR1 until the
omitted as well. being the total maximum l.e.d. current ever voltage reads 2.5V (half line voltage).

Resources
Software, including source code files,
for the PIC Ambilux can be downloaded
free from the EPE Downloads site, acces-
sible via the home page at www.epemag.
co.uk. It is held in the PICs folder, under
Ambilux. Download all the files within
that folder.
As usual with the author’s designs, the
PIC can be programmed in situ via the
TB1 terminal pins allocated on the board.
Ready-to-go programmed PIC18F242
Ambilux microcontrollers are available
from Magenta Electronics.
The PIC program source code (ASM)
exceed the limits of the op.amp or the PIC. was written using EPE Toolkit TK3 soft-
None of them need to be precision sourced or ware (also available via the Downloads
controlled. Whilst slowly changing sources site) and a variant of the TASM dialect.
might be more generally pleasing to the eye, It may be translated to MPASM via TK3
Switch off power and measure the resist- there’s no reason why a sound source could if preferred. The run-time assembly is
ance between IC4a output pin 7 (TP6) and not be used, using the Ambilux to behave as a supplied as an MPASM HEX file, which
input pin 6 (TP7). Adjust VR2 until a resist- simple sound-to-light converter, responding has PIC18F configurations embedded in
ance of about 720kW is set. This sets the to sound amplitudes. it. If you wish to program the PIC your-
op.amp gain to approximately the suggested Steve Challinor showed a few examples of self, simply load this HEX file into the
×72. Now adjust VR1 again (carefully), until possible sensor sources in his Versatile PIC PIC using your own PIC programming
the output voltage at TP6 is about 2·5V. Flasher Mk2 article (Dec ’04). They may software and hardware.
If you warm diode D12 with your finger, need a bit of modifying to suit the Ambilux,
the output at TP6 should be seen to change but they seem reasonable starting points. His
by several millivolts. Both VR1 and VR2 suggestions included a Sound Sensor using
can be slightly readjusted later if desired, an electret microphone, a thermistor-based simple sequencer. It cycles through D1 to
in the light of experience, so that you get Temperature Sensor, an LDR-based Light D5 as described, then at D5, both D5 and
the desired colour change in response to Sensor, and a Movement Detector (which D1 become the controlled l.e.d. pair, and
changing temperature. could be modified to cause different colours the sequence repeats.
depending on a person’s proximity to the If you want to externally set the rate at
Other sensor interfaces sensor – lots of fun for kids here!). which the sequence changes, use a linear
If you wish to test the PIC without the Those of you with PIC program writing rotary potentiometer in place of preset VR3.
Interfaces in Fig.4, ADC input RA0 can be and programming skills could also write A value of 50k rather than 100k might be
fed with a voltage between 0V and 5V by various control routines for embedding better to avoid low PIC clock rates that cause
the test potentiometer, VR4, shown inset into the PIC’s software (lots of code space the l.e.d.s. to flash.
in Fig.1. still available). Indeed if you connect and We’re sure you’ll find plenty of uses for
Any changing voltage level can be applied switch on S5 (Fig.1) you will find that the this unusual display novelty once you’ve
to the Ambilux, provided its extremes do not author has already provided you with a built its basic framework! EPE

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EPE Tutorial Series
TEACH-IN 2006
Part Three – Capacitance. Introducing Capacitors.
MIKE TOOLEY BA
Our Teach-In 2006 series provides a broad-based introduction to electronics for the complete newcomer. The
series also provides the more experienced reader with an opportunity to “brush up” on topics with which he
or she may be less familiar. This month we investigate the theory that underpins capacitors.
Capacitance are polyester, mica, or ceramic. Note that a

dielectric material must be a good insulator Q = CV and V =
Q
The two charged plates in Fig.3.1 form a C
device for concentrating and storing an (it must not conduct electric current) and
electric charge. We refer to this device as a also that it must be able to retain its insu-
capacitor and its ability to store a charge is lating properties when a high voltage is where the charge, Q, is measured in
called capacitance. Put simply, capacitance applied to it. coulombs (C) and the potential difference,
is a measure of the ability of a capacitor to If we plot charge, Q, against potential V, is measured in volts (V).
store an electric charge when a potential difference, V, for a capacitor we arrive at a The unit of capacitance is the Farad (F)
difference is applied. Thus a large capaci- straight line law. The slope of this graph is where one Farad of capacitance produces a
tance will store a larger charge for a given an indication of the capacitance, C, of the charge of one Coulomb when a potential dif-
applied voltage. capacitor, as shown in Fig.3.3. ference of one volt is applied. Note that, in
practice, the Farad is a very large unit and
we therefore often deal with sub-multiples
of the basic unit such as µF (1 × 10-6F), nF
(1 × 10-9F), and pF (1 × 10-12F).
Example 3.1
Determine the capacitance of a capacitor
if a potential of 200V is required to create
a charge of 400µC.
The capacitance of the capacitor
(expressed in Farads) is given by:
Q 400×10-6C
C= = 2×10-6F = 2µF
V 200V
Fig.3.1. Electric field between two
charged parallel metal plates Example 3.2
What potential difference must be
A simple parallel plate capacitor is applied to the plates of a 10µF capacitor in
shown in Fig.3.2 In practice and although Fig.3.3. Charge, Q, plotted against order to produce a charge of 2·5mC.
air-spaced capacitors are used in some potential difference, V, for three differ- The potential difference can be calculat-
radio frequency (RF) applications, the ent values of capacitance ed by re-arranging the expression to make
space between the plates of most capacitors V the subject, as follows:
is filled with an insulating material, known From Fig.3.3, the capacitance is directly Q 2·5×10-3C
as a dielectric. Typical dielectric materials proportional to the slope of the graph, as V= = = 0·25×103 = 250V
follows: C 10×10-6
amount of charge on the
capacitor’s plates
Charge and Discharge
Capacitance = We have already said that a capacitor is a
potential difference device for storing electric charge. In effect,
between the plates it is a reservoir for charge. Typical applica-
tions for capacitors include reservoir and
In symbols this relationship is simply smoothing capacitors for use in power sup-
Q plies, coupling AC signals between the
C= stages of amplifiers, and decoupling supply
V rails (i.e. effectively grounding the supply
rails to residual AC signals and noise). You
from which we can obtain the further will learn more about these applications in
Fig.3.2. A simple parallel-plate capacitor relationships: future parts of Teach-In but, for now, we

plate will be left with a deficiency of elec-
trons whilst the negative plate will be left
with a surplus of electrons. Furthermore,
since there is no path for current to flow
between the two plates the capacitor will
remain charged and a potential difference
will be maintained between the plates.
Discharge
Now assume that the switch is moved to
position C (Fig.3.4d). The excess electrons on
the negative plate will flow through the resis-
tor to the positive plate until a neutral state
once again exists (i.e. until there is no excess
charge on either plate). In this state the capac-
itor is said to be discharged and the electric
field between the plates will rapidly collapse.
The movement of electrons during the dis- Fig.3.6. Growth of voltage when a
charging of the capacitor will again result in a capacitor is being charged
momentary surge of current (current will flow
from the positive terminal of the capacitor
into the resistor).
Figs. 3.5a and 3.5b respectively show the
direction of current flow when the capacitor
is being charged (switch in position B) and
discharged (switch in position C). It should be
noted that, even though the circuit is appar-
ently broken by the gap between the capaci-
tor plates, current flows momentarily when
the capacitor is charged and discharged.
Fig.3.7. Decay of current when capacitor

is being charged
Fig.3.4. Charging and discharging a

capacitor
will concentrate our efforts on explaining

how a capacitor works and what it does!
Consider the arrangement shown in
Fig.3.4. If the switch is left open (position
A – see Fig3.4a), no charge will appear on
the plates and in this condition there will be Fig.3.5. Current flow during charging
no electric field in the space between the and discharging
plates nor will there be any charge stored in Fig.3.8. Decay of voltage when a
the capacitor. When a capacitor is being charged (as capacitor is being discharged
When the switch is moved to position B shown in Fig.3.5a) the voltage across the
(Fig.3.4b), electrons will be attracted from capacitor, VC, will rise exponentially as When the capacitor is charging, the
the positive plate to the positive terminal of shown in Fig.3.6. Eventually the voltage capacitor voltage will rise to approximately
the battery. At the same time, a similar will become almost equal to (but never 63% of the supply voltage in a time interval
number of electrons will move from the quite the same as) the supply voltage, VS. equal to the time constant (CR). At the end
negative terminal of the battery to the neg- At the same time, the current flowing in the of the next interval of time equal to the time
ative plate. This sudden movement of elec- circuit, i, will fall, as shown in Fig.3.7. constant (i.e. after an elapsed time equal to
trons will manifest itself in a momentary Note that the initial value of current (at t = 2CR) the voltage will have risen by 63% of
surge of current (conventional current will 0) will be given by VS/R. the remainder, and so on. In theory, the
flow from the positive terminal of the bat- The rate of growth of voltage with time capacitor will never quite become fully
tery towards the positive terminal of the and decay of current with time is dependent charged. However, after a period of time
capacitor). upon the product of capacitance, C, and equal to 5CR, the capacitor voltage will to
Eventually, enough electrons will have resistance, R. This value is known as the all intents and purposes be equal to the sup-
moved to make the e.m.f. between the time constant of the circuit. Hence: ply voltage. At this point the capacitor volt-
plates the same as that of the battery. In this age will have risen to 99.3% of its final
state, the capacitor is said to be charged Time constant, t = C × R value and we can consider it to be fully
and an electric field will be present in the charged.
space between the two plates. where C is the value of capacitance (in F), When a capacitor is being discharged
If, at some later time the switch is moved R is the resistance (in Ω), and t is the time (as shown in Fig.3.5b) the voltage across
back to position A (Fig.3.4c), the positive constant (in s). the capacitor, VC, will fall exponentially

Table 3.1. Determining Voltage and Current in a CR Circuit Some typical capacitor dielectric materi-
t k (fraction of final value) als and relative permittivity are given in
Table 3.2.
CR Exponential growth Exponential decay
0·0 0·0000 1·0000 Example 3.5
0·1 0·0951 0·9048 Two parallel metal plates, each of area
0·2 0·1812 0·8187 (see example) 0·2m2 are separated by an air gap of
0·3 0·2591 0·7408 1mm. Determine the capacitance of this
0·4 0·3296 0·6703 arrangement.
0·5 0·3935 0·6065
0·6 0·4511 0·5488 Here we must use the formula:
0·7 0·5034 0·4965 ε0εrA
0·8 0·5506 0·4493 C=
d
0·9 0·5934 0·4065
1·0 0·6321 0·3679 where A = 0·2m2, d = 1 × 10-3m, εr = 1, and
1·5 0·7769 0·2231 ε0 = 8·854 × 10-12 F/m.
2·0 0·8647 0·1353
2·5 0·9179 0·0821 Hence:
3·0 0·9502 0·0498 8·854×10-12×1×0.2 1·7708×10-12
3·5 0·9698 0·0302 C= =
1×10 -3 1×10-3
4·0 0·9817 0·0183
-9
= 1·7708×10 F = 1·7708nF
4·5 0·9889 0·0111
5·0 0·9933 0·0067
Example 6
A capacitor of 100pF is required. If a
as shown in Fig.3.8. At the same time, the
current flowing in the circuit, i, will fall, Check Point 3.1 dielectric material of thickness 0·5mm and
relative permittivity 5 is available, deter-
as shown previously in Fig.3.7. Note that
The time constant of a C-R circuit is mine the required plate area.
the initial value of current is once again
Vs/R. the product of the capacitance, C, and
resistance, R. Solution
The current will fall to approximately
37% of the initial current in a time equal
Re-arranging the formula
to the time constant. At the end of the
next interval of time equal to the time Check Point 3.2 ε0εrA
C=
constant (i.e. after a total time of 2CR d
has elapsed) the current will have fallen The voltage across the plates of a to make A the subject gives:
by a further 37% of the remainder, and charging capacitor grows exponentially
so on. at a rate determined by the time constant
In order to avoid the some of the more of the circuit. Conversely, the voltage Cd 100×10-12×0.5×10-3
A= = =
difficult mathematics concerned with expo- across the plates of a discharging capac- ε0εr 8·854×10-12×5
nential growth and decay, Table 3.1 pro- itor decays exponentially at a rate deter-
vides a simple method that may be used to mined by the time constant of the circuit. 50×10-15
determine the voltage and current in a C-R = 1/129×10-3m2
circuit. The use of this table is illustrated in 44·27×10-12
Example 3.3. Factors Determining
Capacitance thus A = 1·129×10-3 m2
Example 3.3 The capacitance of a capacitor depends or 11·29×10-4 m2 = 11·29 cm2
A 100µF capacitor is charged to a poten- upon the physical dimensions of the capac-
tial of 50V. The capacitor is then removed itor (i.e., the size of the plates and the sep- In order to increase the capacitance of a
from the charging source and connected to aration between them) and the dielectric capacitor, many practical components
a 1MΩ resistor. Determine the capacitor material between the plates. The capaci- employ interleaved multiple plates (see
voltage 20 seconds later. tance of a conventional parallel plate Fig. 3.9a) in which case the capacitance is
capacitor is given by: then given by:
First we need to find the time constant:
ε0εrA
C × R = 100µF × 1MΩ = 100s C= ε0εr(n-l)A
d C=
d
(note that the time constant will be in sec-
where C is the capacitance (in Farads), ε0 is
onds whenever we work in units of µF and
the permittivity of free space, εr is the rela- where C is the capacitance (in Farads),
MΩ)
tive permittivity (or dielectric constant) of ε0 is the permittivity of free space, εr is the
the dielectric medium between the plates), relative permittivity of the dielectric medi-
Next we find the ratio of t to CR. After
A is the area of the plates (in square um between the plates), n is the number of
20 seconds the ratio of t to CR is:
metres), and d is the separation between the plates, A is the area of the plates (in square
plates (in metres). The permittivity of free metres), and d is the separation between the
t 20 space, ε0, is 8·854 × 10-12 F/m. plates (in metres).
CR = 100 = 0·2
Table 3.2. Relative Permittivity of Typical Dielectric Materials
Referring to Table 3.1 we find that when Dielectric material Relative permittivity(Free space = 1)
t/CR = 0·2, the value of k for decay is Vacuum 1
0·8187. Air 1.0006 (i.e. 1!)
Polythene 2.2
Thus: Paper 2 to 2.5
Vc Epoxy resin 4.0
= 0·8187 Mica 3 to 7
Vs
Glass 5 to 10
or Porcelain 6 to 7
Aluminium oxide 7
Vc = 0·8187 × 50 = 40·935V Ceramic materials 15 to 500

