MEM Naa UA AEH AMMA TP =e VERYDAY PRACTICAL ‘moms ELEC. TRONICS COTTE Tats Pos LIGHTNING DETECTOR - PIC control uses sophisticated | digital] Biel processing - Accurate to 0.1° over 3607 | * Four-digit LED display~ US AN SS ‘VOIGE ‘EXTERMINATE!’ NEVER SOUNDED BD GOOD) SEMTEST — PART 2 COMPLETE CIRCUIT DESCRIPTION OF THE ULTIMATE\SILICON.CHECKER \ Raspberry Pi ele mia iio an lary Jumpstart DE = pariect ttor diyimannicy fainOne platform for 8-, 16- and 32-bit development - with Microchip’s MPLAB® X IDE ~/ 32-bit PIC® v Tet Cereal oe Palla ee Sra eect dsPIC® Digital Signal 1-5 DMIPS/MHz Cea eer Microconteolters 256K Flash » er raaey Ona po SLs Oe Rey Tel igacd cet Ela) UNL MPLAB® X IDEis the free, integrated toolset for all of Microchip's 900+ B., 16- and 32-bit PIC’ Microcontrollers, dsPIC* Digital Signal Controllers, and memory devices. Based on the open-source NetBeans platform, MPLAB X runs on Windows® OS,MAC* OS and Linux, supports many third-party tools, and is compatible with many NetBeans plug-ins. Download a free copy of MPLAB X and choose fram a choice of new C compilers: MPLAB XC compilers help increase code speed of any PIC MPLAB XCB for 8-bit MCUs Microcontroller or dsPIC* digital signal controller by 30%, whilst ‘i ; also cutting code size by 35%, These new compilers give METAB E16 for 16-bit MCUs designers the choice of Free, Standard or Pro cade optimisation and DSCs levels for bit, 16- oF 32 bit development, ora single C compiler MPLAB XC32 for 32-bit MCUs suite to support all Microchip Microcontrollers and MPLAB XC Suite for all digital signal controllers, 900+ PIC MCUs and dsPIC DSCs. Microchip's tool chain of compatible compilers and debugger/programmers operate seamlessly within the universal cross platform and open-source MPLAB’ X integrated development environment, reducing both learning curves and tool investments. Evaluate MPLAB X today! www.microchip.com/get/eumplabx MICROCHIP Microcontrollers * Digital Signal Controllers * Analog * Memory + Wirelesses aa © NEWS e COMMENT ¢ © POPULAR FEATURES TT Tee TE) CULE) EVERYDAY PRACTICAL ELECTRONICS INCORPORATING ELECTRONICS TODAY INTERNATIONAL www.epemag.com (© Wimborne Pubishg Lid 2013. Copynghtn all, Projects aud Cireults LIGHTNING DETECTOR 10 by John Clarke ieck and play safely inthe open wth our atmosphere megavolt dodger! SEMTEST - PART 2 10 by Jim Rowe Introducing the full crc of ths versatie discrete component checker DIGITAL SPIRIT LEVEL 28 By Andrew Levido Not just an end to wonky shelves, but a great introduction to MEMS components INTERPLANETARY VOICE 38 by John Clarke Extorminate! the vitmate Dalek and Darth Vader voice project INGENUITY UNLIMITED os Electre bianket co Lup the heat! ‘TECHNO TALK by Mark No'son a Not what you expected” MAX'S COOL BEANS by Max The Magniicont 48 Grains of sand. What are the chance 18 mesh networked propeller beanve has, JUMP START by Mike and Richard Tooley 48 DC Motor Controle RASPBERRY PI by Nike Hisbett os Furtner investigation PIC N’ MIX by Mike Hibbett 87 Increasing the speed - saving power CIRCUIT SURGERY by Ian Boll 60 Fipeiop archwecture PRACTICALLY SPEAKING by Robert Penfols os. Project x NET WORK by Alan Wirstanloy 7 Pocket the best! Far sited. Herding eats EDITORIAL 7 Lightning. Daleks ang accelerometers MEWS ~ Barry Fox highlights technology's leading edge a Plus everyday news fom tne worl of electronic MICROCHIP READER OFFER. 7 EPE Exclusive -Wina iP XLP 8 Bit Development Board SUBSCRIBE TO EPE ans cave money 36 EPE BACK ISSUES Did you miss these? 56 (CD-ROMS FOR ELECTRONICS 70 B vice range of C0 ROMs for hobbysis, students and enginec DIRECT BOOK SERVICE 75 Boise range of 1 backs avalable by mailorder, plus more CD-ROM. EPEPCB SERVICE 78 Pc 8 ADVERTISERS INDEX 79 ‘rawings. photographs and articles pubished in _ EVENDAY PRACTICAL ELECTRONICS w fly NEXT MONTH! - Hichghts of next month's ERE 80 Protected, and reproduction or imitations in whole oF part are expressi forbcen. (Our Apri 2013 sue wai be pubished on Readers’ Services ° Editorial and Advertisement Departments 7 Thursday 7 March 2013, S20 page 80 or cota Everyday Practical Electronics, March 2013QUASAR ree UY Barrie eter) carer Ne have a wide range L Pro enue eren oe eee Tey iceoe Uris Parallel (LOC136) £3.95 Serial Rreoryetd 'USB'Senal connection Header cable for [CSP Free Windows XP sof ware, See webste for PICS supported. ZIF Socket and JUSB lead extra, 18Véc Kit Order Cod: 3149EKT = £49.95 Assembled Order Code AS3149E - £64.95 Assembled with ZIF socket Order Code: ASSMSEZIF “£74 95 USB PIC programmer for a wide range of Fash davoos see ‘website for detais. Free Windows Software. ZIF Socket and USB lead not cluded. Powered via USB port - no external power supply required Assembled with IF socket Order Code: ‘AS31SOZIF “£6498 Uses serial port and any standard terminal comms program. 4 LED's display ne status. ZIF sockats not included. Supply: 16Vde, it Order Code: 9123KT = £28.98 ‘Assembled Order Code: AS31253 - £39.95 Go trom complete begin to burning a PIC and waiting code in no time! Incuses 49 page step-by-step POF TTutoral Marval, Program: sing Hardware (wth LED {est section) Win 3.11-—XP Programming Software (Program, Read, Vey & Erase), and trewmtable PICTGFBAA that you can use ‘with different code (4 detaled exampies pro ‘ded for you to lear from). PC parallel por, Kit Order Code 3081KT - £16.95 Assembled Order Code: AS3081 - £24.95 Low cost PIC program. ‘mer board supporting 8 wide range of Micro chip® PIC microcon- tioless. Requires PC sera port Windows interface supplied. Kit Order Code: KBO76KT- £34.95 ‘The PIC Programmer & Experimenter Board with test butlons and LED ind= calors to carry out educa. tional experiments, suchas! the supplied programming examples. I cludes a 16F627 Flash Microcontvolie that an be reprogrammed up to 1000 times for experimenting at will Software to comple and program your source code is cluded. Kit Order Code: KEO48KT - £34.95 [Assembled Order Code: VMI11 - £44.95 ere ee a Reet’ ree (Order Code ores 5 digital input chan- e's and 8 digital out put channels plus two ‘analogue inputs and ‘wo analogue outputs ith 8 bt resolution Kit Order Code: KEQSSNKT - £29.95 Assembled Order Code: VMTi0N - £43.95 State-ol-he-Art High secunty 4 channels. Momentary of latching relay output. Range up to 40m, Up to 15 Tx can be learnt by one Rx (ki in cludes one Tx but more avai able separately). indicator LED's. Rx PCB T7x@Smm, 12VécI6MA (standby). Two & Ten Channel versions also avaiable Kit Order Code: 3180KT - £54.95 ‘Assembled Order Code: AS3180 - £54.95 ‘Serial por 4-channel ten- perature logger. °C or "F Continaousty logs up to 4 separate sensors located 200m from board. Wide (roe of ree software applications frst inglusing data PCB just 45x45mm. Powered Dy PC. Includes one DS 1820 sensor Kit Order Code: $145KT - £19.95 Assembled Ordor Code: AS3145 - £26.95 ‘Adeitonal DS1620 Sensors - £4.95 each Place nex 9 a mobile phone (not included) Allows toggle or aulo- timer conto of 3A mans rated ulput relay from any location} with GSM coverage Kit Order Code: MK160KT - £11.95 atyourprenerun- Sercan a or phone fom annere Premed oie met um ol any of the 4 relays as de- « Shad, Uo uti Sct Posswod mer ings Anewer, ao Fangs ara {oveu nse paste case GOK Ho sor Power taco ‘Gori, Goce Ss0KT 7095 FSsombed Ore Coos ASST - £9495 v Computer controlled 8 channel relay board. 5A ‘main rated relay outputs fad 4 optorsolated digital inpus (for montoring Switch states, ete) Useful ina variety of control and e ‘Sensing applications. Programmed via senl port (use our new Windows interface, tem ‘al emulate or batch fil) Sera cable can be up 10 36m long Includes plastic ease 130x100x30mm. Power. 12VdcIS00MA, Kit Order Code: 3108KT - £76.95 ‘Assembled Order Code: AS3108 - £89.95 Sme range. 112 x 122mm Suppy: 12VacI0 5A Kit Order Code: 3142KT - £64.95 ‘Assembled Order Code: AS3142 - £74.95 Control 12 onboard relays with included infrared remote con rol unit. Toggle or momentary Detect DTMF tenes from tape recorders, recewvers, two-way radios, ete using the bullin mic or erect from the phone line. Char acters are displayed on a 16 character display as they are received and upto 22 numbers can be displayed by scrol ig the display. Al data written othe LCD is ‘also sent toa serial output for connection to a ‘computer. Supply. 8-12V OC (Orcer Code SU303) Main PCB. 55x35mm. ‘Order Code: 3153KT- £37.95 ‘Assembled Order Code: AS3153 - £49.05 independent high power za channels. Preprogrammed or user-editable ight se- ‘quences. Standalone op- tion and 2-wire serial inter- face for microcontroler of PC communication with simple command set ‘Suitable for common anode RGB LED strips, LEDs and incandescent bubs. 56 x39 x 20mm. 128 total max. Supply: 12Vee. Kit Order Code: 8191KT - £29.95 ‘Assembled Order Code: ASB191 - £29.95Pena Peet eee 4 channel computer Serial por temperature ‘montor and lay con: troller with four pus for Dallas 0S18S20 or 10818820 digtal thor ‘mometer sensors (£3.95 each). Four SA ‘ated relay channels provide output control Rolays are independent of sensor channels, alowing flenbiy to setup the inkage in any \way you choose. Commands for reading temperature and elay control sent via the £5232 interface using simple text stings Control using a simple terminal comms program (Windows HyperTerminal) or our {tee Windows applicaton software. Kit Order Code: 31G0KT - £84.95 ‘Assembied Order Code: AS3190 - £99.95 Feature packed nonvolatile 40 second mult-message ‘sound recorder module vs. ng @ high qualty Winbond sound recorder. Stanc- ‘alone operation using just six onboard but- tons or use onboard SPI interface, Record using buitun microphone or extemal ine In. 8:24 Vac operation. Just change one re Sisto fr different recording duration’sound Quality. sampling frequency 4-12 KH. Kit Order Code. 3188KT - £29.95 ‘Assombied Order Code: AS3188 - £37.95 120 second version also avaiable Got beter performance from your stepper motors with this, {va ul bridge mator driver ‘based on SGS Thompson chips L287 & L298. Motor Ccurtent foreach phase set Using on-boa’d potentiometer Rated fo han- ‘le motor winding currants up to 2 Amps per ‘hase. Operates on §-36Vée supply voltage. Provides all basic motor controls including ful ‘or half stepping of bipolar steppers and direc- tion control. Allows multiple river synctront sation Perfect for desktop CNC applications ‘Kt Order Code: 3187KT £39.95 Assembled Order Code: AS3187 - £49.05 Digitally cleans the video signal and removes un- wanted distortion in video ‘Signal ln adiion itstablises "Mit plcture quality and luminance fuctuations ‘You wil aso benefit from improved picture {ually on LCD mentors or projectors. Kt Order Code: K8036KT - £29.95 ‘Assembled Order Code: VMi06 - £44.95 Motor Speed Controllers oe Contra! the speed ot ‘imost any common DC motor rated up to {OOVI7 5A. Puise with ‘madu'ation cutput for maximum motor torque ‘at all spaeds. Supply §-15Véc. Box supped Dimensions (mm). 6OWs100Lx60H Kit Order Coe: 3067KT - £19.95 ‘Assembled Order Code: AS32067 - £27.95 Contr! the speed of ‘most eommen DC motors (cated up to $32Vdc/10A) n both the Torward and reverse 7 SE TET DEPENDS ON VOTTAGENT ¥ Fig: everthing (except the batteries) mounts on a single-sided PCB. ‘The component layout is shown above and, with the same-size photo at Tight, is self-explanatory. Fig.4 (right) is the drilling guide for the end End Panel Drill Guide Switeh LED LED Pot panel, There no labelling on th front panel jagram; all controls are labelled on. ‘smm 3mm 3mm 7mm. pin 3 high and diode Ds is then reverse biased. The 470nF capacitor then begins to charge via the 470k resistor. During this time, LED1 is lit (driven from pin 3). When the voltage across the 470nF capacitor reaches 2/3 of the supply voltage, pin 3 goes low and the 470nF capacitor is. discharged via diode D3. Thisis an unconventional monostable timer arrangement, Normally, pin 7, the disch:;e, would be connected to pin Gand would discharge the 470nF capacitor instead of usin: diode D3. Using Ds to discharge the capacitor frees pin 7 to perform another task. Because it can sink (pull down) to OV, itis suitable for use as a reset control for the following oscillator, C3, 1C3 is connected in astable (free-running) mode, run- ning at about 4kHz to drive the piezo transducer. Itis held in the reset condition, with its pin 4 pulled low by pin 7 (discharge) of IC2, when IC2 is not timing. Power supply As already mentioned, the Lightning Detector is powered from two AA-cells ora low volta. plupack supply. When running from the AA cells, current flows via the closed contact in the power connector (CON3) and through the 220 resistorto the OV supply. This resistor is included to prevent ‘excess current if the cells are inserted back-to-front. When. the cells are correctly inserted, the 222 resistor produces Everyday Practical Electronics, March 2013 a minimal voltage drop (normally less than 33mV and less than 100m with the detect LED lit). ‘When running from @ DC supply, the AA cells are discon- nected vie CONI (as noted earlier) and the incoming supply is regulated downto 3.9V using Zener diode ZD1 and resistor R1. The value ofthis resistor depends on the DC supply volt- age anywhere from 6V to 12V will be suitable, with resistor values of 1200 (6V}, 3300 (9V) or 4700 (12V). The negative supply connects to the circuit ground via the 220 resistor. Diode D1 reduces the 3.9V Zenor voltage supply to about 3.3V, We could have used a3.3V Zener diode on its own with- out D1. However, we want to be able to run the cirouit from two AA cells that provide a 3V supply. Ifa 3.3V Zener diode were used, the cells would be discharged via the Zener diode. So, by including diode D1, current is prevented from flowing. through the Zenerdiode. The Zener voltage is increased from 3.3V to 3.9V to compensate for the 0.V diode drop. D1alsoblocks reverse voltagoto the circuit should the 12V_ supply be connected with reversed polarity. With reverse polarity, Zener diode ZD1 is forward biased and clamps the voltae to no more than -0.6V below the OV supply. 1 stops current flowing through the circuit backwards. Battery indication When the power is first switched on, LED2 provides in- dication of the battery condition. LED2 is driven via PNP 13instructional Project Fame ema OC ma Ce 1 POB, code 888, 65mm x 86mm 1 remote control case, 135mm x 70mm x 24mm 1 panel label, 50mm x 114mm 1 miniature PC-mount SPDT toggle switch (Altronics $1421 or equivalent) (S1) 1 knob to suit potentiometer 1 switched 2.5mm PCB mount DC socket (CON) 2 Ad alkaline cells 2.8-pin IC sockets (optional) 1 tuning coil with ferrite rod (Jaycar LF-1020 or similar) 1 low-profile piezo transducer 2.6mm spacers 2M2.5 x 12mm screws 4.6mm selftapping screws 2 100mm cable ties 6 PC stakes 150mm length of red light gauge hookup wire 1 50mm length of black light gauge hookup wire Semiconductors 1 TA7642 single chip AM radio (IC1) (www.conrad-uk. com or eBay) 27555 CMOS 555 timers (IOM75S5IPA, TLCSSSCP, ‘TS5SSCN, LMCSSSCN or ICM7S55CN) (IC2,IC3) 2 3mm high intensity red LEDs (LED1, LED2) 2 5mm IR LEDs (LED3,LED4) 1 BCS47 NPN transistor (Q1) 1 BC549C NPN transistor (02) 1 BGS59 PNP transistor (Q3) 1.3.9V 1W Zener diode (ZD1) 2.1N4148 signal diodes (D1,03) 1 1N4004 rectifier diode (02) Capacitors 2 10uF 16V PC electrolytic. 1 470nF MKT polyester 4 100nF MKT polyester 2 100nF ceramic 1 22nF MKT polyester 1 10nF MKT polyester 1 InF MKT polyester Resistors (0.25W, 1%) ATO —-2 220K 2180kQ 5 100k 222kQ 11k2 14700-11800 1 of 1209, 3302 or 4709 0.5W (RI - see text) 1 10k®2 og potentiometer, 9mm square, PCB-mount Reproduced by arrangement ‘with SILICON CHIP ‘magazine 2013. wwwsiliconchip.com au 110k2 1220 transistor Q3 and its base (B) is initially tied to OV via the 10xF capacitor. With the supply at 3V, Q3's emitter is at about 0.6V and the LED is driven at maximum brightness. That is with about 2.4V (3V — 0.6V) across the LED and 1800 resistor. Assuming an LED forward voltage of 1.8V, this produces @ current of about 3mA. ‘Ata lower supply voltage, the initial LED current is less and it will be dimmer. With a 2V supply, LED2 will be berely alight. indicating that the batteries should be replaced Whatever the supply, LED2 only lights momentarily and as the 10uF capacitor begins to charge via the 100k 4 Here's how the PCB fits inside the case. The top ‘corners need to be shaped to fit the case mounting pillars, but otherwise it's a simple drop-in fit, secured by four sel lapping screws. The two AA batieries which power the unit fit under the moulding at the bottom. resistor, it dims and eventually goes out. The 220k0 resistor across the 10uF capacitor prevents the capacitor charging to any more than 2/3rds the supply. This provides a faster discharge of the capacitor when the supply is switched off. ‘The 2200 resistor is also used to discharge the capacitor when the supply is off, so itis ready to flash the LED when power is reappli Construction The Lightning Detector uses a PCB measuring 65mm x ‘86mm and is coded 888. This board is available from the EPE PCB Service. The topside component layout is shown in Fig.3. The PCB and components are housed in a plastic ‘case measuring 135mm x 70mm x 24mm. ‘The PCB is designed to mount on to the integral mount- ing bushes within the box. Make sure the front edge of the board is shaped to the correct outline so it fits properly. It can be filed to shape if necessary, using the PCB outline shape as a guide. Begin construction by checking the PCB for breaks in tracks or shorts between tracks or pads. Fix any defects, if necessary. Check the hole sizes for the PCB mounting holes and for the cable ties. These are 3mm in diameter. ‘You can then insert the resistors. Use the resistor colour code table to select each value or, better