Here are a few questions for you to try: Working voltages
are related to operat-
ing temperatures
Questions 3.1 and capacitors must
Q3.1. An initially uncharged 10µF be de-rated at high
capacitor is charged through a 2MΩ temperatures.
resistor from a 15V supply. What voltage Where reliability is
will appear across the capacitor 10 sec- important capacitors
onds after the supply is connected? should be operated
at well below their
Q3.2. In Question Q3.1, what will the nominal maximum
initial value of current be when the sup- working voltages.
ply is first connected? Where the voltage
rating is expressed
Q3.3. In Question Q3.1, what current in terms of a direct
will be flowing 40 seconds after the sup- voltage (e.g. 250V
ply is first connected? DC) unless other-
wise stated, this is
Q3.4. Two parallel metal plates, each related to the maxi-
of area 0·1m2 are separated by a dielec- mum working tem-
tric material having a relative permittivi- perature. It is,
ty of 200 and a thickness of 0·5mm. however, always
Determine the capacitance of this wise to operate
arrangement. capacitors with a
considerable margin
for safety which also
Introducing Capacitors helps to ensure long Fig.3.9. Capacitor construction
The specifications for a capacitor usual- term reliability. The
ly include the value of capacitance author’s own rule of thumb is that the
(expressed in µF, nF, or pF), the voltage rat- working DC voltage of a capacitor should Check Point 3.3
ing (i.e. the maximum voltage which can be be no more than about 50% to 60% of its
continuously applied to the capacitor under rated DC voltage. The specifications for a capacitor usu-
a given set of conditions), and the accuracy Where an AC voltage rating is specified ally include the value of capacitance
or tolerance (quoted as the maximum per- this is normally for sinusoidal operation. (expressed in µF, nF or pF), the accuracy
missible percentage deviation from the Performance will not be significantly or tolerance of the marked value (quoted
marked value). affected at low frequencies (up to 100kHz, as the maximum permissible percentage
Other practical considerations when or so) but, above this, or when non-sinu- deviation from the marked value), the
selecting capacitors for use in a particular soidal (e.g. pulse) waveforms are involved voltage rating (which must be equal to,
application include temperature coeffi- the capacitor must be de-rated in order to or greater than, the maximum expected
cient, leakage current, stability and ambi- minimise dielectric losses that can produce voltage applied to the capacitor). The
ent temperature range. Electrolytic internal heating and lack of stability. temperature coefficient and stability are
capacitors require the application of a DC Special care must be exercised when also important considerations when a
polarising voltage in order to work proper- dealing with high-voltage circuits as large capacitor is used in some applications.
ly. This voltage must be applied with the value electrolytic and metalised film capac-
correct polarity (invariably this is clearly itors can retain an appreciable charge for
marked on the case of the capacitor) with some considerable time. In the case of
a positive (+) sign or negative (–) sign or a components operating at high voltages, a Capacitor Markings and
coloured stripe or other marking. Failure carbon film bleed resistor (of typically Colour Codes
to observe the correct polarity can result in 1MΩ 0·5W) is often connected in parallel The vast majority of capacitors employ
over-heating, leakage, and even a risk of with the capacitor to provide a discharge written markings which indicate their val-
explosion! path. ues, working voltages, and tolerance. The
The typical specifications for some com- Some typical small capacitors are shown most usual method of marking resin dipped
mon types of capacitor are shown in Table 3.3. in Photos 3.1 to 3.3. polyester (and other) types of capacitor
Table 3.3. Typical Capacitor Specifications

Capacitor type Ceramic dielectric Electrolytic Metalised film Mica dielectric Polyester dielectric
Capacitance 2.2pF to 100nF 100nF to 68mF 1µF to 16µF 2.2pF to 10nF 10nF to 2.2µF
range
Typical ±10% and ±20% -10% to +50% ±20% ±1% ±20%

tolerance
Voltage 50V to 250V 6.3V to 400V 250V to 600V 350V 250V

rating
Temperature +100 to -4700 ppm/°C +1000 ppm/°C +100 to +200 ppm/°C +50 ppm/°C +250 ppm/°C
coefficent
Stability Fair Poor Fair Excellent Good
Temperature -85°C to +85°C -40°C to +85°C -25°C to +85°C -40°C to +85°C -40°C to +100°C
range
Typical General purpose Power supplies High-voltage Oscillators, General purpose

applications power supplies tuned circuits

Photo 3.1. Various non-electrolytic capacitors with values ranging from 15pF to Photo 3.3. An airspaced variable
470nF and voltage ratings from 50V to 250V capacitor used for tuning a radio
receiver. This component is a dual-
gang type that has two separate sec-
tions, each of which is variable over the
range 5pF to 365pF
Fig.3.12. Two capacitors in series
Photo 3.2. Various electrolytic capacitors with values ranging from 1µF to 470µF
and voltages ratings from 10V to 63V
involves quoting the value (in µF, nF or The colour code shown in Fig.3.11 is
pF), the tolerance (often either 10% or used for some small ceramic and polyester
20%), and the working voltage (using _ types of capacitor. Note, however, that this
and ~ to indicate DC and AC respectively). colour code is not as universal as that used
Several manufacturers use two separate for resistors and that the values are marked
lines for their capacitor markings and these in pF (not F).
have the following meanings:
Capacitors in Series and
First line: capacitance (in pF or µF) and Parallel
tolerance (K=10%, M=20%) In order to obtain a particular value of
capacitance, fixed capacitors may be
Second line: rated DC voltage and code arranged in either series (Fig.3.12) or
for the dielectric material. parallel (Fig.3.13). Fig.3.13. Two capacitors in parallel
A three-digit code is sometimes used to

mark monolithic ceramic capacitors. The
first two digits correspond to the first two
digits of the value whilst the third digit is a
multiplier that gives the number of zeroes
to be added to give the value in pF. Some
typical capacitor markings, with their cor-
responding values, are shown in Fig.3.10.
Fig.3.11. Capacitor colour code chart

Fig.3.10. Some typical capacitor markings

When two capacitors are connected in
series (Fig.3.12) the capacitance of the
series circuit is given by:
1 1 1
= +
C C1 C2
This can be arranged to give the slightly
more convenient expression:
C1×C2
C=
C1+C2
Note that this particular expression is
only correct for two capacitors. It cannot
be extended for three or more!
Fig.3.14. See question Q3.5

Check Point 3.4
Practical
The reciprocal of the equivalent
capacitance of a number of capacitors
Investigation
connected in series can be found by sim- 3.1
ply adding together the reciprocals of Objective: To inves-
the individual values of capacitance. tigate the charge and
When only two capacitors are connected discharge of a capacitor.
in series it can be found by taking the Components and
product of the two capacitance values materials: Breadboard,
and dividing it by the sum of the two 9V DC power source
capacitance values (in other words, (either a PP9 9V battery
product over sum). or an AC mains adapter
with a 9V 400mA DC
output), digital multi-
meter with test leads,
When two capacitors are connected in resistors of 100kΩ,
parallel (Fig.3.13) the capacitance of the 220kΩ and 47kΩ,
parallel circuit is given by: capacitor of 470µF,
insulated wire links
C = C1 + C2 (various lengths),
assorted crocodile leads,
short lengths of black,
red, and green insulated
Check Point 3.5 solid wire. A watch or
clock with a seconds
The equivalent capacitance of a num- display will also be
ber of capacitors connected in parallel required for timing.
can be found by simply adding together
the individual values of capacitance. Circuit diagram:
See Fig.3.15
Example 7 Wiring diagram:
Capacitors of 2·2µF and 6·8µF are con- See Fig.3.16 Fig.3.15. Circuit diagrams for the Practical Investigation 3.1
nected (a) in series and (b) in parallel.
Determine the equivalent value of capaci-
tance in each case. Fig.3.16. Wiring diagram for the
Solution Charge/Discharge Practical
(a) Here we can use the simplified equa- Investigation
tion for just two capacitors connected in
series:
C1×C2 2·2×6·8 14·96
C= = = =
C1+C2 2·2+6·8 9
1·66µF
(b) Here we use the formula for two

capacitors connected in parallel:
C = C1 + C2 = 2·2 + 6·8 = 9µF
Questions 3.2
Q3.5. Determine the equivalent
capacitance of each of the circuits shown
in Fig.3.14.
Q3.6. Three 10µF capacitors are avail-

able. What values can be produced by
connecting these components in differ-
ent series/parallel arrangements?

Table 3.4 Table 3.7
Step Connection, link or component From To Time (s) Capacitor voltage (V)
1 -9V supply -9V Black terminal Charging Discharging
2 +9V supply +9V Red terminal 0
3 Black wire Black terminal -31 10
4 Red wire Red terminal +31 20
5 Green wire Green terminal A3 30
6 100kΩ C3 C7 40
7 470µF B7 B11 50
8 Yellow link A11 -11 60
9 Meter positive V (Red) D7 70
10 Meter negative COM (Black) D11 80
90
120
Table 3.5 150
180
Step Connection, link or component From To 210
240
11 Wire link Red terminal Green terminal
12 Shorting link (remove to start timing) E7 E11
the shorting link in place. Now remove the
shorting link, start timing and record the
charging capacitor voltage at the time
Table 3.6 intervals shown in Table 3.7.
Step Connection, link or component From To Switch off (or disconnect the battery)
and disconnect the circuit as described in
13 Wire link Black terminal Green terminal Step 13. Start timing as soon as the link is
reconnected (you will need to do this fair-
(connect to start timing) ly quickly so as not to lose any charge).
Record the discharging capacitor voltage at
the time intervals shown in Table 3.7.
Procedure: The required breadboard Connect the circuit as shown in Fig.3.16 If time permits, repeat the investigation
wiring is shown in Table 3.4. and the links as described in Steps 11 and with R = 220kΩ and R = 47kΩ.
12. Before switching on the DC supply or
To carry out the charging investigation connecting the battery, check that the Measurements:
(Fig.3.15a) see Table 3.5. meter is set to the 200V DC voltage range. Plot graphs of voltage (on the vertical
Switch on (or connect the battery) then axis) against time (on the horizontal axis)
To carry out the discharging investiga- switch the multimeter on and read the using the graph sheet shown in Fig.3.17.
tion (Fig.3.15b) see Table 3.6. capacitor voltage. This should be zero with
Conclusion:
Comment on the shape of the two
graphs. Is this what you would expect?
Calculate the time constant and mark this
on your graph. Compare your results with
the graphs shown in Figs.3.6 and 3.8.
Answers
Q.3.1. 5.9V
Q.3.2. 7.5µA
Q.3.3. 1.01µA
Q.3.4. 354nF
Q.3.5. 1.33µF, (b) 80n, (c) 249pF
Q.3.6. 3·33µF, 5µF, 6.67µF, 10µF,
15µF, 20µF, 30µF
Next Month
In Part 4, next month, we shall be intro-
ducing inductors, transformers and diodes
and investigating power supply circuits. In
the meantime you might like to see how
you get on with our on-line quiz for
Part 3. You will find this at: www.mike-
tooley.info/teach-in/quiz3.htm
Correction Part 2 Dec ’05
In Example 2.2, the formula used to
solve this problem should be as follows:
–0·5 –I = 0 thus I = –0·5
The negative answer tells us that I is flow-

ing in the opposite direction to that which
we assumed in Fig.2.7.
Fig.3.17. Graph sheet for plotting the results of the Charge/Discharge Practical In other words, the unknown current, I, is
Investigation 0·5A flowing towards the junction.

PRACTICALLY SPEAKING
Robert Penfold looks at the Techniques of Actually Doing It!
T HE subject of producing front panel

overlays and labels using a comput-
er and a printer is a subject that has
used for producing labels and panels, it
is less than ideal for the present applica-
tion. Image editing and “paint” programs
than complete panel overlays. Even the
most basic of word processors can
handle a wide range of text sizes using
been covered in EPE in the past, and it work with bitmaps, but vector graphics all the installed fonts. The simple word
usually produces a fair amount of inter- programs are better suited to the pro- processor built into Windows
est from readers. This is not really sur- duction of things like panel designs, (WordPad) is perfectly adequate for this
prising. Many of the more traditional technical drawings, and diagrams. type of thing. It is launched by going to
methods of labelling panels have Vector graphics programs are usually in the Start menu and selecting
become obsolete or are difficult to use the guise of CAD (computer aided Accessories and the WordPad from the
due to the limited availability of the design) and illustration programs. sub-menu that appears.
materials required. The way things are CAD programs are intended for pro-
going there will soon be no real alter- ducing technical drawings such as cir- Cheap or Free
native to using a hi-tech method such cuit diagrams, machine parts, and Illustration and CAD software tends
as a computer based system or an architectural plans. Any reasonably to be aimed at professional users,
electronic label maker. modern CAD program that runs under which means that much of it is quite
Windows should be able to handle the expensive. AutoCAD is the industry
Professional Touch full range of installed fonts (lettering standard CAD program, and even in its
Of course, even if all the traditional styles) and produce printouts that are cut down “LT” version it costs hundreds
methods were still going strong, there scaled accurately. This makes them of pounds. Corel Draw is probably the
would still be big advantages in using well suited to the production of labels most widely used illustration program,
a computer. Perhaps the most impor- and front panel overlays. and as part of a graphics suite it is a
tant advantage is that it is much In general though, illustration soft- comparative snip at a few hundred
easier to produce professional look- ware is the better choice. Programs of pounds.
ing results using a computer based this type are specifically designed for Probably the most realistic “big
system. In a similar vein, because the use by graphic designers, and often name” option is Corel Draw Essentials
tasks are generally much easier have features that enable text to be 2 at about £50 plus VAT. According
using a computer, you can go that manipulated in clever and unusual to the Corel UK web site
much further and produce dials, sym- ways. www.corel.co.uk this now includes
bols, etc., that you could not tackle An illustration program is therefore Corel Draw 11, which is only one ver-
using traditional methods. better if you wish to be artistic and “do sion down from the latest version, and
Comparing the costs of the old and your own thing”. Try not to get carried is the one that the author sometimes
new methods is difficult, but there away though. It is very easy to pro- uses. This is definitely a bargain, but it
seems to be no major difference. Both duce a design that uses a range of can be difficult to track down a source
methods can be very cheap or quite clever effects, but is confusing rather that actually has it in stock.
expensive depending on the type and than helpful to those using the fin- Any recent version of Corel Draw has
quality of the end result. However, this ished piece of equipment. Although a fairly straightforward user interface
assumes that you have access to a more limited in scope, a simple CAD (see Fig.1) and does not look very
suitable computer and printer. Even program is probably a more practical intimidating. The same is true of other
with the relatively low cost of modern choice if you are only interested in high-end illustration programs such as
computer hardware, producing panels producing simple and straightforward Adobe Illustrator, but make no mistake,
using a computer is unlikely to be a panel designs. these are powerful programs that have
practical proposition if you do not It is not necessary to use a drawing a huge number of features.
already own suitable equipment. problem at all if you will only undertake It requires a bit of effort to master the
Past experience suggests that it is the production of simple labels rather basics of these programs, and a fair
not the printing and fitting of amount of time and effort to
computer labels and panels really get to grips with the
that causes the main prob- more advanced features. It
lem for newcomers to this pays to bear in mind that
method of panel produc- these programs have
tion. This aspect of things is sophisticated undo facili-
fairly low-tech, and a little ties so that you can go
bit of ingenuity will usually back a number of steps if
crack any problems that things go badly awry!
arise. The main problem
is in finding suitable Cost Conscious
design software that is Even £50 or so is a fair
free or reasonably cheap. amount of money for soft-
Unfortunately, a drawing ware that will only be used
program of an appropriate to design and print front
type is not the type of thing panels for projects.
that is likely to come as However, there are very
standard with a typical PC. low cost and free alterna-
tives.
Graphic Illustration While these will not give
These days many PC the full range of features
users have graphics pro- available from expensive
grams that are primarily illustration software, they
intended for enhancing digi- Fig.1. Programs such as Corel Draw are deliberately designed should still enable perfectly
tal photographs. While most to have an uncomplicated user-interface. Do not be fooled good front panel designs to
software of this type can be though, as the range of facilities available is truly vast be produced.