still, check each one witha digital multimeter. Then install the diodes; they ‘must be mounted with the orientation shown. Install the six PC stakes. IC2 and IC3 can be mounted on sockets or directly sol- dered to the PCB. When installing sockets and ICs, take care to orient them correctly ~ as indicated by the notch at one end ~ see Fig.3 Everyday Practical Electronics, March 2013‘The capacitors can be mounted next. The electrolytic, typos must be oriented with the shown polarity. Make sure these capacitors are placed on the PCB so their height above the surface is no more than 12.5mm; otherwise, the lid of the case will not fit correctly. Note that while provision is made for a capacitor across coil L1, one is not used in this circuit (as mentioned earlier). It is included so that you can experiment with the radio IC by placing atunin: capacitor between the two PC stakes ior coil Li and placing a fixed-value (if required) capacitor to pad out the capacitor range. This will allow the reception of radio broadcast stations. ‘The audio signal will be available at VR1’s wiper. A cou- pling capacitor (say 100nF or so) is required to connect this. signal to an external amplifier. Now mount [C1 and the transistors, taking care to place each in its correct place. If you happen to be using a Fer- ranti ZN414Z,from your IC collection for IC1, note that the GND and OUT pins are reversed compared to the specified ‘TA7642. You would also have to place the IC in the PCB oriented 180° to that shown on the overlay. ‘An MK484 has the same pinout as the TA7642. The ‘TA7642 has a greater sensitivity in the lightning detector ;pplicat'on compared to the MK484 and so ‘ven the choice, ‘we recommend using the TA7642, We did not try aZN414Z,, since this is no longer available. The potentiometer (VR1) and PCB-mounted switch $1 can now be soldered in. LED1 and LED2 arenext. These mount horizontally, butataheight of 6mm above the board suriace. Bend their leads 90° at ‘7mm back from the base ofthe LEDs, mak- ing sure the anode (A) lead is to the left. Detector coll L1 isastandard broadcast band coil pre- wound on to a small ferrite rod. There are actually two coils on the rod, but only one is used. Using your multimeter, find the coil that hes the greatest resistance. With our prototype, the main winding measured about 110, while the separate antenna winding measured 20. Connect the coil with the highest resistance to the PC stakes. The ferrite rod is secured to the PCB using a pair of small cable ties. The piezo transducer is mounted us- ing two 6mm-long standofis and M2.5 x ‘12mm screws. The screws are inserted from the underside of the PCB, pass throuch the spacers and tap into the piezo mounting tabs. If you are using a different piezo transducer that has larger mounting holes in the tabs, M3 screws could be used instead to tap into the plastic transducer tabs. Alternatively, two nuts can be used. Follow the wirin: diagram tomakethe connections from the piezo transducer and battery terminals to the PC stakes on the PCB. can be Everyday Practical Electronics, March 2013 ig 5: this samo-size panel artwork otocopied or downloaded and printed, then glued in place Thisend-on view shows thetwocontrols and two LEDs which, ‘mount on the end panel Noxt, install the battery clips into the battery compart- ment. The two connected terminals are placed on the right-hand side (es you look at the rear of the case with the compartment at the bottom). The spring terminal is placed tothe top and the raised section to the bottom. For the left sido, insert the separate terminals with the sprins torminal placed at the lower edge and the raised section to the top. Tho noxt step is to bend the two individual torminals to the outside of the compartment. You may need to stretch the contact springs so that the AA cells are held securely between the contacts. ‘The PCB is secured to the base of the case using four M3 x 6mm screws that screw into the integral mounting bushes in the box. Before fitting them in place, rilloutthe small front panel forthe LEDs, potentiometer and switch. Fi:.4showsthe drilling template and this can be copied and attached to the panel during drilling, ‘The panel label for this project can either be photocopied (see Fig.5) or for best results, it can be downloaded from the EPE website (www.epemag.com). ‘When downloaded, print it on to paper, sticky-backed ‘photo paper or plastic film. For protection and long life, paper labels should be covered with either sell-adhesive clear film or (as we normally do) hot laminateit (laminators and slooves are very cheap these days and give a tough protective layer!). If printing on clear plastic film (over- head projector film) you can print the label as a mirror image, so that the ink is behind the film when placed on to the panel. Again, this will give the label ‘maximum protection. Once the ink is dry, cut the label to size, ‘The paper or plastic film is glued to the panel usingaan even smear of neutral- cure silicone. For plastic film, ifyou are sluing it to a black-coloured panel, use coloured silicone such as grey or white, so the label can be seen againstthe black. 15‘onstructional Project RESISTOR COLOUR CODES 4-Band Code (1%) yellow purple yellow brawn. No. Value 1 470K82 brown 220k. 180k0 100k9 10k9 2 ‘ed red yellow brown 2 5 1 2 22ko 1 1 1 BI of 1 1 brown grey yellow brown ‘brown black yellow brown brown black orange brown od red red brown ‘brown black red brown yellow purple brown brown 1802 brown grey brown brown, 220 red red black brown the following (F1): 4700 yellow purple brown brown 3300 orange orange brown brown 1k 4700 ne brown Qa Q Q Q Q Q Q Q oO a On Q Qa a 1 1208 brown red brown brown A hole in the panel is required directly above the piezo transducer. This can be first drilled in the plastic lid and then once the panel label is affixed, cut the hole out using a sharp hobby knife. ‘Assmall piece of dark labricorloudspeaker foam (scrounsed from an old pair of headphones) can be used to cover the piezo transducer. Also, a black bezel over the panel hole can improve the finish ofthe unit. These are secured with asmear ofneutral curesilicone, Ourbezel came from the plastic dress plate that sits behind the nut ofa storeo 6.35mm jack socket. ‘S-Band Code (1%) yellow purple black orange red red black orange brown brown grey black orange brown brown black black orange brown} brown black black red brown red red black brown brown brown black black brown brown yellow purple black black brown brown grey black black brown red red black gold brown yellow purple black black brown orange orange black black brown red black black brown, Additionally, a cut out is r access to the DC socket. A rat-tail file can be used to make this hole in the lid. Testing Testing can be done with two AA cells or ‘a DC supply. Apply power and check that the power LED momentarily lights when the Lightning Detector is switched on. Check the supply voltage by measuring across diode D2. This should be around 3, but may differ depending on the state of the cells or the tolerance of the 3.9V Zener diode when a DC power supply is used. The voltage across the 220 resistor should be about 33mV with a 3V supply, or less with a lower voltage supply. Check the supply to IC1 at the emitter of Ql. This should be 1.46V with a 3V sup- ply, dropping to 1.287V with a 2V supply. ‘Adjust the sensitivity control fully clock- wise or back off if any indication persists. ‘You can now test the Lightning Detector as a fluorescent light is switched on. Conventional fluorescent tubes will cause the Liglitning Detoctorto givean LED detect, and tone indication as each starter attempts to light its tube. By contrast, compact fiuorescent tubes tend to be indicated ‘witha singe fash and tone asthe tube lights rapidly The sensitivity control is included to prevent the ning Detector from producing an indi no lightning, The control is adjusted clockwise for maxi- mum sensitivity to lightning, but not so far as to give false detection. EPE Everyday Practical Electronics, March 2013we a RYDAY is offering its readers the chance to win a Microchip XLP I §-Bit Development Boarcl (DM240313). The XLP 8-bit Development Board provides a low-cost, highly configurable, development system for Microchip's new line of extreme-low-power 8-bit PIC18F or PIC16F enhanced core microcontrollers that allow for design of sleep currents down to 20nA. The board supports development for the PIC18F87K22 or PIC16LF1947 MCUs, which highlight the capabilities of each product family. The board can be powered by five different power sources, including batteries or energy harvesting modules (sold separately), and it supports a variety of common components that can be selective ena- bled. The board is also expandable through the on-board PICtail connector that permits the addition of capabilities such as RF connectivity. The kit includes a USB cable, a power measurement cable, a Quick Start guide and a PICGLF 1947 PIM. The board is suitable for prototyping many low-power applications, including RF, temperature sensors, electronic door locks, LCD, remote controls, security sensors, smart cards, and energy harvesting. The PiCtail interface supports Microchip's extensive line of daughter cards for easy evaluation of your next low-power application. For your chance to win the XLP 8-Bit Development Board from Microchip, please wwwanicrochip-comps.com/epe-xlp8, and enter your dotails in the online entry form. ‘The closing date for this offer is 31 March 2013Ko SEMTEST Caen besa oo fo be tested Part 2: By JIM ROWE Check all those semiconductors in your collection with this easy-to-build test set! This month, we present the full circuit of this versatile unit, which can test all the discrete semiconductors in your collection. It employs a PIC16F877A microcontroller to run all the different tests, and displays the results on a 2-line LCD panel. IHERE’S quite a lot of circuitry in the new SemTest, despite the fact that most of its operation is managed bya microcontroller. For that reason, the circuitry is accommodated on two PCBs, which are stacked inside the case. To begin the circuit description we will start with the lower or main PCB, which carries the micro, the power supplies and metering. This section of the circuit is shown in Figs. Microcontroller IC4 forms the brain of the SemTest. We have used a 18 PICL6F877A. because it has five 1/0 ports, including three thet are eight bits wide. Italso includes a 10-bit ADC (analogue-to-digital converter) with a choice of eizht input channels. All eight bits of both ports B and D are used to control the various relays which provide the test configurations. The two ports drive ICS and IC6, which are ULN2803A octal Darling- ton arrays, which in turn drive a total of 16 relays. Most of these are on the upper PCB, but four relays are on the main board: Relay 1, which is used to switch the device test voltage on and off Relay 2, which switches the test voltage between its ‘BV’ or ‘OPV? modes Relay 7, which controls the value of the current shunt resistor used to measure device current (and hence switch current ranges) Relay 8, which controls the volt- age divider ratio for device voltage measurement (ie, to switch voltage measurement ranges). Everyday Practical Electronics, March 2013Connections to the relays on the upper PCB are made via CON3 and CONS Bit lines RCO to RC3 of port G, to: gether with REO and REt of port E, are used to control the LCD module, which is again on the upper PCB. These con- nections are made via CON2, which links to CONS on the upper board via 8 10-way IDC ribbon cable. ‘The remaining bit lines, RC4 to RC7 of port C, plus bit line RE2 of port F are used to monitor activity on the five pushbutton switches $3 to $7. These ‘mount on the instrument's front panel and are connected using a 16-way IDC ribbon cable from CON7 on the upper PGB to CONS on the main board. “The same connectors and cable are used to make the connections for relays 3 t0 6, 9, 15 and 16, plus the connec. tion for LED1 (the ‘Test Volts Present” indicator). High-voltage supply The test voltage power supply cir cuitry at upper left on Fig.5 has been adapted from the high-voltage power supply in the Electrolytic Capacitor Tester/Reformer described in August- September 2012. ‘As before, the supply isastep-up DC- DC converter using IC1 (an MC34063) as tho controller, with transistors Qt and Q2 used to drive MOSFET Q3 and transiormer T1. The ‘flyback’ voltage pulses developed by T1 are rectified by fast diode D2 and fed to the output filtering and current-limiting circuitry. ‘The MC34063 maintains the output voltage at the selected level by means ‘of negative feedback from the four 78k resistors in series with trimpot VR1 in the top leg, plus the 100k resistor connected from pin 5 of IC1 to ground as the ‘default’ bottom leg, This basic divider determines the converter’s nominal 10V' output level. ‘The three other operating test volt ages (25V. 50V and 100V) are achieved using switch S2a to bring other resist- ances in parallel withthe 100k0 lower relay 2{a) is used to ve the converter's much higher {about 600V) “BV" output voltage by switching in a680® resistor across the 100K2 resistor instead Trimpot VR1 is used to sot the converter’s OPV output voltages precisoly. Bit lines RA4 and RAS of the micro’s port A are used to sense the setting of switch $2, i, via poles Sab and S2c, Everyday Practical Electronics, March 2013 Main Features Acompact yet flexible test set for most common discrete semiconductor de- vices, including diodes (junction and Schottky), LEDs, Zeners, diacs, bipolar junction transistors (BJTs), MOSFETS, SCRs and thyristors (including triacs) Based on a PIC16F877A microcontroller, with device and test selection, plus the test results displayed via a 16x2 alphanumeric LCD readout. Devices to be tested are connected to the test set via an 18.way ZIF socket. Five test voltages are available: a 600V source for avalanche breakdown (BV) testing, plus achoice of either 10V, 25V, SOV or 100V for operating voltage (OPV) tests, Al test voltages are appliedto the DUT viacurrent-imiting resistors - 100k®2 in the case of BV tests or 2kMin the case of OPV tests. Maximum avalanche current which can flow during BV tests is 6mA (short circutt current) ‘Maximum device/leakage current which can flow with OPV = 100Vis oma, with OPV = S0Vis 25mA; with OPV = 25V is 12.5mA; and with OPV = 10V is 6mA. Minimum leakage current which can be measured = 1A, Diode tests (1) Reverse avalanche current Ip (BV) Repco Lvaeenerct (2) Reverse leakage current lz (OPV) with SILICON CHIP (8) Forward voltage drop Vr (OPV) (4) Zener/avalanche voltage Va (BV) LED tests (1) Reverse leakage current Ip (OPV = 10V) (2) Forward voltage drop Ve (OPV) BJT tests (1) Breakdown voltage C-B with emitter of¢ Visryca0) (2) Breakdown voltage C-E with base ole Vigqjceo {@) Leakage current C-B with emitter 0/¢ logo (OPV) (4) Leakage current C-E with base o/c Iceo (OPV) (6) Forward current gain re with a choice of three base current levels: 201A, 100}A oF 500A Maximum Nee which can be measured with ls = 20WA is 1500 (OPV = 100V) Maximum hee which can be measured with Ig = 100A is 300 (OPV = 100V) Maximum hee which can be measured with Ig = SO0uA is 60 (OPV = 100V) MOSFET tests (1) Breakdown voltage D-S with G-S shorted Vienjoss (2) Leakage current D-S with G-S shorted loss (OPV) (3) D'S current ipg versus G-S bias voltage Ves (ie, arm) ‘SCR, PUT and triac tests (1) Breakdown voltage with G-K (SCR) or G-A (PUT) shorted Vieraxs (2) Leakage current with G-K (SCR) or G-A (PUT) shorted laxs (OPV) (8) Current laxs with gate current applied (20uA, 100:A or 500A) and OPV applied (4) Voltage drop A-K when conducting Vax (OPV) ‘magazine 2013. sewwsiliconchip.com au Note: the test set operates from an external power source of 12V DC, Current drain varies from around 65mA when a test is being set up, to a maximum of approximately 900mA during testing, It can, therefore, be powered from either a 12V SLA battery or a 12V/1A mains power supply or regulated DC plugpack. 19Constructional Project bi Ag * ay stv aa “8 oleae I © rear I 10k gon1% 12kix Stk Ix 2001% 39k ‘i aa ad CONNECTS TO CONS J “ON UPERBOD ——\_ he nav SEMTEST DISCRETE SEMICONDUCTOR TEST SET main cincu't (Lower BOARD) Fig.5: the main part of the Sem‘Test circuit is built on the lower PCB and includes microcontroller ICA, the power supplies and metering. IC4 controls the relays via IC5 and IC5; performs A-D conversion of the measurements applied to its inputs and drives the LCD on the upper board via CON2. The test voltages (up to 600V) are generated by a DC-DC converter circuit based on ICi, transformer Tl and MOSFET Q3 at upper left 2» Everyday Practical Electronics, March 2013240k 1k 1% sey 00k % 200k ” 200k 1% Rewv7cot cs wn2803A. ls he mscou fa ava con, ls niscou hz aviscou hi nye cou, cons 5 rea ase 5] OF 1 4 ami 30k | sa! 205 EW 11 COW EU 10 CON HEWVI2c HEU 14 CON HEU 13.