The large computer stores usually QuickTours shows you how to add restricted to simple solid fills. A graduat-
have displays of cheap software that is objects onto a drawing and edit them, ed fill can be used, as in the example
often something less than fully up-to- how to manipulate text, and so on. panel design in Fig.3.
date but still perfectly usable. There There is obviously no printed manual
should be at least one CAD program or with a program that is a free download, Transparently Obvious
some other type of drawing software on and there is no PDF version either. When two objects overlap, one of
offer. Consequently, the QuickTours are more them will be on top and fully visible
than a little useful. DrawPlus 4.0 also while the other will be to the rear and
Freebies has a comprehensive Help system that at least partially obscured by the
A few years ago there were plenty of is fully functional. other. In Fig.3 the text and “holes”
free drawing programs available, When the program is used in are on top, and the panel is
including free versions of some power- earnest for the first time you must behind. Options in the Arrange menu
ful CAD programs. Unfortunately, the select a page size. This will usually be enable the order of objects to be
free versions of programs such as the default paper size of the printer. controlled. Using the facilities of the
TurboCAD and IntelliCAD seem to have You are then taken into the program, Transparency tab near the top right-
been withdrawn. Although there are still which has the usual menus, buttons, hand corner of the window it is possi-
many free drawings programs available etc. (see Fig.3). The normal first step ble to “fade” objects so that anything
on the Internet, most of these seem to is to draw the outline of the front behind them tends to show through.
be very basic with minimal facilities for panel, and various drawing tools are Probably not the type of thing you
handling text. However, there is still a available via the buttons on the left. would use on every panel design, but
free version of DrawPlus, which is a The rulers above and to the left of the it could be useful.
CorelDraw style program from the drawing area are useful, but in order Text is added via the text tool button
British company Serif. This download is to get everything placed accurately it on the left of the window. The Text tab in
available from www.freeserifsoftware is essential to use the snap-grid fea- the right-hand section of the screen
.com and not the main Serif site ture. This is a grid of dots on the then gives the usual range of Windows
(www.serif.com). screen, and it is only possible draw fonts, text sizes, alignment options, and
Fig.2. Before using the DrawPlus 4.0 in earnest it is a good Fig.3. DrawPlus 4.0 has the usual menu bar and control but-
idea to view the QuickTours. The program has a good built- tons. The drawing facilities are mainly accessed via the but-
in Help system tons on the left. Note the dot grid pattern
The free download is version 4.0, lines to and from these dots, place so on. For the final positioning of text it
while the current commercial version objects on them, and so on. The grid can be useful to switch off the snap
is 7.0, so the free version is a few spacing can be adjusted via the grid. The best position for each piece
years old. It still has a good range of Snapping section of the Options dia- of text is the one that looks the best
features though, and it does not logue box (Fig.4). This is obtained by and not necessarily the one that is
require an advanced PC in order to selecting Options from the Tools mathematically correct.
run well. Version 5.0 is sometimes menu. Although the full range of installed
given away on the “free” cover-mount- With this type of program all non- fonts will be available, most will be of lit-
ed discs of computer magazines, and text objects have an outline and a fill. tle use in the current context. For many
it might be worthwhile keeping an eye There are two tabs near the top right- panels something simple and straight-
out for it. Should you decide to move hand corner of
up to the latest version it will only cost the window that
about £50. provide access to
You have to go through a simple the Fill and Line
registration process in order to obtain settings. The Line
a validation code for any free version settings control
of the program. This requires the sub- both simple lines
mission of a proper email address, but and the outlines
it is not essential to use your normal of shapes. It is
email address. If you do not already possible to effec-
have a “dummy” account for this type tively get rid of
of thing you can quickly set up a new outlines by setting
account with one of the many free a width of zero,
email services. and fills can be
removed by using
On Tour white as the fill
The initial screen of Fig.2 is obtained colour or using
when the program is first run. Normally the “None” option. Fig.4. This section of the options screen enables the size of
the “Create a Drawing” option is used Like most pro- the snap grid to be adjusted. The grid is essential when
here, but initially it is a good idea to use grams of this type, drawing with precision, but it can be switched off when you
the “View a QuickTour” option. The you are not need to do things “by eye”

It is possible to nodes that control the shape of each
apply a huge letter so that elaborate distortions can
range of effects to be applied. It also makes it possible to
text using a pro- have a different colour and fill style for
gram such as each letter.
DrawPlus 4.0. The
drop-shadow Finally
effect at the top in When designing a panel using a
Fig.5 was pro- computer do not overlook the practical-
duced by copying ities. Make careful measurements to
the word, fading ensure that the layout leaves sufficient
it using the room for the actual controls, sockets,
Transparency fea- lights, or whatever. Make sure that the
ture, and offset- legends will not be partially obscured
ting it slightly from by the control knobs, and try to avoid
the original. The the classic mistake of missing out a
two pieces of text control or socket! If you include drilling
near the middle marks, the finished design can be print-
of the window ed on ordinary paper, temporarily fixed
have been distort- to the actual panel, and then used as a
ed using the drilling guide.
Fig.5. The range of effects that can be applied to text is Envelope feature. Try not to get carried away with clever
impressive but try not to get carried away In the example but inappropriate effects. A psychedelic
near the bottom of front panel could be well suited to some
the window the projects, but is likely to look decidedly
forward will be the best choice. Many text has been converted to curves. In out of place on something like a piece
fonts tend to look rather “heavy” when other words, it has been turned into of test gear. Be prepared to take some
used for front panels. The Arial font ordinary fills and outlines so that the time to learn the range of facilities avail-
supplied with Windows usually looks normal editing facilities can be used. able from whatever drawing program
neat when used on control panels. This makes it possible to adjust the you use.
Get your magazine “instantly” anywhere in the

world – buy and download from the web.
TAKE A LOOK, A FREE ISSUE IS AVAILABLE
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Current Clamp
Adaptor For
Multimeters
By JOHN CLARKE
Looking for a current clamp meter that won’t current transformers, comprising
turns of wire around a magnetic core.
break the bank? Here’s a simple clamp meter This magnetic core is clipped around
adaptor that you can build for about £15. It the wire to be measured, which
effectively behaves as a half-turn
plugs into a standard DMM and can measure primary winding. The winding on the
core itself acts as the secondary and
both AC and DC currents. connects to the multimeter’s current
terminals.
C
lamp meters are very con- but is often a lot safer as well; eg, The measured current is a divided
venient when it comes to meas- where high voltages and currents are down value of the true current flowing
uring current, since they do involved. However, clamp meters are in the wire. Usually, the division ratio
not require breaking the current path. not particularly useful for making is 1000:1 so that 1mA shown on the
Instead, they simply clip over the wire low-current measurements (ie, below meter equates to 1A through the wire
or lead that’s carrying the current and 1A) due to their inaccuracy and lack that’s being measured.
the reading is then displayed on the of resolution. Clamp meters capable of measuring
meter. Unlike this unit, many commercial DC as well as AC do not use a current
This is not only much easier than current clamp meters can only measure transformer but a Hall effect sensor
“in-circuit” current measurements AC. That’s because they are basically instead. This sensor is placed inside

Fig.1: the circuit uses Hall effect sensor HS1 which produces a voltage at its pin 3 output that depends on the
magnetic field induced into an iron-powdered toroid core. This voltage is fed to op amp IC1a which then drives
the negative terminal of the multimeter. IC1b drives the meter’s positive terminal and provides null adjustment.
a gap in an iron-powdered toroid 3dB down at 20kHz (ie, 0.7071 of the others begin to roll off the signal above
core. It measures the magnetic flux real value). However, the actual meas- 1kHz (ie, frequencies above this will
produced as a result of the current urement displayed will also depend not be accurately measured).
flowing through the wire and produces on the high-frequency response of the If necessary, the output from the
a proportional output voltage. multimeter itself. Some multimeters Clamp Meter Adaptor can be mon-
give useful readings up to 20kHz, while itored using an oscilloscope if AC
How it works measurements have to be made at
To make it as versatile as possible, high frequencies. However, AC current
the Clamp Meter Adaptor also uses a Specifications measurements at 50Hz (ie, the mains
Hall effect sensor so that it can measure frequency) will be accurate using vir-
both DC and AC currents. The output Output: 1A = 1mV for AC and DC tually any multimeter.
of this sensor is then processed using ranges Note that most multimeters are
a couple of low-cost op amps which calibrated to display the RMS val-
then provide a signal for a standard Resolution: multimeter dependent ues of AC current measurements,
DMM or analog multimeter. (100mA with 0.1mV resolution on although they are only accurate for
When measuring DC current, the multimeter) sinusoidal waveforms. This unit
multimeter is set to its DC mV range Maximum DC current: 150A will not affect meter calibration,
and 1A through the wire in the core recommended (up to 900A if core since it does not change the shape
equates to a reading of 1mV on the me- is demagnetised afterwards) of the waveform for signals below
ter. A potentiometer allows the output 20kHz and only converts the cur-
to be nulled (ie, adjusted to 0mV) when Maximum AC current: 630A rent waveform to a voltage wave-
there is no current flow. recommended form. However, for non-sinusoidal
Similarly, for AC current measure- Linearity: typically better than 4% waveforms, the multimeter will
ments using the clamp meter, the mul- over range at 25°C display an erroneous result unless
timeter is simply set to its AC mV range. it is a true RMS type.
In this case, the DC offset potentiometer AC frequency response: -3dB at
is not needed, since the multimeter au- 20kHz (meter reading depends on Demagnetising the core
tomatically ignores any DC levels. multimeter AC response) One problem with clamp meters
The high-frequency response of Current consumption: 15mA is that the core can remain magnet-
the adaptor for AC measurements is ised after making high DC current

measurements; ie, even when the
current flow has been reduced to
zero. In fact, this effect becomes ap-
parent when measuring DC currents
above about 150A. It is easily detected
because the output from the sensor
remains at several millivolts after the
current ceases flowing.
Fortunately, there’s an easy solution
to this. If the core does become mag-
netised, it can be demagnetised again
by momentarily reversing the current
flow in the core.
In practice, this is done by un
clipping the core from the wire, re-
placing it over the wire upside down
and applying the current again for a
brief period of time.
Modified battery clamp

To keep costs down, the Clamp
Meter Adaptor uses a modified car
battery clip as the current clamp. This
is fitted with an iron-powdered toroid
core which is cut in half so that the clip
can be opened and slipped over the
current-carrying wire. The Hall effect
sensor sits in a gap in the toroid, near
the front of the clip – see Fig.2.
The output from this sensor is fed Fig.2: if a steel (ie, magnetic) clamp is used, the Hall sensor
to a processing circuit which is built must be placed in an air gap in the toroidal core as shown in
on a small PC board and housed in a the bottom diagram. This is necessary to ensure that it is not
plastic case, along with the battery. bypassed by magnetic flux flowing through the clamp instead.
This circuit in turn connects to the
meter via two leads.
By the way, commercial clamp me- the Hall sensor output will vary with In practice, VR1 is adjusted so that
ters using Hall effect sensors usually supply rail variations. it produces an output of 1mV per amp
place the sensor at the hinge end of the In operation, the Hall effect sensor flowing through the current-carrying
core. This can be done when the clamp produces a voltage at its pin 3 output wire.
material is non-magnetic. However, that depends on the magnetic field Op amp IC1b and its associated
when the clamp is magnetic, as in this in the core. If the marked face of the circuitry compensate for the initial DC
design, the magnetic flux is conducted sensor faces a south magnetic field, its voltage at the output of the Hall effect
through it instead and bypasses the air output voltage will rise. Conversely, if sensor (ie, with no magnetic field ap-
gap where the sensor sits – see Fig.2 it faces a north field, the output volt- plied). As shown, IC1b is connected
(top drawing). age will fall. as a unity gain buffer with its output
This problem is solved by simply The sensor’s output with no mag- connected to its pin 6 inverting input.
placing the sensor in an air gap at the netic field applied to it will sit between The non-inverting input at pin 5 con-
front of the clamp, so that it cannot 2.25V and 2.75V, depending on the nects to a resistive divider network
be bypassed. sensor. This voltage remains stable, consisting of VR2, VR3 and a 22kΩ
providing the supply voltage remains resistor.
Circuit details stable. The output from IC1b (pin 7) goes
Refer now to Fig.1 for the circuit The output of the Hall effect sensor to the positive meter terminal and
details. It’s relatively simple and com- is fed to op amp IC1a. This stage is is also used to bias pin 3 of IC1a via
prises a dual op amp (IC1a & IC1b), a wired as an inverting amplifier and a 10kΩ resistor. This bias voltage is
3-terminal regulator (REG1), the Hall it attenuates the signal by an amount nominally about 2.5V (ie, 0.5Vcc) and
effect sensor (HS1) and a few resistors that depends on the setting of trimpot allows the output of IC1a to swing up
and capacitors. VR1 (calibrate). Note that the gain of or down about this voltage, depend-
Power for the circuit is derived IC1a is set by the resistance between ing on the sensor input. It also ef-
from a 9V battery and is fed to REG1 pins 1 & 2 divided by the 18kΩ input fectively allows the quiescent voltage
which provides a regulated +5V rail. resistor. from the Hall sensor to be nulled so
This then powers the Hall effect sensor This means that if VR1 is set to that we get a 0V reading on the meter
and op amps IC1a & IC1b. Note that a half-way, IC1a has a gain of (2.5kΩ + when no current is being measured.
regulated supply is necessary, since 1kΩ)/18kΩ = 0.19. VR2 is initially adjusted with VR3