€O1 \ connects 10 con7 on enon 29 2008 ReAY CON 304,09. INAIUB a —— 1,202 4004, uF4007 — Everydlay Practical Electronics, March 2013 2instructional Project zn va we 16 X2LCD MODULE cownas} oh as IT \ conn 0 cos on a son Fig.6: the upper board circuit SEMTEST DISCRETE SEMICONDUCTOR TEST SET upper Board ciRcuIT ities the LCD module, an 18-pin ZIF (ero insertion force) socket to connect the device under test (DUT), the control pushbuttons and various relays to switch the device connections to CONG While we're looking at the DC-DC converter circuitry, note thet the second pole of relay 2 (2b) is used to adjust the value of the current-limiting resistance in series with the converter’s output, to suit the various output voltage levels. So, for the four output voltage settings selected by S22, the total curent-liraiting 2 resistance is (1.5K + (5000//99k0)), or just under 2k0. This limits the device ‘current toabout 30enA on the 100V range, On the ‘BY’ setting (relay 2 off, the current-limiting resistance jumps up to 100.5k0 - limiting the maximum current to less than 6mA, even if the device under test is shorted. Crystal X1 and its two associated 27pF capacitors are used to run the micro at MHz, which gives an instruc tion cycle time of 500ns. Analogue-to-digital conversion Now let’sturn to the micro’s ADCmod- ule and how it’s used to perform the Everyday Practical Electronics, March 2013TOW 10k iW vRi00 0k | erour uncion TRANSISTORS hopopabapr | fehs Fp yas fol yo ye \— connects 10 CON On man BAO ito Con ScoU rc wwa062-2 5 sess oon nas m.20 2 2D oy, ' Gs ‘ ae a The DC-DCsstep-up converter usedin this project can generate high vltages (up to 6O0V DC) and can also supply significant current. AS a result, i's capable of delivering a nasty electric shock and there are some situations where such a shock could be potentially lethal For this reason, 00 NOT touch any part of the circuit while itis operating, particularly around transformer T1, diode D1 and the 10 47jF 450V electrolytic capacitors on the main (lower) PCB. In addition, high voltages can also be applied to the display board ‘a CONG) during operation, so it’s not safe to touch certain parts on this board either. Exercise extreme caution if testing the unit with the lid opened and always allow time for the 47yF capacitors to discharge before working onthe circuit Everyday Practical Electronics, March 2013 23This inside the completed prototype shows how it all goes together. The two PCB assemblies are mou respective case halves on spacers and joined together via three IDC header cables, ‘Sen Test’s various metering, functions. Starting with the ADC's input channel ANO (IC4 pin 2), this is used to meas- ure the voltage Vpgv being applied to the device under test. Relay 8 is used to switch the upper leg of the voltage divider feeding ANO to give the Vpgv voltmeter two ranges: Oto 1028V inthe case ofthe hivher ‘breakdown voltace’ or BV range; and 0 to 102.8V for the lower ‘OPV" voltage ran; The second ADC input channel AN1 (IC4 pin 3) is used to measure the current Ipev passing through the device under test (DUT). It does this by measuring the voltage drop across @ shunt resistance connected between the negative end of the DUT 4 and ground. Here, relay 7 is used to switch the value of the shunt resistor, to provide two current ranges. When relay 7 is activated, it shorts the bottom end of the 398 ‘upper’ shunt resistor (o ground, which gives an effective shunt resistance of 39% this provides a 0-50mA current range. However, if the micro turns off relay 7, this removes the short across the paralleled 2.7MQ and 10k0 resistors, which bumps up the effective shunt resistance to almost exactly 10k, and thus provides a 0 to 200A cur rent range. On both ranges, the voltage drop developed across the shunt resist- ance is fed to the micro's AN1 input via buffer amplifier IC3b, which provides a gain of 1.205. This is used for scaling, ‘The third ADC input channel, AN2 (C4 pin 4), is used to measure Vos. the gate-source voltage ior MOSFE_ Itdoes this by using another input volt- age divider, with the top leg formed by the series 4700 and 20k0 resistors, and the bottom legby the 10k.resistor from pin 3 of IC3a to ground. This gives a 50:1 input division, which to ether with the vain of buffer amplifier IC3e (again 1.205) gives a voltage range of OV to 103.3V. Thismay seem too high for measuring voltages lower than 20V, but it was only pos- sible to give the AN2 voltmeter a si Everyday Practical Electronics, March 20131 ABS enclosure, 222mm x 446mm x 55mm 2 control knobs, 19mm diameter '5 SPST pushbutton switches, panel mount 1 18:pin ZIF socket 1 18:pin machined IC socket 1 18:pin IC socket, wire-wrap type 4M x 15mm tapped metal spacers 2M3 x 6mm M3 tapped nylon spacers 4M x 25mm machine screws 2M x 15mm machine screws 10 M3 x 6mm machine screws 10 M3 hex nuts 2.MB flat washers, nyion 4 16way (8x2) IDC header sockets 2 10-way (5x2) IDC header sockets, 4 16-way (8x2) pin headers, vertical PCB-mount 2 10-way (5x2) pin headers, vertical PCB-mount 1.300mm length of 16-way IDC ribbon cable 118mm length of 10-way IDC ribbon cable 1 16-way length of SIL pin header strip Main board 1 PCB, code 890, available from the EPE PCB Senvice, size 210mm x Ya4mm 2 19mm square heatsinks 1 6V SPDT mini relay (Jaycar ‘SY-40858 or simitar) 412V DPOT mini relay 2.SPST mini DIL relay 1 Ferrite pot core, 25mm da x 16mm. high (Altronies L5300 or sitar) 1 moulded bobbin to suit (L $305) 1 B.0MH2 crystal, HC-49S (X1) 11MB x 25mm nylon machine screw plus nut and washer 1 -pole é-position rotary switch 1 SPDT sub mini toggle switch, PCB-mount 2 8-pin DIL IC sockets, PCB-mount 1 40-pin DIL IC socket, PCB-mount 1.2.1mm concentric DC connector, nylon cable ties 4.1mm PCB terminal pins 1 Imlength of 0.8mm-diameter enamelled copper wire 110m length of 0.26mm-diameter ‘enamelled copper wire Semiconductors 1 MC34063 switchmode controller (ct) 1 LM35B dual op amp (IC3) 4 PIC16F877A microcontroller ‘programmed with 04103128.hex (ca) 2 ULN2803A octal driver (IC5,1C8) 1 LM3367-2.5 voltage reference (cr) 1 7805 SV reguiator (REG1) 4 80397 NPN transistor (Q1) 4BC327 PNP transistor (22) 1 IRFS40N channel MOSFET (23) 4.47V 1W Zener diode (2D1) 46.2V 1W Zener diode (2D2) 1 1N4004 1A diode (01) 4 UF4007 fast 1A diode (02) 3.1N4148 100mA diode (D3,04,09) Capacitors 2 1000uF 25V radial electrolytic 4 100uF 10V radial electrolytic 2. 47uF 450V radial electrolytic 1 47yF 16V radial electrolytic 2.470nF 630V MKT capacitor 4 100nF MET capacitor 2 10nF MKT capacitor 1 nF MKT or polyester capacitor 227pF NPO ceramic Resistors (0.25, 1%) 127™MQ — 22.4k0 1470k2 —1.2.2k0 4390kK2 11.602 3.300kK2 ~—1'1.5kN SW 1 240K 11k. 1 160K = 21k. 1W 5 100K 26800 475kQ 2 5600 333k 1W 1 10002 120k2 «168 112k 2560 910k = 1390 16.1kQ 1300 1392 1220 230K2 —-102725W 1 S0KS-multturn vertical timpot (VR1) 1 10k2 muititurn horizontal trimpot (re) Upper (display) board 1 PCB, code 891, available trom the EPE PCB Service, size 200mm x 124mm 1 162 LCD module 2.6V SPOT mini relays (Jaycar $¥-4058 or similar) 8 12V DPDT mini relays (Atronics $4150 or similar) 2SPST mini DIL relay 18-pin DILIC socket 41mm PCB terminal pins ‘Semiconductors 1 L358 dual op amp (IC2) 2.LM336Z.2.5 (IC8,1C9) 1 BC559 PNP transistor (24) 1 BCS49 NPN transistor (QS) 2 12V 1W Zener diodes (203,204) 15mm red LED (LED1) 4 1N4148 100mA diode (05-D8) Capacitors 1 220uF 10V radial electrolytic: 1100nF MKT capacitor Resistors (0.25W, 1%) 11Ma 222k 2120k2 «3 1k 2682 «26200 258kQ 2 1000 410KQIW 2680 168kD = 1220 447K. 1 10kG2 mini horizontal trimpot 2 10k0 multturn horizontal trimpot 1 10kG2 linear 16mm dual-gang pot 4.5k0 multtun horizontal trimpot Arey ee gate gle range, and this needs to measure voltages up to around 100V to cope ‘with Vos measurements on P-channel dovices (where the effective Ves must be found by subtracting the actual Ves from the device voltage Vpzv). ADC reference voltage ‘The ADG reference voltage for all three of these measuring ranges is provided at pin 5 of ICA, by the volt- age reference circuit based on IC7, trimpot VR2 and diodes D3 and D4. Everyday Practical Electronics, March 2013 together with a 2.4k0 load resistor. During set-up, VR2 is adjusted to bring the reference voltage across IC7 as close as possible to 2.490V, where it hasa temperature coelticient that's very close to zero, 25ynstructional Project All three ADG input circuits have been designed to give the most ac curate readings with this reference voltage, so this one adjustment per- forms the instrument's basic metering calibration. ‘That's just about it forthe main PCB circuitry. However, belore moving on, we should point out that the complete instrument runs from an external 12V DC supply which comes in via CONi, polarity protection diode D1 and power switch $1. The resulting +11.4V rail then feeds regulator REG1 (a7805), which provides +5V to power IC3, ICA, the LCD module and their associated circuitry. The +11.4V rail itself is also used to supply the various relays and the DC-DC converter based on IC1—when the micro tums on relay 1 to begin a test. It’s also used to power the Ipras circuitry on the upper PCB, as weshall see ina moment. Incidentally, the overall current drain of the Sem‘est from the external 12V supply ranges from around 65mA, when atest isbeing set up, to between 150mA and 900mA during testing (depending on the test concerned). A regulated 12V/1A plugpack supply or a 12V SLA lead/acid battery would be suitable. ‘The upper (display) PCB Now we can (urn our attention to the circuitry on the upper display PCB — see Fig6. This has the LCD module and control pushbutton switch area at upper left. Trimpot VR11 is used to set the LCD's contrast for maximum readability. The four data lines (D4- D7)and two control lines (EN and RS) are fed from various pins on CONS and linked back to CON2 on the main board. Similarly, the five pushbutton switches 83 to S7 are simply wired to CON?, which is linked to CON4 on the main board and then to pins 23 to 26 and pin 10 of microcontroller IC4, s0 the micro can monitor them. ‘Atlower left in Fi 6 are two program: mable current sources, used to provide the bese current Ipras for testing BITS, as well as the gate current for testing SCRs and PUTS. IC8, a 2490V refer: ence, together with op amp IC2a and PNP transistor Q4, is the positive Inias source. Similarly, voltscereference C9, IC2band NPN transistor Q5 isthe nega- tive Ipias source (or'sink’,ifyou prefer) ‘The 2.490V voltage references (ICB 26 or IC3) are connected to the non- inverting (+) input of their respective op amps, ie, IC2a or IC2b. The output of each op amp drives the base of the current pass transistor (4 or Q5), while feedback to the inverting input of each op amp is taken from the emitter of its pass transistor. Then the emitter of each transistor is taken either to tho +11.4V rail (in the case of Q4) orto ground (in the case of Q5), vvia a series resistance whose value is carefully chosen tohave. voltage drop of 2.490V when the transistor’s emitter current is at the desired level. For example, when relay 3 and relay 4 are both off, the emitter resist- ances for (4 and QS are both equal at 124,7KQ (120k + 4.70). Asa result, the current passed by either transistor will tend to stabilise at 20uA, ie, the level which results in a voltae drop of 2.490V across its emitter resistance. Rolays 3 and 4 are used to switch in Alifferent values of emitter resistance tor transistors Q4 and Q5, to change the ‘operating currents. For example, when relay 3 is energised by the micro, the 680 and S6KA resistors, plus trimpot ‘VR6 (or VR7), are switched in parallel with the fixed emitter resistors, chang- {ng the current level of each source to 00,4. Similarly, when relay 4 is energised, the combinations of 4.7k9 and 6200 resistors, plus trimpot VRS (or VR8), are switched in parallel with the fixed emitter resistors, changing the current level ofeach source to S00jA. So that’s how we program the Ipias current sources for currents of either 20uA, 1OOUA or 500A. Relay Sandrelay 6areusedtoswitch the output of either the upper +Isias source or the lower —Igias source, to the device test circuitry. By the way, when eitherrelay 5 orrelay 6 (or both) are off, the current sources obvi- ously can't provide any of the three preset current levels. The op amp ‘comparators simply bias their pass transistors ‘hard on’, ready to pass the appropriate current when current is able to flow. ‘That covers pretty well all of the circuitry on the left-hand side of Fig.6, apart from LEDi, the “Test Volts On’ indicator. This is connected between pin9 of CON? and :round, viaaseries 1k0 resistor. Ifyou reler back to Fig.5, you'll see that the LED is connected to the +11.4V rail whenever relay 1 switches on the DC-DC converter circuitry, to perform a test. ZIF socket In the centre of the right-hand side of Fig6 you'll see the 18-pin ZI socket, that’s used to connect the various types of discrete semiconductor de- vice to the Sem Test. The socket’s pin clips are divided into four groups: four for BJs at lower left, five for ‘MOSFE‘s at upper left, five for SCRs ‘and PUTs at upper right, and the re- ‘maining four for diodes and LEDs at lower right. You'll also note that within each device group there are some clips connected together; this has been done to provide for as many pinout configurations as possible, lor each type of device. the various relays used to set up the connections for each device type: relay 9 for diodes and LEDs, relay 10 and relay 11 for BJ's, relays 12, 13 and 14 for MOSFETs, and relays 15 and 16 for SCRs and PUT. If you ‘want to trace out the four separate relay circuits you will find this easier by referring back to the simplified circuits given in Fig.1 to Fig4 in the first article (February 2013). ‘The only other part of the circuitry ‘on the right-hand side of Fig. is that at top centre, associated with Zener diodes 2D3 and ZD4, and dual-gan; Pots VRi0a and VRiOb. These are used toadjust the gate bias voltage, Ves, for MOSFETs, which was also shown in Fig.3 of the first article ‘VR10a is used to adjust the positive Vos for N-channel MOSFETS, while ‘VR10b is used to adjust the ‘ne: ative’ Vs for P-channel MOSFETs. In operation, the microcontroller works out the effective Vos for the lattor devices by subtracting theactual voltage at VR10b's wiper from the de- vice voltage Voey (which in this case corresponds to the source voltage). That completes the circuit descrip- tion, Next month, we will present the construction details. We will also describe an add-on circuit to quickly Kill the high voltace applied to the ZIF sockot at the conclusion of a break- down voltage test, or ifthe SemTest is inadvertently switched offbefore the test has properly concluded. Everyday Practical Electronics, March 2013Not what you expected? Not all surprises are welcome; some cause problems and a few can be positively mai chnotalk Mark Nelson Fortunately, forewarned is forearmed, which is why Mark has some words for the wise. ANUFACTURERS have an ‘amusing saying about unified norms. ‘Of course we're in favour of industry standards; that's precisely why we support so many Aerent ones, Unortunately, snot a joke, particularly when a standard is not a standard. ‘Such was the experience of one of our readers, who writes: “I bought a pair of Philips headphones very cheap from Amazon in their special daily sales, and plugged them into my MP3 player. But garoled sound came out! All my other headphones work fine with the player." ‘What was causing this? Heanswers his own question: ‘Well, it seems to bo that Philips are making their headphones with a now type of 3.5mm jack pl desipved for Apple products (iPhone ete). This has an extra contact segment designed to alter the volume and pause playback, via a small control on the actual cablin:, Unfortunately, that extra contact band (making four in total) on the jack plus plays havoc (assume) with conventional stereo equipment, os ound out to my cost. So they have to so back to Amazon. If you consider that the 3.5mm plug is @ universal standard, its going to cause a lot of trouble in an already confused electronic world. Buyers beware ‘Amazon's web pase for the product is hardly crystal clear, describing them as Philips O'Neill SHO9567GB/10 Stretch Scratch Headphones “with iPhone Control’ without any messaze that the ‘phones are suitable only ior Whones. Indeed, it mentions ‘Extra 3.5mm plus for Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and Samsung’, which implies they can beused with other makes of equipment. ‘The cardboard box ior the headphones. states ‘tor iPhone/Pad ete, “but no other plug or adapter is supplied with the product, nor is there any warning that this special ack lays havoc on other equipment. Our reader continves “OF course I di test the headphones on an iPhone and they rectly then. But the point 1 that Pipe were sulin thos with ‘no warning and no adapte:. No wonder ‘Amazon was selling them off cheap! Unified/proprietary ‘standards’ Is there a standard for 3.5mm ‘mini- stereo’ connectors? Well, yes and no. There is a very good page on ‘Wikipedia covering the subject with good text and plenty of photos ot Ittp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phone connector (audio). The two and ithree-pole versions of the plugs and sockets are certainly established standards, but this has not stopped number of manufacturers from developins non-standard four and five-pole versions of the 3.5mm plu: for certain applications. Wikipedia explains that a four- conductor version is often used in compact camcorders and portable ‘media players, and sometimes also in laptop computers and smartphones, providing stereo sound plus a video signal. Proprietary interfaces using both four and five-conductor versions exist, where the extra conductors are used to supply power for accessories. The ‘ourconductor 3.5mm plug is also used as a speaker- microphone connector on handh amateur radio transceivers by Yaesu and on some mobile phones. The author of the Wiki page acknowledges that problems. exist, ‘edmitting that the possibility of three rings in the plug versus four Hos inthe aocke, an dering pin ‘assignment on the rings makes many physically compatible connections not elecirically compatible. For ‘example, plus. ing headphones or headsets from one manufacturer intoa socket from another may not function. 