per pattern. Also check that the hole
sizes are all correct for the various
components, particularly those for the
PC-mount stereo socket and the on/off
switch (S1).
Note that two of the corners on the
PC board need to removed, so that
the board later clears the corner pil-
lars inside the case. If your board is
supplied with these corners intact,
they can be cut away using a small
hacksaw and carefully finished off
Fig.3: install the parts on the PC board as shown here. using a rat-tail file.
The Zero Adjust pot (VR3) is installed by soldering its Fig.3 shows the assembly details.
terminals to three PC stakes. Install the resistors and wire link
first, using Table 1 to guide you on the
resistor colour codes. It’s also a good
idea to check the resistor values with
a DMM, just to make sure.
IC1 can go in next, taking care to
ensure that it is oriented correctly.
That done, install the trimpots and
the capacitors, noting that the elec-
trolytics must be oriented with the
polarity shown. The trimpots are usu-
Fig.4: the full-size etching pattern for the PC board.
ally labelled with a code value, with
502 equivalent to 5kΩ (VR1) and 503
equivalent to 50kΩ (VR2).
set to mid-range, so that the multimeter effect sensor – ie, the voltage between Next, install PC stakes at the two
reads 0V with no magnetic field ap- pins 1 & 7 is 0V. power supply inputs, the +5V ter-
plied to the Hall sensor. VR3 is then The outputs from both op amps minal, the three VR3 terminal posi-
adjusted during subsequent use of the are fed to the multimeter via 100Ω tions and the two multimeter outputs.
clamp meter – it can vary IC1b’s output resistors. These provide short-circuit These can be followed with the switch
by about 25mV to null out any small protection for the op amp outputs and and the PC-mount stereo socket.
voltage readings. also decouple the outputs from the Finally, complete the board as-
In effect, trimpot VR2 acts as a cable capacitance. sembly by installing potentiometer
coarse offset adjustment, while VR3 VR3 – it is mounted with its terminals
allows fine adjustment to precisely Construction soldered to the top of its PC stakes.
zero the reading. Building the circuit is easy since all Position it so that the top of its mount-
Looked at another way, VR2 & VR3 the parts are mounted on a small PC ing thread is at the same height as the
are simply adjusted so that the voltage board coded 548 and measuring 75 × top of the switch thread.
on pin 7 of IC1b is the same as the 30mm. Begin construction by checking
voltage on pin 1 of IC1a when there is the PC board for any shorts between Drilling the case
no magnetic field applied to the Hall tracks and for any breaks in the cop- The front panel artwork (Fig.8) can
now be used as a template to mark out
and drill the lid of the small plastic
utility case that’s used to house the
board. You will need to drill two holes
– one for the switch and the other for
the potentiometer.
In addition, you will have to drill a
4mm hole in one end of the case for
the multimeter leads, plus a 7mm hole
in one side to accept the stereo socket.
The latter should be positioned 14mm
down from the top of the case and
21mm in from the outside edge.
Note that it’s always best to drill
small pilot holes first and then care-
fully enlarge them to size using a
Check your completed PC board assembly carefully to ensure that all polarised tapered reamer.
components have been correctly installed. These parts include IC1, REG1 and Next, the integral side clips inside
the two electrolytic capacitors. the box need to be removed using a

Fig.6 (below): a 60mm-length of 3-way
rainbow cable is used to make the
connections to the Hall sensor. This
cable is then joined to a 300mm length
of 2-core shielded cable which is then
terminated in 3.5mm stereo plug.
Fig.5 (above): this exploded diagram shows how the toroid

core and Hall sensor are fitted to the clamp. Each core half
is secured in position using builders’ adhesive, as are the
Hall sensor and the adjacent plastic rectangle. Note the
earth connection to the metalwork of the clamp.
chisel. Be sure to protect your eyes This view of the

when doing this, as the plastic tends completed current
to splinter and fly out. You can then clamp clearly
attach the front panel label and cut the shows the general
holes out with a sharp knife. arrangement. If the
toroid core becomes
The next step is to solder the battery
magnetised during
clip leads to the supply terminals (red use, it can be
to positive, black to negative). That demagnetised
done, connect the multimeter leads to by momentarily
the output terminals, then feed these reversing the
wires through the hole in the box and current flow in the
attach banana plugs to each free end. core.
Don’t fit the board to the case lid at
this stage. That step comes later, after
calibration has been completed.
be sheathed in heatshrink tubing (see lating tape should be used to prevent
Clamp assembly Fig.5). The other end of this cable is shorts between the wires where the
The clamp assembly comprises a car then connected to a 300mm length of cables join, after which the join should
battery clip, the toroidal core and the 2-core shielded cable which in turn is be covered using heatshrink tubing.
Hall effect sensor. Figs.5 & 6 show the terminated with a 3.5mm stereo plug.
assembly details for this unit. As shown in Fig.6, the cable shields
The first step is to cut the core in are joined together and connected to
half using a fine-toothed hacksaw the earth lead of the rainbow cable. Value μF Code EIA Code IEC Code
blade. That done, the Hall sensor They are also connected to the metal 100nF 0.1μF 104 100n
should be wired using a 60mm length work of the clip using a short length 1nF 0.001μF 102 1n0
of 3-way rainbow cable which should of hookup wire. Small pieces of insu-

o 1 22kΩ red red orange brown red red black red brown
o 1 18kΩ brown grey orange brown brown grey black red brown
o 1 10kΩ brown black orange brown brown black black red brown
o 1 1kΩ brown black red brown brown black black brown brown
o 2 100Ω brown black brown brown brown black black black brown

As it stands, the clamp can be
slipped over leads up to 7mm in dia
meter. A larger clamp with jaws that
open wider than the specified unit will
be necessary if you intend measuring
currents flowing in leads that are
thicker than 7mm.
Note that the clamp adapter is not
suitable for use with 240VAC mains
when the wiring is uninsulated.
Testing
The unit is now ready for testing.
First, connect the battery and check
that there is +5V at the test point on
the PC board (ie, 5V between this test
point and ground). There should also
Fig.7: this simple setup can be used to calibrate the Clamp Meter be +5V on pin 8 of IC1.
Adapter. Null the reading first using potentiometer VR3, then switch If these measurements check OK,
on the 12V supply and adjust trimpot VR1 for a reading of 66.7mV. plug the clamp assembly into the
socket on the PC board and check the
voltages again. If they are no longer
The next step is to glue the Hall wiring for the Hall sensor can be glued correct, check component placement
sensor to one of the core pieces using in position and secured at the end of and the wiring to the Hall sensor.
some builders’ adhesive (it can go in the clip with a cable tie. In addition, Next, connect the output leads from
either way up). That done, glue a small the metal tabs on the clip should be the unit to the voltage inputs on your
piece of plastic to the remaining part of bent over to hold the wire in place. multimeter and set the range to mV DC.
the core gap to protect the Hall sensor This must also be done on the other That done, set VR3 to its mid-position
from damage when the clamp closes. handle, so that the jaws of the clamp and adjust VR2 for a reading of 0mV.
Naturally, this piece of plastic needs to can be opened as wide as possible.
be slightly thicker than the Hall sensor The 3.5mm stereo plug is wired as Calibration
to provide this protection. shown, with the tip and ring terminals The Current Clamp Adaptor is cali
The two core pieces can now be connecting to the red and black wires brated using a 12V power supply, a 5m
glued in position on the jaws of the respectively. If your twin shielded length of 0.5mm enamelled copper
battery clip, again using builders’ ad wire has different colours, take care wire and an 18Ω 5W resistor.
hesive. Make sure that the two halves to ensure that pin 1 on the Hall sensor First, wind 100 turns of the ECW
are correctly aligned before the glue goes to the tip connection. Pin 3 must around the core and connect it to the
sets. go to the ring terminal and pin 2 is the 12V supply via the 18Ω resistor as
Once the core pieces are secure, the ground and shield. shown in Fig.7. The current through
the wire will be 12/18 = 0.667A and,
as far as the clamp meter is concerned,
this is effectively multiplied by 100
due to the number of turns on the
core.
All you have to do now is adjust VR1
for a reading of 66.7mV. And that’s it
– the calibration is complete!
Note that if the power supply is not
exactly 12V, you can compensate for
this by calibrating to a different read
ing. Just measure the supply voltage,
divide the value by 18 (to get the cur
rent) and multiply by 100 to obtain the
calibration number.
For example, if you are using a 13.8V
supply, you will have to set VR1 for
a reading of 76.7mV on the meter (ie,
13.8/18 × 100 = 76.7).
Once the calibration has been com
pleted, the PC board can be attached to
the case lid. It’s held in place simply
There’s plenty of room inside the case for the PC board and a 9V battery. The
board is held in position by slipping the case lid over the switch and pot shafts
by slipping the lid over the switch and
and doing up the nuts. pot shafts and doing up the nuts.

Parts List
1 PC board, code 548, 75 x 1 200mm length of black heavy
30mm, available from the EPE duty hookup wire
PCB Service 1 50mm length of green heavy
1 plastic box, 82 x 54 x 30mm duty hookup wire
1 iron powdered toroidal core, 28 1 50mm length of 4.8mm diam-
x 14 x 11mm eter heatshrink tubing
1 50A car battery clip 1 100mm cable tie
1 3.5mm stereo PC board mount 8 PC stakes
socket
1 3.5mm stereo jack plug Semiconductors
1 SPDT toggle switch (S1) 1 LM358 dual op amp (IC1)
1 5kΩ (code 502) horizontal trim- 1 UGN3503 Hall effect sensor
pot (VR1) 1 78L05 5V regulator (REG1)
1 50kΩ (code 503) horizontal
trimpot (VR2)
Capacitors
1 1kΩ 16mm linear potentiometer
1 100μF 16V PC electrolytic
(VR3)
Fig.8: this full-size artwork for the
1 10μF 16V PC electrolytic
1 red banana line plug
front panel. 1 100nF MKT polyester
1 black banana line plug
1 1nF MKT polyester
Using the clamp meter 1 9V battery clip
Note that before making a measure- 1 9V battery
1 potentiometer knob Resistors (1% 0.25W)
ment, the DC Zero potentiometer must
1 4 x 4 x 2mm piece of soft 1 22kΩ 1 1kΩ
first be adjusted so the multimeter
reads 0mV when there is no current plastic 1 18kΩ 2 100Ω
flow. Note also that the core may need 1 300mm length of twin core 1 10kΩ
to be demagnetised after measuring shielded cable
high DC currents, as described pre- 1 60mm length of 3-way rainbow Calibration parts
viously. This will be necessary when cable 1 5m length of 0.5mm enamelled
the DC Zero control no longer has suffi 1 200mm length of red heavy copper wire
cient range to null the reading. duty hookup wire 1 18Ω 5W resistor
When measuring relatively low currents
(eg, between 100mA and 10A), increasing
the number of turns of the current-carrying
wire through the core will improve the
resolution. However, this will only be pos-
sible if the wire diameter allows the extra
turns to be fed through the core.
Note that the readout on the mul-
timeter must be divided by the number
of turns through the core to obtain the
correct current reading. Note also that
the accuracy of the unit will vary ac-
cording to the temperature of the Hall
sensor, particularly when making high
current measurements.
By the way, it's a good idea to mark
the top of the clamp with an arrow
to indicate the direction of positive
current flow once you have the unit
working correctly. This can easily be
determined by trial and error.
Finally, do not forget to switch the
unit off when it is not in use. There’s no
power indicator LED to warn you that
the unit is on, so take care here! EPE
There’s no power LED on the front panel to warn you when the power is on,
Reproduced by arrangement with so be sure to switch the unit off when it is not in use to save battery life. Also,
SILICON CHIP magazine 2006.
www.siliconchip.com.au be sure to null the reading on the multimeter (ie, when there is no current flow
through the core) before taking a measurement.

READOUT WIN AN ATLAS LCR ANALYSER
WORTH £79
Email: john.becker@wimborne.co.uk An Atlas LCR Passive Component
Analyser, kindly donated by Peak Electronic
John Becker addresses some Design Ltd., will be awarded to the author
of the general points readers of the Letter Of The Month each month.
have raised. Have you anything The Atlas LCR automatically measures
interesting to say? inductance from 1µH to 10H, capacitance
from 1pF to 10,000µF and resistance from
Drop us a line! 1Ω to 2MΩ with a basic accuracy of 1%.
All letters quoted here have previously been replied to directly.
Don’t Patronise Us
Dear EPE,
I am one of the silent majority. I have
ᗂ LETTER OF THE MONTH ᗂ
read your magazine since issue one, and Rockin’ Howler!
(somewhere) I have kept all my copies. I Dear EPE,
should say therefore that I am a pretty Thanks to you and Mike Hibbett for
loyal customer and I daresay you will be the Halloween Howler (Oct ’05). I am
interested in my continuing to be so. using the device to add snoring to a
I was motivated to write today by con- rocking chair skeleton, and it works
cern at two things in the November 2005 very well! Next year I will probably
issue, “Face Lift” in your Editorial and use several in different parts of the
“Will the Bulldog C to Oz” in Readout. yard.
I used to take all of the electronics Attached are a few photos that show
magazines when I was a student, and the implementation. On display the
I’ve seen most of them come and go, and skeleton will have a blanket covering
in my business, Greenbank Electronics from the lap on down. This will hide
(established 1970), I advertised in most the mechanism. Nothing there except a
of them too. car windshield wiper motor and the
Look at the magazines that failed, and howler.
look at what they did just before the end You can see the Fairchild QRB1134
(you should know, you bought most of Reflective Object Sensor on the L-
them when they finally collapsed) – they bracket near the motor. This synchro-
revamped the magazine, alienated their nizes the snoring with the motion of
old customers, and, oh dear, picked up the chair. Not shown are the dual fog
hardly any new customers. Increased generators with automatic changeover
expense, acceleration of circulation loss, Richard’s rocking skeleton seeming-
and the small controller that detects
insufficient new customers, liquidation, Trick Or Treaters and starts the fog and ly taking a nap, while waiting to howl
bankruptcy. rocker. at any intrepid onlooker who comes
You’ve lasted (?) thirty five years, Readers might also care to browse a too close!
don’t lose your way now. Keep doing website that sells skeletons! www.scary-
what you do so well, and there will terry.com/rockchair/rockchair.htm How splendid Richard. I told Mike,
always be a hard core base you can rely Richard T. Stofer, via email he was highly amused (as am I)!
on; if you damage your foundations and
betray the existing readership, there
won’t be another generation to rely on. with great interest, interest which would hope you will like it and that some
Which brings me to my second point: be considerably greater if you varied the new readers will be attracted too. The
listen to your readers – they pay your menu a little. I too program in assembler magazine has looked very old fash-
wages. They will tell you exactly what (I’m that old) which is probably why I ioned to younger readers and we need
they want; it may not be what you want would welcome a bit of “C” for a change. them as well as our old friends. We
to give, but they are the customers, you’d You want to keep your existing readers will continue to publish the same type
better be aware that the customer is and attract new ones. Engineers and of articles, just the presentation will
always right. potential engineers are always interested change and rest assured that due to
But what an awful patronising reply to in alternative and new ways of doing changes in the way we work it will not
your Australian reader, John O’Hagan, things, and they love a magazine that cost us more money to produce the
in Readout. All he did was write and tells them about them. magazine.
compliment your magazine, and ask for So why do I stay, if I’m so critical and We have taken your comments on
some support for the “C” language he unappreciative of your efforts? Simple: board regarding “C” and Atmel and we
uses, and some break from the monoto- your diagrams draw resistors properly will see what others have to say on
ny of the wall to wall PICs in your mag- (with wiggly lines that look like resis- this. We do try to get an idea of what
azine, for such as say the Atmel tors, and transistors that look like tran- readers are interested in from the Chat
microprocessors. sistors), and your writing style is clear Zone, and from the books, CDs, p.c.b.s
Your reply, although politely phrased and pleasantly enthusiastic. etc they buy, from comments we get on
was too patronising for me: basically David Parkins, via email the phone, from emails like yours and
you admit that “C” is what the readers from notes with subscription renewals
want, but you don’t care about that, you Editor Mike received David’s much etc. Part of the reason for publishing
think PIC assembler is better, so tough longer email and replied: such letters is to see reader response
on you. All he did was write in and tell and we often ask for it on the Readout
you what he wanted, there’s no need to Wow! We do seem to have upset you! page, it is not often as worrying as
put him in his place; he might even have First of all thanks for your loyalty and your email!
a better idea than you do about what comments. Sorry that you feel we have I hope what we have planned will be
interests people nowadays. been patronising to our readers – certain- of interest to you, we are aiming for
I have been a reader for thirty-odd ly not our intention. more variety and hope to cover high
years, and have never built one of your We don’t want to alienate our exist- level languages, other chips etc.
circuits. Nevertheless I read the magazine ing customers with the revamp – we Mike Kenward, Editor

All at C - As Quickly As Possible! Perhaps one of the reasons we in This reminds me of a similar situation
Dear EPE, England seem to be somewhat behind the I faced back in the eighties (back when
John O’Hagan is absolutely right rest of the world in terms of using high computers were real machines and you
(Readout, Nov ’05, Will the Bulldog C to level languages with microcontrollers is could still buy a house for less than the
Oz?). EPE should definitely abandon that there have been few (in fact I don’t GDP of a small country). In my case it
PIC assembler as quickly as possible and personally know of any) tutorials in mag- was a home-brew Z80 circuit writing to a
switch to C. PIC assembler should only azines about using languages such as tiny 9-digit, 7-segment l.e.d. display
be used in those cases in which the small Basic or C. In fact, even those tutorials from a pocket calculator.
reduction in program size is actually nec- that I have come across elsewhere are As you quite rightly say, by far the
essary. John Becker’s argument for PIC often pretty poor. This is because they biggest improvement is obtained by
assembler that, “it achieves more com- really need to be written by a computer switching off all segments before select-
pact code and consequent reduction in programmer (someone who really knows ing the next digit (or in Suheil’s case,
PIC program space” is, for most EPE how to build good software) rather than column). In my design that did in fact
PIC projects, entirely spurious. PIC pro- by an electronics enthusiast. cure the ghosting problem, but left me
gram space is there to be used, not con- I often see things in programs on the with another in the form of display flick-
served. Program space that is unused is, Web, in magazines etc. that make me er. I eventually solved that with the aid of
cringe as a professional programmer. This two techniques which just might be of
quite literally, a waste of space, and there isn’t just purism – it’s about the under-
is no virtue at all in conserving it. help here – after all, it’s all about persis-
standability, quality and maintainability of tence of vision:
I’ve been a professional computer software. Program style is also about sig-
programmer on PCs for over 15 years, 1. The display refresh routine should
nificantly raising the level of complexity scan right to left, not the more intuitive left
and, in the early days of PC computing that the average electronics enthusiast/pro-
when memory space was scarce, there to right. I’ve no idea why this should make
grammer is capable of dealing with. These a difference, unless it’s something to do
was an argument for assembler. things become increasingly important as
Nowadays, memory is simply not a with the way the eye moves when we read?
electronics as a hobby incorporates more 2. Non-sequential refresh. In other
problem on the PC, and no one uses and more software. Poorly written soft-
assembler any more. We have all made words, instead of writing to column 0,
ware is exactly analogous to the rats nest then to column 1 etc in strict sequence,
the transition to higher level languages. wiring method of creating an electronic
The consequence of this has been a try writing all the odd columns first then
project. Well designed and written soft- all the even ones (somewhat akin to
massive increase in productivity and in ware is like having a p.c.b.
the level of program complexity that we interlacing on TV screens).
The fundamental problem with assem- Rob Banks (and yes, that is my real
are able to deal with. However, this was bler is that it doesn’t scale. This is per-
not an easy transition, and many pro- name), via email
haps the primary reason the software
grammers who had hard-won assembler engineering community has largely
skills argued for the use of assembly Thanks Rob, the suggestions sound use-
abandoned it. Even simple things are ful. You are the only person to respond to
language long after it was rendered quite difficult to do, and difficult things
obsolete by high level languages. the letter and it’s appreciated that you
become prohibitively difficult. High have. I wonder if others might come in on
This history is being recapitulated with level languages such as C and BASIC
microcontrollers. In the early days, pro- scale much better – simple things tend to it when your reply has been published, I
gram memory was scarce, and assembler be very simple and difficult things tend may quote them too if they do.
was the only viable option. Nowadays, to be tractable. Yes – anything that you
for many, if not most PIC projects, pro- can write in C or BASIC, you can write Surprise Edition
gram space is simply not an issue and we in assembler, but the question is, with
can avail ourselves of the capabilities of Dear EPE,
these languages available and enough Imagine my surprise when I discov-
high level languages. I confidently pre- computing resources cheaply available,
dict that in only a few years time, PIC why would you bother? ered the EPE August ’05 issue (as I
program memory will be so large, and The whole history of computing has write it is the first of November here)
high level languages so readily available been characterized by a continual increase at the local media store. What is so sur-
(in fact they already are) that no elec- in the level of abstraction. In the early days prising is that I live in a sparsely inhab-
tronics magazine will be publishing PIC we programmed in hardware (wires and ited county in Southern Colorado. And
programs in assembler any more. I have switches etc.), then we programmed in my greater surprise was to open the
always looked to EPE for innovation and binary, then we had assembler, then we had cover and find the magazine that I was
new ideas, and I encourage your maga- procedural languages such as FORTRAN, wishing someone would publish. I’m
zine to lead the way to this high level BASIC, C, then object oriented languages an electronics hobbyist as well as an
future in the UK. such as Smalltalk, Java, Python. Nowadays avid R/C flying modeller. I especially
Dr Jim Arlow, Harrow, via email some of us are even “programming” in like your great coverage of PIC pro-
abstract modeling languages such as the jects and thus I will be ordering your
Thank you Jim, but there are other fac- Unified Modeling Language (UML) and online subscription.
tors to be considered too, such as readers getting the computer to generate the code. My latest PIC project is a PIC con-
who don’t know C but do know PIC The relationship of UML to Java has trolled CDI ignition for use on converted
assembler; code size can affect which become that of C to assembler! Others of weed trimmer two cycle gasoline (I think
PIC is chosen; more “library” routines us are even “programming” in metalan- you chaps call it petrol?) powered
for PICs are available in assembler than guages that allow us to create our own engines for model use. It gives great per-
for C; Microchip’s examples in their languages specialized to a particular formance at both idle and full throttle.
books/datasheets are in assembler; what problem domain. And this is all good. With the PIC/CDI I’m able to eliminate
code readers use for the projects they After experiencing a high-level lan- the magneto and save one pound of
send. We’ve no problem if readers send guage, properly taught, there’s just no weight. My next project is to develop a
us C for them but very few do. going back to stuff like assembler. harmless noisemaker (maybe propane
Jim then came back to me following my Dr Jim Arlow, by email fuelled blaster) to scare off birds from
reply: my wife’s fruit orchard.
Thanks again Jim. Readers – your Congratulations for your great mag
All true. Of course it’s quite feasible to opinions please! and keep up the good work.
mix C and assembler. In fact, in the early Marlowe Cassetti, Penrose,
PC days, that’s exactly what we did. Colorado, USA, via email
Most of the code was written in C for Ghost Busters 2
reasons of clarity, comprehensibility, Dear EPE, Thanks Marlowe, so glad you are
portability and productivity whilst key I was interested to read the letter from impressed by us, long may you remain
routines (that were not yet available as C Suheil Bukhzam (“Ghost Buster?”) in so! PICs are my favourite too, they are a
subroutines) were in assembler and the Nov ’05 issue regarding the problem lot of fun and as you are finding there
called from C just like C subroutines. of ghosting on l.e.d. displays. are many things you can do with them.

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those who want to learn, choose one or all of the packages ( hobb COD
y E
below to use with the Development Board. when ist/studen V2
t)
Makes it easier to develop PICmicro projects Deve
lopm
you b
uy a
Supports low cost Flash-programmable PICmicro devices for a ent
limite Board –
Fully featured integrated displays – 16 individual l.e.d.s, d
only time
quad 7-segment display and alphanumeric l.c.d. display
Supports PICmicro microcontrollers with A/D converters £158 including VAT and postage
Fully protected expansion bus for project work
USB programmable supplied with USB cable and
Can be powered by USB (no power supply required) programming software
SOFTWARE
Suitable for use with the Development Board shown above.
ASSEMBLY FOR PICmicro V3 ‘C’ FOR PICmicro FLOWCODE FOR PICmicro V2

(Formerly PICtutor) VERSION 2 Flowcode is a very high level language
Assembly for PICmicro microcontrollers V3.0 The C for PICmicro microcontrollers CD- programming system for PICmicro
(previously known as PICtutor) by John ROM is designed for students and microcontrollers based on flowcharts.
Becker contains a complete course in professionals who need to learn how to Flowcode allows you to design and simulate
programming the PIC16F84 PICmicro program embedded microcontrollers in C. complex robotics and control systems in a
microcontroller from Arizona Microchip. It The CD contains a course as well as all the matter of minutes.
starts with fundamental concepts and software tools needed to create Hex code Flowcode is a powerful language that uses
extends up to complex programs including for a wide range of PICmicro devices – macros to facilitate the control of complex
watchdog timers, interrupts and sleep modes. including a full C compiler for a wide range devices like 7-segment displays, motor
The CD makes use of the latest simulation of PICmicro devices. controllers and l.c.d. displays. The use of
techniques which provide a superb tool for Although the course focuses on the use of macros allows you to control these
learning: the Virtual PICmicro micro- the PICmicro microcontrollers, this CD- electronic devices without getting bogged
controller. This is a simulation tool that ROM will provide a good grounding in C down in understanding the programming
allows users to write and execute MPASM programming for any microcontroller. involved.
assembler code for the PIC16F84 Complete course in C as well as C Flowcode produces MPASM code which is
microcontroller on-screen. Using this you programming for PICmicro microcontrollers compatible with virtually all PICmicro
can actually see what happens inside the Highly interactive course Virtual C programmers. When used in conjunction
PICmicro MCU as each instruction is PICmicro improves understanding with the Version 2 development board this
executed which enhances understanding. Includes a C compiler for a wide range of provides a seamless solution that allows
Comprehensive instruction through 45 PICmicro devices Includes full Integrated you to program chips in minutes.
tutorial sections Includes Vlab, a Virtual Development Environment Includes Requires no programming experience
PICmicro microcontroller: a fully functioning MPLAB software Compatible with most Allows complex PICmicro applications to
simulator Tests, exercises and projects PICmicro programmers Includes a be designed quickly Uses international
covering a wide range of PICmicro MCU compiler for all the PICmicro devices. standard flow chart symbols (ISO5807)
applications Includes MPLAB assembler Full on-screen simulation allows debugging
Visual representation of a PICmicro and speeds up the development process
showing architecture and functions Facilitates learning via a full suite of
Expert system for code entry helps first time demonstration tutorials Produces ASM
users Shows data flow and fetch execute code for a range of 18, 28 and 40-pin
cycle and has challenges (washing devices Professional versions include
machine, lift, crossroads etc.) Imports virtual systems (burglar alarm, buggy and
MPASM files. maze, plus RS232, IrDa etc.).
Minimum system requirements for these

items: Pentium PC running Windows 98,
NT, 2000, ME, XP; CD-ROM drive;
64MB RAM; 10MB hard disk space.
Virtual PICmicro Burglar Alarm Simulation
Hobbyist/Student £45 inc VAT

PRICES Flowcode V2 Hobbyist/Student £57 inc VAT
InstItutional (Schools/HE/FE/Industry) £99 plus VAT
Prices for each of the CD-ROMs above are: Flowcode Professional £99 plus VAT
Institutional/Professional 10 user (Network Licence) £300 plus VAT
(Order form on next page) Site Licence £599 plus VAT
(UK and EU customers add VAT at 17.5% to “plus VAT’’ prices)