3.5mm tip-tinging-sleeve (ster plus-mic) sockets are particularly common on recent smartpho ‘and have been used by Nokia since 2006; these are often compatible with standard 3.5mm stereo headphones. ‘Two difierent formats are frequently found, both of which place left audio ‘on the tip and right audio on the first ing (mirroring the configuration found on stereo connectors). Where they differ is in the placoment of the microphone and return contacts. The first, which places the return signal on the second ring and the microphone on the sleeve, is used by Apple's iPhones as well as by HTC, ‘Samsung, Nokia and Sony phones, ‘among others. The second, which reverses these contacts, is used by older Samsung smartphones and ‘some Sony Ericsson phones. One such pin assignment, with ground on the Everyday Practical Electronics, March 2013 ‘Terminal Platform and been accepted as a national Chinese standard, Confused? You will be! More misery? Well, potentially and specifically for smartphone users. These days, nobody would think of running @ computer without antivirus protection (hope) but the time is not far off ‘when smartphone users will have to ird up their loins too, Cambridge- Based data security frm Trend Mico, which claims to be the third Larcest in this field after McA‘ee and Norton, has released its security predictions for 2013 and beyond. The chellene in the UK is raising user awareness, says Rik Ferguson, director of security research with Trend Micro. Mobile users. are still unwilling to accopt thet their phones are under threat. ‘Black hole’ exploit kits, currently the ‘computer security, are already by criminals, he says, and we soon see the first exploit kits capable fof targeting mobile devices, where me can be infected simpy ing a web page. Currently you need to download dodgy app to become infected, but toxic websites will be the game changer. Nobody can state tor certain what the most serious threat during, 2013, will be, but Trend is convinced it may be malicious and high-risk Android apps. Trend predicts these will reach fone million in 2013, up from 350,000at the end of 2012. And while traditional PC malware may recede @ bit during 2013, threats to devices running the ‘Android operating system will more than replace it. Worse, the emen;ence of more digital lifestyle devices means that threats could appear in new and ‘unexpected places, such as television sets and home appliances. Feeling uncasy now? Be careful then, because fraudsters are also cashing in ‘on user fear by circulating fake mobile antivirus applications purporting to be legitimate security. software. Avoid the risk by buying direct from a genuine developer. A couple of dozen products are available, several_ gratis, and you can find a review of all of them at http:/www.peadvisor:co.uk/ features/security/s355021/group-test- whats-best-android-antivirus/. 27Constructional Project Digital 9 ‘OST of us have a spirit level somewhere in our shed or ga- rage. These handy devices have been around since the mid 1600s, although the modern form of the device dates from the 1920s. A simpleairbubble in slightly curved tube of coloured alco- hol can indicate horizontal or plumb (vertical) with surprising accuracy. Often a quick check for plumb or level is all that is needed, but if you want to measure the actual an. le, then you need an inclinometer. You can buy a digital one for up to a couple of hundred pounds or build one for less than £30, thanks to the plummeting cost of MEMS accelerometers. 28 This project is really on the... errr. an electronic version of the old spirit level, except this one gives a digital readout of the angle of any flat surface in 0.1 degree increments from 0 to 360°. A MEMS accelerometer chip, as found in tablets and smartphones, is at the heart of the project. MEMS (micro electromechanical systems) technology is finding its way into all sorts of consumer electron- ics these days. Your tablet or smart phone has a MEMS accelerometer, so it knows whether you are holding it in portrait or landscape orientation. Handheld game controllers use both accelerometers and gyroscopes to detect how they are waved, shaken, pointed or flicked. Even my universal remote controller tses one to turn on its LCD when I pick it up. ‘The Digital Spirit Level described in this article uses a typical MEMS chip; the Freescale Semiconduc tor MMA#451Q. This tiny 16-pin . level. It’s an ‘inclinometer’, surface-mount device includes a14-bit 3-axis accelerometer, together with ‘2 sophisticated DSP (digital signal processor) and an °C interface, all for less than a couple of pounds. Add a low-cost PIC microcontroller, four 7-segment LED displays and a handful of common components and you have all that is necessary fora preity useful little instrument. Form factor Our Digital Spirt Level has a form fac- torthat's similar toasmall spirit level, and can measure angle of tilt with an accuracy of 0.1° over the full 360° of rotation. Operation could not be Everyday Practical Electronics, March 2013simpler. Just pick up the device and sive it a shake to bring it to life, then place it on the surface you want to measure. It will stay awake while it senses movement, and it will auto- matically turn off after 30 seconds of inactivity, How it works The inclinometer measures its orienta- tion with reierence to the acceleration due togravity, which, conveniently for usall, always points straight down. We nominate the side-to-side horizontal axis of the accelerometer as ‘x’, the top-to-bottom axis as y’ and the front- to-back axis as ‘z’ If the accelerometer is level. s-avity will be peréectly aligned with the y axis. However, when tilted as shown in Fig.1, there will be components of gravitational acceleration i and G x cos®) along both the ‘x’ and ‘y’ axes, doponding on the tilt angle. Using trigonometry, we could calcu- late the angle oftilt from the measured acceleration along the x or y axis, as Jong as we knew the gravitational ac- celeration. Unfortunately, this varies from the nominal 9.8ms? depending on location, since the Earth is neither periectly spherical nor uniformly dense. Fortunately, we can use the trigo- nometric identity tan = sin0/cos9, to solve our problem. If we take the inverse tangent (arctangent) oftheratio of accelerations along thexand y axes, the gravity terms cancel out end we arriveat the angle of inclination using only the acceleration values. So the angle can then be determined by using the formula @ = atan(x/y) where x and y are the measured ac- celerations along the two axes. However, there is another complica- tion. If the inclinometer tilts around the x-axis (io, the x-y plano is no longer vertical), a component of the acceleration due to gravity appears on the z-axis, and the components along the x and y-axes reduce. Ultimately, with the inclinometer lying flat on its back, the x and y components reduce to zero, as all of the acceleration now acts in the z-direction. The falling amplitude of the xand y accelerations as the x-y plane tilts about the x-axis progressively reduces the accuracy of the measurement. The Digital Spirit Level (inclinom- eter) described here can maintain 0.1° Fig. the accelerometer measures the comy sravity acting on each of the three axes. ically related to the angle of inclination (see text). Note that the z-axis has been omitted from this diagram for clarity accuracy, up to the point where the tiltabout the x-axis reaches 245°. The microcontroller (IC2) therefore keeps track of all three angles, and displays four dashes in place of the measured angle if this level of accuracy cannot be :uaranteed. Wake and modes As described above, the main ICs in the Spirit Leval are in a low-power deep-sleep mode when it is not being ‘used and ‘wake up’ when movement is sensed. The circuit remains awake ‘until it senses that it has not moved for about 30 seconds. ‘The MMA8451Q's built-in DSP ‘and the consequent transition between ‘wake and sloop modes. This is ust ono ofthe many features ofthe chip; see the panel titled ‘Inside the MMA8451Q° for further information on this device. ‘The DSP algorithm considers mo- tion tobe an acceleration that exceeds programmable threshold for a pro- the acceleration signals can be hig! pass filtered first, to eliminate static etiects (such as gravity). In addition, motion detection can be enabled on each axis independently. ‘We set the motion sensitivity thresh- old fairly low while the unit is awake, sothat relatively small movenents sui- fice to keep it that way. Conversely, in sleep mode, the sensitivity is reduced sothata solid ‘air swing’ istequired to Everyday Practical Electronics, March 2013 onstructior Of the acceleration due to jese components are trigonomet= wake the level up. This prevents the device from being woken up by every small knock or vibration, as might be experionced in a moving vehicle for example. Circuit description ‘The full circuit diagram in Fig.2 shows that the Disital Spirit Level uses just two chips - the MEMS accelerometer (IC1) and a PICISLF14K22. micro- controller (1C2). The latter drives the anodes