TEACH-IN 2000 – LEARN ELECTRONICS WITH EPE DIGITAL WORKS 3.0
EPE ’s own Teach-In CD-ROM, contains
the full 12-part Teach-In series by John
Becker in PDF form plus the Teach-In
FREE BOOK
interactive software (Win 95, 98, ME and WITH TEACH-IN Counter
above) covering all aspects of the series.
We have also added Alan Winstanley’s 2000 CD-ROM project
highly acclaimed Basic Soldering Guide
which is fully illustrated and which also
includes Desoldering. The Teach-In
series covers: Colour Codes and
Resistors, Capacitors, Potentiometers, Digital Works Version 3.0 is a graphical
Sensor Resistors, Ohm’s Law, Diodes design tool that enables you to construct
and L.E.D.s, Waveforms, Frequency and digital logic circuits and analyze their
Time, Logic Gates, Binary and Hex Logic,
Op.amps, Comparators, Mixers, Audio behaviour. It is so simple to use that it will
and Sensor Amplifiers, Transistors,
Sine wave relationship values take you less than 10 minutes to make your
Transformers and Rectifiers, Voltage first digital design. It is so powerful that you
Regulation, Integration, Differentiation, 7-segment Displays, L.C.D.s, Digital-to-Analogue. will never outgrow its capability Software
Each part has an associated practical section and the series includes a simple PC for simulating digital logic circuits Create
interface (Win 95, 98, ME ONLY) so you can use your PC as a basic oscilloscope with your own macros – highly scalable Create
the various circuits. your own circuits, components, and i.c.s
A hands-on approach to electronics with numerous breadboard circuits to try out. Easy-to-use digital interface Animation
£12.45 including VAT and postage. Requires Adobe Acrobat (available free from brings circuits to life Vast library of logic
the Internet – www.adobe.com/acrobat). macros and 74 series i.c.s with data sheets
Powerful tool for designing and learning.
FREE WITH EACH TEACH-IN CD-ROM – Electronics Hobbyist Compendium 80-page book Hobbyist/Student £45 inc. VAT.
by Robert Penfold. Covers Tools For The Job; Component Testing; Oscilloscope Basics.
Institutional £99 plus VAT.
Institutional 10 user £249 plus VAT.
Site Licence £599 plus VAT.
PROJECT DESIGN WITH CROCODILE TECHNOLOGY
NEW
An Interactive Guide to Circuit Design ELECTRONIC
An interactive CD-ROM to guide you through the process of circuit design. Choose from an extensive range of input, COMPONENTS PHOTOS
process and output modules, including CMOS Logic, Op-Amps, PIC/PICAXE, Remote Control A high quality selection of over 200 JPG
Modules (IR and Radio), Transistors, Thyristors, Relays and much more. images of electronic
Click Data for a complete guide to the pin layouts of i.c.s, transistors etc. Click More Information Ove components. This
r 15
for detailed background information with many animated diagrams. Over 6 0 pages selection of high
Nearly all the circuits can be instantly simulated in Crocodile Technology* (not 00 ima resolution photos can be
included on the CD-ROM) and you can customise the designs as required. ges
used to enhance
WHAT’S INCLUDED projects and
Light Modules, Temperature Modules, Sound Modules, Moisture Modules, Switch presentations or to help
with training and
Modules, Astables including 555, Remote Control (IR & Radio), Transistor Amplifiers, educational material.
Thyristor, Relay, Op-Amp Modules, Logic Modules, 555 Timer, PIC/PICAXE, Output They are royalty free for
Devices, Transistor Drivers, Relay Motor Direction & Speed Control, 7 Segment Displays. use in commercial or
Data sections with pinouts etc., Example Projects, Full Search Facility, Further personal printed projects, and can also be
Background Information and Animated Diagrams. used royalty free in books, catalogues,
Runs in Microsoft Internet Explorer magazine articles as well as worldwide web
*All circuits can be viewed, but can only be simulated if your computer has Crocodile pages (subject to restrictions – see licence for
Technoloy version 410 or later. A free trial version of Crocodile Technology can be full details).
downloaded from: www.crocodile-clips.com. Animated diagrams run without Crocodile Technology. Also contains a FREE 30-day evaluation of
Single User £39.00 inc. VAT. Paint Shop Pro 6 – Paint Shop Pro image
editing tips and on-line help included!
Multiple Educational Users (under 500 students) £59.00 plus VAT. Over 500 students £79.00 plus VAT.
(UK and EU customers add VAT at 17·5% to “plus VAT’’ prices) Price £19.95 inc. VAT
Minimum system requirements for these CD-ROMs: Pentium PC, CD-ROM drive, 32MB RAM, 10MB hard disk space. Windows 95/98/NT/2000/ME/XP, mouse, sound card, web browser.
Please send me: CD-ROM ORDER FORM ORDERING

Electronic Projects
Electronic Circuits & Components V2.0 ALL PRICES INCLUDE UK
Analogue Electronics Version required: POSTAGE
Digital Electronics V2.0 Hobbyist/Student
Analogue Filters Institutional
Electronics CAD Pack Institutional/Professional 10 user Student/Single User/Standard Version
Robotics & Mechatronics Site licence price includes postage to most
Assembly for PICmicro V3 countries in the world
‘C’ for PICmicro V2 EU residents outside the UK add £5 for
Flowcode V2 for PICmicro airmail postage per order
Digital Works 3.0
PICmicro Development Board V3 (hardware)

Institutional, Multiple User and Deluxe
Versions – overseas readers add £5 to the
Teach-In 2000 + FREE BOOK basic price of each order for airmail postage
Electronic Components Photos (do not add VAT unless you live in an EU
(European Union) country, then add 17½%
}
Project Design – Single User
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STORE YOUR BACK ISSUES ON CD-ROMS
NOW VOL 13
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A great way to buy EPE Back Issues – our CD-ROMs contain back
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VOL 1: BACK ISSUES – January 1999 to June 1999 Order on-line from
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NOTE: These mini CD-ROMs are suitable for use on any PC with a
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...................................................
WHAT IS INCLUDED
All volumes include the EPE Online editorial content of every listed
issue, plus all the available PIC Project Codes for the PIC projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Post Code . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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cal guide to interfacing and programming intelligent liquid crystal display
Maestro Issue No. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
modules. PhyzzyB COMPUTERS BONUS ARTICLE 1 – Signed and
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FREE Electronics Hobbyist Compendium
book with Teach-In 2000 CD-ROM
DIRECT BOOK SERVICE

NOTE: ALL PRICES INCLUDE UK POSTAGE
The books listed have been selected by Everyday Practical
Electronics editorial staff as being of special interest to everyone
involved in electronics and computing. They are supplied by mail
order to your door. Full ordering details are given on the last book
EPE TEACH-IN For a further selection of books see the next two issues of EPE.
2000 CD-ROM
The whole of the 12-part Teach-In 2000 series by John
Becker (published in EPE Nov ’99 to Oct 2000) is now
available on CD-ROM. Plus the Teach-In 2000 interactive
software (Win 95, 98, ME and above) covering all aspects
Radio
of the series and Alan Winstanley’s Basic Soldering
Guide (including illustrations and Desoldering). BASIC RADIO PRINCIPLES AND TECHNOLOGY A wavetrap to combat signals on spurious responses; An
Ian Poole audio notch filter; A parametric equaliser; C.W. and S.S.B.
Teach-In 2000 covers all the basic principles of elec- Radio technology is becoming increasingly important in audio filters; Simple noise limiters; A speech processor; A
tronics from Ohm’s Law to Displays, including Op.Amps, today’s high technology society. There are the traditional volume expander.
Logic Gates etc. Each part has its own section on the inter- uses of radio which include broadcasting and point to Other useful circuits include a crystal oscillator, and
active software where you can also change component point radio as well as the new technologies of satellites RTTY/C.W. tone decoder, and a RTTY serial to parallel
values in the various on-screen demonstration circuits. and cellular phones. All of these developments mean converter. A full range of interesting and useful circuits for
The series gives a hands-on approach to electronics there is a growing need for radio engineers at all levels. short wave enthusiasts.
with numerous breadboard circuits to try out, plus a sim- Assuming a basic knowledge of electronics, this book
ple computer interface (Win 95, 98, ME only) which provides an easy to understand grounding in the topic.
92 pages Order code BP304 £4.45
allows a PC to be used as a basic oscilloscope. Chapters in the book: Radio Today, Yesterday, and
Tomorrow; Radio Waves and Propagation; Capacitors, AN INTRODUCTION TO AMATEUR RADIO
ONLY £12.45 including VAT and p&p Inductors, and Filters; Modulation; Receivers; I. D. Poole
Transmitters; Antenna Systems; Broadcasting; Satellites; Amateur radio is a unique and fascinating hobby which
Order code Teach-In CD-ROM Personal Communications; Appendix – Basic has attracted thousands of people since it began at the
Calculations. turn of the century. This book gives the newcomer a
comprehensive and easy to understand guide through
Robotics 263 pages Order code NE30
PROJECTS FOR RADIO AMATEURS AND S.W.L.S.

£18.99 the subject so that the reader can gain the most from the
hobby. It then remains an essential reference volume to
be used time and again. Topics covered include the
R. A. Penfold basic aspects of the hobby, such as operating proce-
INTRODUCING ROBOTICS WITH LEGO MINDSTORMS This book describes a number of electronic circuits, most dures, jargon and setting up a station. Technical topics
Robert Penfold of which are quite simple, which can be used to enhance covered include propagation, receivers, transmitters and
Shows the reader how to build a variety of increasingly sophis- the performance of most short wave radio systems. aerials etc.
ticated computer controlled robots using the brilliant Lego The circuits covered include: An aerial tuning unit; A 150 pages Order code BP257 £5.49
Mindstorms Robotic Invention System (RIS). Initially covers simple active aerial; An add-on b.f.o. for portable sets;
fundamental building techniques and mechanics needed to
construct strong and efficient robots using the various “click-
together’’ components supplied in the basic RIS kit. Then
explains in simple terms how the “brain’’ of the robot may be
programmed on screen using a PC and “zapped’’ to the robot
Computers and Computing
over an infra-red link. Also, shows how a more sophisticated
Windows programming language such as Visual BASIC may THE INTERNET FOR THE OLDER GENERATION Assuming no prior knowledge of microcontrollers
be used to control the robots. Jim Gatenby and introducing the PIC’s capabilities through simple
Details building and programming instructions provided, Especially written for the over 50s. Uses only clear and projects, this book is ideal for use in schools and col-
including numerous step-by-step photographs. leges. It is the ideal introduction for students, teachers,
easy-to-understand language. Larger type size for easy
288 pages – large format Order code BP901 £14.99 reading. Provides basic knowledge to give you confi- technicians and electronics enthusiasts. The step-by-
dence to join the local computer class. step explanations make it ideal for self-study too: this
This book explains how to use your PC on the Internet is not a reference book – you start work with the PIC
MORE ADVANCED ROBOTICS WITH LEGO straight away.
MINDSTORMS – Robert Penfold and covers amongst other things: Choosing and setting
The revised second edition covers the popular repro-
up your computer for the Internet. Getting connected to grammable EEPROM PICs: P16C84/16F84 as well as
Covers the Vision Command System
the Internet. Sending and receiving emails, pho- the P54 and P71 families.
Shows the reader how to extend the capabilities of tographs, etc., so that you can keep in touch with fam-
the brilliant Lego Mindstorms Robotic Invention System ily and friends all over the world. Searching for and 270 pages Order code NE36 £15.99
(RIS) by using Lego’s own accessories and some sim- saving information on any subject. On-line shopping
ple home constructed units. You will be able to build and home banking. Setting up your own simple web
robots that can provide you with ‘waiter service’ when site.
you clap your hands, perform tricks, ‘see’ and avoid eBAY FOR BEGINNERS
228 pages Order code BP600 £8.99 Cherry Nixon
objects by using ‘bats radar’, or accurately follow a line
marked on the floor. Learn to use additional types of There are two kinds of people, those who are trading on
sensors including rotation, light, temperature, sound eBay and the rest who are missing out. Though eBay
and ultrasonic and also explore the possibilities provid- has been embraced by entrepreneurs all over the world,
HOW TO BUILD YOUR OWN PC – it remains the peoples’ site and offers the largest mar-
ed by using an additional (third) motor. For the less Third Edition
experienced, RCX code programs accompany most of ket for the smallest fee.
the featured robots. However, the more adventurous Morris Rosenthal eBay presents an opportunity for everyone, the trick
reader is also shown how to write programs using More and more people are building their own PCs. They is to master it. This book shows you how to start trading
Microsoft’s VisualBASIC running with the ActiveX con- get more value for their money, they create exactly the on eBay UK. It also offers advice on getting organised
trol (Spirit.OCX) that is provided with the RIS kit. machine they want, and the work is highly satisfying and tips to put you ahead.
Detailed building instructions are provided for the fea- and actually fun. That is, if they have a unique begin- The book has been developed from Cherry’s popu-
tured robots, including numerous step-by-step pho- ner’s guide like this one, which visually demonstrates lar hands-on course “Buying and Selling on eBay for
tographs. The designs include rover vehicles, a virtual how to construct a state-of-the-art computer from start Technological Simpletons”. In addition to fully explan-
pet, a robot arm, an ‘intelligent’ sweet dispenser and a to finish. ing eBay and how to trade on it there are sections on
colour conscious robot that will try to grab objects of a Through 150 crisp photographs and clear but minimal Paypal, producing pictures of your sale items, fees
specific colour. text, readers will confidently absorb the concepts of and accounts, safety and security including what to
298 pages Order code BP902 £14.99 computer building. The extra-big format makes it easy do when things go wrong and what protection is
to see what’s going on in the pictures. For non-special- provided.
ANDROIDS, ROBOTS AND ANIMATRONS – Second ists, there’s even a graphical glossary that clearly
illustrates technical terms. The author goes “under the 178 pages Order code BP551 £8.99
Edition – John Iovine
Build your own working robot or android using both off- hood’’ and shows step-by-step how to create a socket 7
the-shelf and workshop constructed materials and (Pentium and non-intel chipsets) and a Slot 1 (Pentium
devices. Computer control gives these robots and II) computer, covering: What first-time builders need to
androids two types of artificial intelligence (an expert sys- know; How to select and purchase parts; How to NEWNES PC TROUBLESHOOTING
tem and a neural network). A lifelike android hand can be assemble the PC; How to install Windows 98. The few POCKET BOOK – THIRD EDITION
built and programmed to function doing repetitive tasks. A existing books on this subject, although badly outdated, Howard Anderson, Mike Tooley
fully animated robot or android can also be built and pro- are in steady demand. This one delivers the expertise All the essential data for PC fault-finding and upgrad-
grammed to perform a wide variety of functions. and new technology that fledgling computer builders ing. This book provides a concise and compact reference
The contents include an Overview of State-of-the-Art are eagerly looking for. that describes, in a clear and straightforward manner, the
Robots; Robotic Locomotion; Motors and Power principles and practice of fault-finding and upgrading PCs
Controllers; All Types of Sensors; Tilt; Bump; Road and 224 pages – large format Order code MGH2 £20.99
and peripherals. The book is aimed at anyone who is
Wall Detection; Light; Speech and Sound Recognition; involved with the installation, configuration, maintenance,
Robotic Intelligence (Expert Type) Using a Single-Board upgrading, repair or support of PC systems. It also pro-
Computer Programmed in BASIC; Robotic Intelligence PIC YOUR PERSONAL INTRODUCTORY COURSE vides non-technical users with sufficient background
(Neutral Type) Using Simple Neural Networks (Insect SECOND EDITION John Morton information, charts and checklists to enable the diagnosis
Intelligence); Making a Lifelike Android Hand; A Discover the potential of the PIC micro- of faults and help to carry out simple modifications and
Computer-Controlled Robotic Insect Programmed in controller through graded projects – this book could
BASIC; Telepresence Robots With Actual Arcade and repairs. In order to reflect rapid changes in computer tech-
revolutionise your electronics construction work!
Virtual Reality Applications; A Computer-Controlled A uniquely concise and practical guide to getting up nology (both hardware and software) this new edition has
Robotic Arm; Animated Robots and Androids; Real-World and running with the PIC Microcontroller. The PIC is been completely revised and rewritten.
Robotic Applications. one of the most popular of the microcontrollers that are
transforming electronic project work and product
224 pages Order code MGH1 £16.99 design. 256 pages Order code NE41 £19.99

Theory and Reference
BEBOP TO THE BOOLEAN BOOGIE BOOK PLUS slightest bit interested in the inner workings of comput- STARTING ELECTRONICS, THIRD EDITION
Second Edition CD-ROM ers, then don’t dare to miss this!
NEW
KEITH BRINDLEY
Clive (Max) Maxfield Over 800 pages in Adobe Acrobat format A punchy practical introduction to self-build electronics.
This book gives the “big picture’’ of digital electronics. This CD-ROM Order code BEB2 CD-ROM £21.95 The ideal starting point for home experimenters, techni-
indepth, highly readable, up-to-the-minute guide shows you cians and students who want to develop the real hands-on
how electronic devices work and how they’re made. You’ll skills of electronics construction.
discover how transistors operate, how printed circuit boards SCROGGIE’S FOUNDATIONS OF WIRELESS
AND ELECTRONICS – ELEVENTH EDITION A highly practical introduction for hobbyists, students,
are fabricated, and what the innards of memory ICs look like. and technicians. Keith Brindley introduces readers to the
You’ll also gain a working knowledge of Boolean Algebra S. W. Amos and Roger Amos
and Karnaugh Maps, and understand what Reed-Muller Scroggie’s Foundations is a classic text for anyone work- functions of the main component types, their uses, and the
logic is and how it’s used. And there’s much, MUCH more. ing with electronics, who needs to know the art and craft basic principles of building and designing electronic cir-
The author’s tongue-in-cheek humour makes it a delight to of the subject. It covers both the theory and practical cuits.
read, but this is a REAL technical book, extremely detailed aspects of a huge range of topics from valve and tube Breadboard layouts make this very much a ready-to-run
and accurate. Comes with a free CD-ROM which contains technology, and the application of cathode ray tubes to book for the experimenter, and the use of multimeter, but
an eBook version with full text search plus bonus chapter – radar, to digital tape systems and optical recording not oscilloscopes, and readily available, inexpensive com-
An Illustrated History of Electronics and Computing. techniques. ponents makes the practical work achievable in a home or
Contents: Fundamental concepts; Analog versus digital; school setting as well as a fully equiped lab.
Conductors and insulators; Voltage, current, resistance, Since Foundations of Wireless was first published
capacitance and inductance; Semiconductors; Primitive over 60 years ago, it has helped many thousands of
readers to become familiar with the principles of radio 288 pages Order code NE42 £10.99
logic functions; Binary arithmetic; Boolean algebra;
Karnaugh maps; State diagrams, tables and machines; and electronics. The original author Sowerby was suc-
Analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog; Integrated circuits ceeded by Scroggie in the 1940s, whose name became THE AMATEUR SCIENTIST
CD-ROM
(ICs); Memory ICs; Programmable ICs; Application-specific synonymous with this classic primer for practitioners CD-ROM
integrated circuits (ASICs); Circuit boards (PWBs and and students alike. Stan Amos, one of the fathers of The complete collection of The
DWBs); Hybrids; Multichip modules (MCMs); Alternative modern electronics and the author of many well-known Amateur Scientist articles from
and future technologies. books in the area, took over the revision of this book in Scientific American magazine.
500 pages Order code BEB1 £27.50 the 1980s and it is he, with his son, who have produced Over 1,000 classic science pro-
this latest version. jects from a renowned source of
BEBOP BYTES BACK (and the CD-R 400 pages Temporarily out of print winning projects. All projects are
Beboputer Computer Simulator) OM
rated for cost, difficulty and pos-
CD-ROM GETTING THE MOST FROM YOUR
Clive (Max) Maxfield and sible hazards.
MULTIMETER Plus over 1,000 pages of helpful
Alvin Brown
R. A. Penfold science techniques that never
This follow-on to Bebop to This book is primarily aimed at beginners and those of lim-
the Boolean Boogie is a appeared in Scientific
ited experience of electronics. Chapter 1 covers the basics American.
multimedia extravaganza of of analogue and digital multimeters, discussing the rela-
information about how com- Exciting science projects in: Astronomy; Earth Science;
puters work. It picks up tive merits and the limitations of the two types. In Chapter Biology; Physics; Chemistry; Weather . . . and much more!
where “Bebop I’’ left off, guid- 2 various methods of component checking are described, The most complete resource ever assembled for hobbyists,
ing you through the fascinating including tests for transistors, thyristors, resistors, capaci- and professionals looking for novel solutions to research
world of computer design . . . and tors and diodes. Circuit testing is covered in Chapter 3, problems.
you’ll have a few chuckles, if not belly laughs, along the with subjects such as voltage, current and continuity Includes extensive Science Software Library with even more
way. In addition to over 200 megabytes of mega-cool checks being discussed.
multimedia, the CD-ROM contains a virtual microcom- science tools.
In the main little or no previous knowledge or Suitable for Mac, Windows, Linux or UNIX. 32MB RAM
puter, simulating the motherboard and standard com- experience is assumed. Using these simple compo-
puter peripherals in an extremely realistic manner. In minimum, Netscape 4.0 or higher or Internet Explorer 4.0
nent and circuit testing techniques the reader should
addition to a wealth of technical information, myriad or higher.
nuggets of trivia, and hundreds of carefully drawn illus- be able to confidently tackle servicing of most elec-
Over 1,000 projects
trations, the CD-ROM contains a set of lab experiments tronic projects.
for the virtual microcomputer that let you recreate the
experiences of early computer pioneers. If you’re the 96 pages Order code BP239 £5.49 CD-ROM Order code AS1 CD-ROM £19.95
Music, Audio and Video

MAKING MUSIC WITH YOUR COMPUTER NEW Whether you want to stay bang up to date with the lat- system. During his short working life, Blumlein pro-
Stephen Bennett est music or create your own MP3s and join the on-line duced patent after patent breaking entirely new ground
Nearly everyone with musical aspirations also has a com- digital music revolution, this book will show you how. in electronic and audio engineering.
puter. This same computer can double as a high quality During the Second World War, Alan Blumlein was
recording studio capable of producing professional 60 pages Order code PC119 £7.45 deeply engaged in the very secret work of radar devel-
recordings. This book tells you what software and hard- opment and contributed enormously to the system
ware you will need to get the best results. ELECTRONIC MUSIC AND MIDI PROJECTS eventually to become ‘H2S’ – blind-bombing radar.
You’ll learn about recording techniques, software and R. A. Penfold Tragically, during an experimental H2S flight in June
effects, mixing, mastering and CD production. Whether you wish to save money, boldly go where no 1942, the Halifax bomber in which Blumlein and sever-
Suitable for PC and Mac users, the book is full of tips, musician has gone before, rekindle the pioneering spiral colleagues were flying, crashed and all aboard were
“how to do” topics and illustrations. It’s the perfect answer it, or simply have fun building some electronic music killed. He was just days short of his thirty-ninth birth-
to the question “How do I use my computer to produce my gadgets, the designs featured in this book should suit
own CD?” day.
your needs. The projects are all easy to build, and
some are so simple that even complete beginners at 420 pages Order code NE32 £17.99
92 pages Order code PC120 £10.95
electronic project construction can tackle them with
ease. Stripboard layouts are provided for every project, VIDEO PROJECTS FOR THE
together with a wiring diagram. The mechanical side of ELECTRONICS CONSTRUCTOR
QUICK GUIDE TO ANALOGUE SYNTHESIS
construction has largely been left to individual con- R. A. Penfold
Ian Waugh
Even though music production has moved into the digi- structors to sort out, simply because the vast majority Written by highly respected author R. A. Penfold, this
tal domain, modern synthesisers invariably use ana- of project builders prefer to do their own thing in this book contains a collection of electronic projects spe-
logue synthesis techniques. The reason is simple – respect. cially designed for video enthusiasts. All the projects
analogue synthesis is flexible and versatile, and it’s rel- None of the designs requires the use of any test can be simply constructed, and most are suitable for
atively easy for us to understand. The basics are the equipment in order to get them set up properly. Where the newcomer to project construction, as they are
same for all analogue synths, and you’ll quickly be able any setting up is required, the procedures are very
straightforward, and they are described in detail. assembled on stripboard.
to adapt the principles to any instrument, to edit exist-
ing sounds and create exciting new ones. This book Projects covered: Simple MIIDI tester, Message There are faders, wipers and effects units which will
describes: How analogue synthesis works; The essen- grabber, Byte grabber, THRU box, MIDI auto switcher, add sparkle and originality to your video recordings, an
tial modules every synthesiser has; The three steps to Auto/manual switcher, Manual switcher, MIDI patchbay, audio mixer and noise reducer to enhance your sound-
synthesis; How to create phat bass sounds; How to MIDI controlled switcher, MIDI lead tester, Program tracks and a basic computer control interface. Also,
generate filter sweeps; Advanced synth modules; How change pedal, Improved program change pedal, Basic there’s a useful selection on basic video production
to create simple and complex synth patches; Where to mixer, Stereo mixer, Electronic swell pedal,
find soft synths on the Web. techniques to get you started.
Metronome, Analogue echo unit.
If you want to take your synthesiser – of the hardware Complete with explanations of how the circuit works,
or software variety – past the presets, and program 124 pages Order code PC116 £10.95 £5.45 shopping lists of components, advice on construction,
your own sounds and effects, this practical and well- and guidance on setting up and using the projects, this
illustrated book tells you what you need to know. invaluable book will save you a small fortune.
THE INVENTOR OF STEREO – THE LIFE AND WORKS Circuits include: video enhancer, improved video
60 pages Order code PC118 £7.45 OF ALAN DOWER BLUMLEIN enhancer, video fader, horizontal wiper, improved
Robert Charles Alexander video wiper, negative video unit, fade to grey unit,
QUICK GUIDE TO MP3 AND DIGITAL MUSIC This book is the definitive study of the life and works of
black and white keyer, vertical wiper, audio mixer,
Ian Waugh one of Britain’s most important inventors who, due to a
cruel set of circumstances, has all but been overlooked stereo headphone amplifier, dynamic noise reducer,
MP3 files, the latest digital music format, have taken the
music industry by storm. What are they? Where do you by history. automatic fader, pushbutton fader, computer control
get them? How do you use them? Why have they thrown Alan Dower Blumlein led an extraordinary life in interface, 12 volt mains power supply.
record companies into a panic? Will they make music which his inventive output rate easily surpassed that of 124 pages Order code PC115 £10.95 £5.45
easier to buy? And cheaper? Is this the future of music? Edison, but whose early death during the darkest days
All these questions and more are answered in this of World War Two led to a shroud of secrecy which has
concise and practical book which explains everything covered his life and achievements ever since. HIGH POWER AUDIO AMPLIFIER
you need to know about MP3s in a simple and easy-to- CONSTRUCTION
His 1931 Patent for a Binaural Recording System
understand manner. It explains: R. A. Penfold
was so revolutionary that most of his contemporaries Practical construction details of how to build a number of
How to play MP3s on your computer; How to use regarded it as more than 20 years ahead of its time.
MP3s with handheld MP3 players; Where to find MP3s audio power amplifiers ranging from about 50 to 300/400
on the Web; How MP3s work; How to tune into Internet Even years after his death, the full magnitude of its watts r.m.s. includes MOSFET and bipolar transistor
radio stations; How to create your own MP3s; How to detail had not been fully utilized. Among his 128 designs.
record your own CDs from MP3 files; Other digital patents are the principal electronic circuits critical to
audio music formats. the development of the world’s first elecronic television 96 pages Temporarily out of print

Data and Project Building & Testing
Design ELECTRONIC PROJECTS FOR EXPERIMENTERS
R. A. Penfold
Many electronic hobbyists who have been pursuing their
link, P.W.M. audio links, Simple d.c. links, P.W.M. d.c. link,
P.W.M. motor speed control, RS232C data links, MIDI
link, Loop alarms, R.P.M. meter.
hobby for a number of years seem to suffer from the All the components used in these designs are readily
PRACTICAL ELECTRONIC FILTERS dreaded “seen it all before’’ syndrome. This book is fairly available, none of them require the constructor to take out
Owen Bishop and squarely aimed at sufferers of this complaint, plus a second mortgage.
This book deals with the subject in a non-mathematical any other electronics enthusiasts who yearn to try some-
way. It reviews the main types of filter, explaining in sim- 132 pages Order code BP374 £5.45
thing a bit different. No doubt many of the projects fea-
ple terms how each type works and how it is used. tured here have practical applications, but they are all DISCOVERING PICS
The book also presents a dozen filter-based projects worth a try for their interest value alone. W.D.Phillips BOOK
with applications in and around the home or in the A good introduction to PIC PLUS CDROM
The subjects covered include:- Magnetic field detector,
constructor’s workshop. These include a number of audio programming, covering every- PLUS HARDWARE
Basic Hall effect compass, Hall effect audio isolator, Voice
projects such as a rythm sequencer and a multi-voiced
scrambler/descrambler, Bat detector, Bat style echo loca- thing you need to know to get
electronic organ.
tion, Noise cancelling, LED stroboscope, Infra-red “torch’’, you started. No previous knowledge of microcontrollers is
Concluding the book is a practical step-by-step guide to
designing simple filters for a wide range of purposes, with Electronic breeze detector, Class D power amplifier, required, but some previous experience with electronic
circuit diagrams and worked examples. Strain gauge amplifier, Super hearing aid. circuits is assumed. Covers the basic concept of a micro-
controller, fundamentals of a PIC-based circuit and using
88 pages Order code BP299 £5.49 138 pages Order code BP371 £5.45
the MPLAB program. Further chapters introduce binary,
DIGITAL LOGIC GATES AND FLIP-FLOPS PIC architecture, the instruction set, the PIC memory map
Ian R. Sinclair FAULT-FINDING ELECTRONIC PROJECTS and special registers plus real world programming. Four
This book, intended for enthusiasts, students and techni- R. A. Penfold simple projects are also fully described; a Wavy Wand, an
cians, seeks to establish a firm foundation in digital elec- Starting with mechanical faults such as dry joints, short-circuits Electronic Dice, a Games Timer and a Pulse Monitor.
tronics by treating the topics of gates and flip-flops thor- etc, coverage includes linear circuits, using a meter to make The associated CDROM contains the book in PDF format,
oughly and from the beginning. voltage checks, signal tracing techniques and fault finding on MPLAB (plus instruction manuals in PDF format) and all the
Topics such as Boolean algebra and Karnaugh mapping logic circuits. The final chapter covers ways of testing a wide
programs covered in the book as assembler (ASM) files.
range of electronic components, such as resistors, capacitors,
are explained, demonstrated and used extensively, and In addition a p.c.b. based hardware kit is also available that
operational amplifiers, diodes, transistors, SCRs and triacs,
more attention is paid to the subject of synchronous coun- makes up into the Wavy Wand which will spell out a short
with the aid of only a limited amount of test equipment.
ters than to the simple but less important ripple counters. The construction and use of a Tristate Continuity Tester, a message via a line of l.e.d.s when waved through the air.
No background other than a basic knowledge of electron- Signal Tracer, a Logic Probe and a CMOS Tester are also
ics is assumed, and the more theoretical topics are 190 pages, A4 spiral bound
included.
explained from the beginning, as also are many working
Book + CDROM Order code DOC1 £22.00
practices. The book concludes with an explaination of 136 pages Temporarily out of print
microprocessor techniques as applied to digital logic. Book + CDROM + Hardware Order code DOC2 £28.50
PRACTICAL FIBRE-OPTIC PROJECTS
200 pages Order code PC106 £9.95 R. A. Penfold
While fibre-optic cables may have potential advantages
over ordinary electric cables, for the electronics
enthusiast it is probably their novelty value that makes For a further selection
them worthy of exploration. Fibre-optic cables provide an
innovative interesting alternative to electric cables, but in of books see the next
most cases they also represent a practical approach to
the problem. This book provides a number of tried and two issues of EPE
tested circuits for projects that utilize fibre-optic cables.
The projects include:- Simple audio links, F.M. audio
BOOK ORDERING DETAILS

All prices include UK postage. For postage to Europe (air) and the rest of the world (surface)
please add £2 per book. For the rest of the world airmail add £3 per book. CD-ROM prices
include VAT and/or postage to anywhere in the world. Send a PO, cheque, international money
order (£ sterling only) made payable to Direct Book Service or card details, Visa, Mastercard,
Amex, Diners Club or Maestro to:
A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO TTL DIGITAL ICs DIRECT BOOK SERVICE, WIMBORNE PUBLISHING LTD.,
R. A. Penfold 408 WIMBORNE ROAD EAST, FERNDOWN, DORSET BH22 9ND.
This book first covers the basics of simple logic circuits in
general, and then progresses to specific TTL logic Orders are normally sent out within seven days of receipt, but please allow 28 days for deliv-
integrated circuits. The devices covered include gates, ery – more for overseas orders. Please check price and availability (see latest issue of Everyday
oscillators, timers, flip/flops, dividers, and decoder cir- Practical Electronics) before ordering from old lists.
cuits. Some practical circuits are used to illustrate the use
of TTL devices in the “real world’’.
For a further selection of books and CD-ROMs see the next two issues of EPE.
142 pages Order code BP332 £5.45 Tel 01202 873872 Fax 01202 874562. Email: dbs@epemag.wimborne.co.uk
Order from our online shop at: www.epemag.co.uk/shopdoor.htm
MICROCONTROLLER COOKBOOK
Mike James
The practical solutions to real problems shown in this cook-
book provide the basis to make PIC and 8051 devices real-
ly work. Capabilities of the variants are examined, and
ways to enhance these are shown. A survey of common
BOOK/CD-ROM ORDER FORM
interface devices, and a description of programming
models, lead on to a section on development techniques. Full name: ...............................................................................................................................................
The cookbook offers an introduction that will allow any
user, novice or experienced, to make the most of micro-
controllers. Address: ..................................................................................................................................................
240 pages Order code NE26 £23.99
.................................................................................................................................................................
RADIO BYGONES .................................................................................................................................................................

We also carry a selection of books
.............................................. Post code: ........................... Telephone No: .............................................
aimed at readers of EPE’s sister maga-
zine on vintage radio Radio Bygones.
Signature: ................................................................................................................................................
These books include the Comprehensive
Radio Valve Guides. Also Jonathan Hill’s 1 I enclose cheque/PO payable to DIRECT BOOK SERVICE for £ ...................................................
excellent Radio Radio, a comprehensive
book with hundreds of photos depicting 1 Please charge my card £ .................................................................. Card expiry date....................
the development of the British wireless
set up to the late 1960s. Card Number ........................................................................................... Maestro Issue No..................
The four volumes of our own Wireless
For the Warrior by Louis Meulstee are Card Security Code ............... (The last 3 digits on or just below the signature strip)
also available. These are a technical his-
tory of radio communication equipment in Please send book/CD-ROM order codes: ..............................................................................................
the British Army and clandestine equip-
ment from pre-war through to the 1960s. .................................................................................................................................................................
For details see the shop on our UK web Please continue on separate sheet of paper if necessary
site at www.epemag.co.uk or contact us If you do not wish to cut your magazine, send a letter or copy of this form
for a list of Radio Bygones books.

PCB SERVICE
Printed circuit boards for most recent EPE constructional projects are available from
the PCB Service, see list. These are fabricated in glass fibre, and are fully drilled and
PROJECT TITLE
Audio System
– Preamplifier
– Mic. Supply Board
– Power Amp
Pain Monitor
MotorAmp
AUG ‘05
Order Code
516
517
518
519
520
£6.02
£5.23
£6.02
£7.14
£7.45
Cost
roller tinned. All prices include VAT and postage and packing. Add £1 per board for Back-To-Basics 5 – Kitchen Timer 521 £5.87
airmail outside of Europe. Remittances should be sent to The PCB Service, – Room Thermometer 522 £6.02
Everyday Practical Electronics, Wimborne Publishing Ltd., 408 Wimborne Road All-Band Radio – Full Version SEPT ’05 523 £5.71
East, Ferndown, Dorset BH22 9ND. Tel: 01202 873872; Fax 01202 874562;
Email: orders@epemag.wimborne.co.uk. On-line Shop: www.epemag. – Mini Version 524 £5.23
wimborne.co.uk/shopdoor.htm. Cheques should be crossed and made payable to Multicore Cable Tester – Main 525 £6.19
Everyday Practical Electronics (Payment in £ sterling only). – Active 526 £5.55
NOTE: While 95% of our boards are held in stock and are dispatched within Back-To-Basics 6 – Daily Reminder 527 £6.19
seven days of receipt of order, please allow a maximum of 28 days for delivery – Whistle Switch 528 £5.87
– overseas readers allow extra if ordered by surface mail. Model Railway Signal Control 529 £6.19
Back numbers or photocopies of articles are available if required – see the Back Snooker/Darts Scoreboard 530 £8.72
Issues page for details. We do not supply kits or components for our projects.
Please check price and availability in the latest issue. Photic Phone – Transmitter
– Receiver
OCT ’05
}
531 pair £6.98
532
A large number of older boards are listed on our website. Back-To-Basics 7 – Parking Radar 533 £5.71
Boards can only be supplied on a payment with order basis. – Telephone Switch 534 £5.55
Haloween Howler 535 £6.02
PROJECT TITLE Order Code Cost PIC-Based USB Interface 536 £6.19
Bongo Box JULY ’04 451 £6.02 PIC Chromatone NOV ’05 537 £6.82
Portable Mini Alarm – Sensor 452 £5.23 Back-To-Basics 8 – Noughts and Crosses Enigma 538 £6.66
– Counter 453 £5.07 – Weather Vane Repeater 539 £6.18
EPE Magnetometry Logger 455 £5.71 Multi-Function R/C Switch 540 £5.87
Keyring L.E.D. Torch AUG ’04 456 £4.12 Speed Camera Watch Mk2 541 £6.35
Teach-In ’04 Part 10 – PIC Curtain or Blind Winder 457 £5.39 Solid-State Valve Power Supply DEC ’05 542 £6.35
Simple F.M. Radio – F.M. Tuner 458 £5.07 Vehicle Frost Box Mk2 543 £5.71
– Tone Control 459 £4.75 Propeller Monitor 544 £6.02
– Audio Power Amp (TDA2003) 347 £4.60 Solid-State Hammond 545 £6.18
– Power Supply 460 £5.39 PIC Ambilux JAN ’06 546 £5.71
EPE Scorer – Control Board 461 £6.66 Sunset Switch 547 £6.98
– Display Board 462 £7.93 Current Clamp Adaptor for Multimeters 548 £5.39
– Slave Board 463 £5.55 Tiptronic-Style Gear Indicator
PIC to Mouse/Keyboard – Software only
EPE Wart Zapper
Radio Control Failsafe
SEPT ’04
–
464
465
–
£4.60
£4.76
– Micro Board
– Display Board
– Hall Speed Board
549
550
551
} per
set £7.61
AlphaMouse Game 466 £4.60

Rainbow Lighting Controller – Software only – –
Moon and Tide Clock Calendar OCT ’04 467 £5.55
Volts Checker 468 £4.20
Smart Karts – Software only –
Logic Probe
Thunderstorm Monitor
NOV ‘04 469
470
£4.76
£5.39
EPE SOFTWARE
MW Amplitude Modulator
– V.F.O./Buffer 471 £4.76 All software programs for EPE Projects marked with an asterisk, and
– Modulator/PA 472 £5.07 others previously published, can be downloaded free from our Downloads
– Power Supply 473 £4.76 site, accessible via our home page at: www.epemag.co.uk.
Super Vibration Switch DEC ‘04 474 £4.75
Wind Direction Indicator 475 £6.18
PIC Flasher Mk2 – Control Board 476 £4.75
– Transmitter 477 £4.44
– Multipurpose Board 478 £4.75
– Simple Cycler 479 £4.44 EPE PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD SERVICE
– Luxeon V Controller 480 £4.44
– Power Supply 473 £4.76 Order Code Project Quantity Price
Light Detector JAN ‘05 481 £4.44
Camera Watch 482 £6.03 .....................................................................................
Gate Alarm – Oscillator 483 £4.92
– Delay/Timer 484 £4.92
Sneaky – Transmitter FEB ‘05 485 £4.60
Name ...........................................................................
– Receiver 486 £4.91
PIC Electric Mk2 – Control 487 £5.87 Address .......................................................................
– Sensor 488 £5.71
Sound Card Mixer 489 £7.29 ..............................................................................
Headphone Monitor MAR ’05 490 £5.71
EPE Cat Flap 491 £6.02
Bingo Box – Main 492 £9.04 Tel. No. .........................................................................
– Big Digit Display 493 £10.31
Spontaflex Radio– Tuner APR ‘05 494 £5.55 I enclose payment of £................ (cheque/PO in £ sterling only) to:
– Coil Pack 495 £5.71
– Audio Amplifier 496 £5.55
– Tuning Capacitor Board 406 £4.28 Everyday
Safety Interface 497 £6.18
Back-To-Basics 1– Fridge/Freezer Door Alarm 498 £5.39 Practical Electronics
Crossword Solver MAY ’05 499 £6.66
20W Amplifier Module 500 £5.14 MasterCard, Amex, Diners
Back-To-Basics 2 – Water Level Alarm 501 £5.39 Club, Visa or Switch/Maestro
– Burglar Alarm 502 £5.87
PIC Ultrasonic Scanner JUN ’05 503 £6.66
Radio Control Model Switcher 504 £5.87
Back-To-Basics 3 – Scarecrow 505 £5.55 Card No. ................................................................................
– Digital Lock 506 £6.66
CompactFlash Interface Board 507 £6.66
Valid From ....................... Expiry Date ...............................
LF/VLF Converter JUL ’05 Card Security Code ............. Switch/Maestro Issue No .........
– Fixed Capacitor Board 508 £5.71 (The last 3 digits on or just under the signature strip)
– Mixer/Oscillator Board 509 £5.86
– Buffer Amplifier 510 £5.23
– Q-Multiplier 511 £5.23 Signature ..............................................................................
– Tuning Capacitor Board 406 £4.28
Back-To-Basics 4 – Doorchime 512 £6.34
– Electronic Dice 513 £6.02
NOTE: You can also order p.c.b.s by phone, Fax, Email or via our
Cybervox 514 £6.82 Web site on a secure server:
Multi-Clap Switch 515 £6.66 http://www.epemag.wimborne.co.uk/shopdoor.htm

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“TIPTRONIC” STYLE

and TechBites Interactive Inc.,

All rights reserved.

TechBites Interactive Inc and Wimborne Publishing Ltd have used

Because of possible variances in the quality and condition of materials and

Projects and Circuits

Series and Features

Regulars and Services

© Wimborne Publishing Ltd 2005. Copyright in all

Everyday Practical Electronics, January 2006 1

Projects PROJECTS AND CIRCUITS

Everyday Practical Electronics, January 2005 7

COMPLAINTS ABOUT DAB

D AB digital radio started out as a hi-fi

Log the Loop

8 Everyday Practical Electronics, January 2006

Alternative Toys Art Pad

Everyday Practical Electronics, January 2006 9

10 Everyday Practical Electronics, January 2006

Everyday Practical Electronics, January 2006 11

12 Everyday Practical Electronics, January 2006

Everyday Practical Electronics, January 2006 13

Table 1: Resistor Colour Codes

14 Everyday Practical Electronics, January 2006

Table 1: Resistor Colour Codes

14 Everyday Practical Electronics, January 2006

Everyday Practical Electronics, January 2006 15

16 Everyday Practical Electronics, January 2006

Fig.6: the pickup coil used in the speed sensor is mounted

The coil sensor version is shown in

Everyday Practical Electronics, January 2006 17

18 Everyday Practical Electronics, January 2006

Everyday Practical Electronics, January 2006 19

Fig.8: this full-size artwork can be used as a drilling

Fig.9 (right): check your etched PC boards 550

Reproduced by arrangement with SILICON CHIP

due to clutch or torque converter

20 Everyday Practical Electronics, January 2006

22 Everyday Practical Electronics, January 2006

Simple FM Radio – Euro Set

Fig.1. Complete circuit diagram for the simple FM Radio

24 Everyday Practical Electronics, January 2006

26 Everyday Practical Electronics, January 2006

Everyday Practical Electronics, January 2006 27

28 Everyday Practical Electronics, January 2006

Table 1: Resistor Colour Codes

Everyday Practical Electronics, January 2006 29

30 Everyday Practical Electronics, January 2006

Reproduced by arrangement with

547 Fig.6: this is the full-size

Everyday Practical Electronics, January 2006 31

Using SPI Bus Devices

M cially PICs, come pre-equipped

Everyday Practical Electronics, January 2006 33

PLEASE ENSURE YOU TELEPHONE TO CHECK AVAILABILITY OF

34 Everyday Practical Electronics, January 2006

36 Everyday Practical Electronics, January 2006

Continuing his response to a reader’s question, our “consultant surgeon” amplifies

38 Everyday Practical Electronics, January 2006