of the four 7-segment LED displays directly and the common cathodes indirectly via four MOSFETs (Qrto.Q4). ‘The circuit is powered directly by pair of AA batteries, with 10uF and 4100nF capacitors providing bulk fil- toring and high-frequency bypassing respectively. The accelerometer (IC1) supply is then further filtered by 108 resistor and a 10:F and 100nF capacitor, which prevent any ripple generated by driving the display from affecting the measurements of the accelerometer. ‘The PIC micro communicates with the accelerometer using an PC bus (pin 6 (SDA) end pin 4 {SCL} of IC1) and two interrupt lines (pin 9 and pin 11, of IC1), Two 4.7k0 resistors are used as the usual ‘pull-ups’ for the °C bus. The accelerometer is configured to generate a negetive-going interrupt pulse on pin 11 (INT1) each time @ new acceleration sample is available. Similarly, a negetive-going interrupt 29(1C2) over just DIGITAL SPIRIT LEVEL (INCLINOMETER) ig. the fll circu diagram fr the Digta Spt Level The acosterometer ines ~two for interrupt signals (pin 9 and pin 13) and two forthe FC bus (pin and pin 6. The ICSP connector is not necessary if your microcontroller is 2) interfaces with the microcontroller supplied pre-programmed pulse appears on pin 9 (INT2) of the accelerometer whenever it detect movement, or changes between sleep and its wake states. Pin 18 (RA1) on the PIC microcon- troller serves double-duty, functioning both as an interrupt input and as the clock input for in-circuit programming, ‘The 1k@ resistor is required to ensure that the in-circuit serial programmer (ICSP) interface can drive pin 18 without interference from the accel- erometer, for programming the micro. ‘The ICSP data input is shared with pin 19, one of the digit driver outputs. No similarresistorisrequired here because the MOSFET gate is high impedance and hence won't affect p i ‘The display is aclessic multiplexed common-cathode 7-segment arrange- ment. The eight 4.70 resistors on pins RCO to RC provide current limiting for the segment LEDs, although in reality the microcontroller outputs themselves limit the drive current to about 20mA per segment. MOSFETs Qt to Qs are used to drive the digits’ common cathodes, rather than the usual bipolar transistors, because they can provide a very low ‘on’ resistance, 30 even when driven at a low voltage. With only 3V to play with (less if the battery is discharged), we can't afford the few hundred millivolts drop that bipolar transistors would exhibit. The firmwar ‘The firmware is fairly straiphtiorward. ‘The main program sets up the micro- controller peripherals, configures the accelerometer and then enters an end- less loop. From there on, everything occurs in one of four interrupt service routines. One interrupt, triggered by an {internal timer, multiplexes the display. The interrupt occurs every Sms, which defines the on-time for each digit. It there‘ore takes 20msto display all tour digits, for a 50Hz refresh rate. ‘The second interrupt service rou- tine is triggered by a talling edge on pin 18 of the micro, indicating that new accelerometer data is available. When the accelerometer is awake, this ‘occurs every 640ms. The firmware reads the new data via the °C bus, calculates the angle, subtracts the offset value stored in EEPROM and updates the display (more on the offset value later). ‘The third interrupt service routine is triggered by a falling edge on pin 17. This indicates either that the accele ‘ometer has switched between its wake and sleep states, or that movement has occurred. We are only interested in the wake-to-sleep transition, so when the interrupt occurs, the micro inter- rogates the accelerometer to find the source of the interrupt. If the accelerometer has gone to sloep, the firmware turns off the dis- play and puts the microcontroller to sleep too, configuring it to woke up only when a new interrupt occurs on pin 17. This happens only when there is further movement that re-awakens the accelerometer. ‘The final interrupt service routine is invoked when the user presses and releases the calibration switch button (61). This routine zeroes the display and stores the current angle as the olfset value in the micro's internal EEPROM memory. This allows you to compensate for ‘any imperfection in the alignment of the mechanical axes of the accelerom- eter relative to the case. It’s unlikely that the accelerometer IC is perfectly Everyday Practical Electronics, March 2013Constructional Project aligned with the metal case (due to both misalignment between the IC and PCB, and the PCB and tho caso) but this can be compensated for to give a zero reading on a perfectly level surtace. Power consumption In sleep mode, the micro draws less than 100nA and the accelerometer only 141A ~ amazing considering it fs still measuring acceleration and checkin: for movement. In use, the inclinometer draws around 50mA, most of which is consumed by the dis- play. With moderate usage therefore, the two 1.5V AA batteries should last many months. The Digital Spirit Level monitors the battery voltage and when it falls to around 2.88V, lights one decimal point on the display to indicate that the battery is low. Since every pin on the micro is used, we had to resort to «a clever trick to monitor the battery. ‘The ADC of the microcontroller is configured to measure a fixed internal 1.024V band gap voltage using the sup- ply voltage as the reference, This is the opposite of the way we would normally do things and means that asthe battery voltage falls, this measurement actully increases. It's nota linear relationship, Fig.3. install the parts on the PCB as shown on thi the two 10pF capacitors must be mounted on their sides /out diagram. Note that This prototype differs slightly from the final version shown in Fig.% (eg, Qt is oriented differently and the hole for the battery leads has been moved but itis more than adequate for detect- ing a low battery level Construction The Digital Spirit Level is built on a small, single-sided PCB measuring just 100mm x 44mm. This board is available from the EPE PCB Service, code 889. The topside component layout is shown in Fig3. Surface mount IC1 is soldered to the underside — see Fi All components are through-hole types with the exception of the acceler- ‘ometer (C1), which is ina tiny 16-pin QEN (surface-mount) package. This is the first thing you should fit. It takes ‘some patience and a steady hand, but it can be soldered in manually. First, carefully tin the pads. You want a'thin, even layer of solder, so ‘use solder wick to clean up any bumps or shorts between pads. Check very carefully for solder shorts between pads at this point, and fix them now. Once the chip is down, you will not be able to see the joints. ‘Now carefully place the accelerom- ‘eteron the pads, lining up the tiny pin 1 dot on its body with the correspond- ing dot on the PCB layout. In addition, make sure that the chip is properly Everyday Practical Electronics, March 2013 {UNDERSIDE OF FOND) Fig: the MMA84510 is mounted on the copper side of the PCB, as shown here Left: a close-up view of the MMA- '8451Q in position. Be sure to or lined up with the pads on all four sides. The small marks on the sides cof the chip indicate the pin positions, and these must be per‘ectly lined up with their corresponding pads. Once it’s fully lined up, you need to melt the solder under each pad, without moving anything. Ifyou havea hot-air rework station, you.can use this to gently heat the chip until the solder reflows. If you don’t, you need to use a soldering iron to “apply heat to each pad in turn, all the while holding the chip in place. The {dea is to melt that thin layer of solder you applied to the pads and to heat the corresponding contact on the chip so that the two bond. Take your time, but try not to overheat the accelerometer. Now use a multimeter to check for any unintentional shorts between ad- jacent pads. If there is a solder short between two adjacent pins, you will beable to remove it using solder wick Topside board Once the accelerometer (IC1) isin posi- tion, the remaining topside parts can be installed in order of height, ie, from lowest to highest. Note that the MOS- FETs (Q1 to Qé) have to be pushed down so that they do not stand proud of the 7-segment displays. Likewise, the two electrolytic capacitors are mounted on their sides (ie, with their leads bent down at right angles), so that they are lower than the display faces. ‘The7-segment displays are soldered directly to the PCB. Make sure that 313 —© 9 ‘5025 IMM ALUMINIUM CHANNE:, 2008 LONG: Figs: the base is made from a 200mm length of 50mm x 25mm x 3mm aluminium channel, while the two end pieces (right) are made from 44mm lengths of 20mm x 12mm x 1.4mm aluminium angle extrusion ls AIL DIMENSIONS NV AMETEES, ALL HOMES MM DUA COUNTERSUNI END PECES. 20.12 1.44 IONG; TWO HEGURED pl “F © FRONT PANEL 197 44x MM RED PRSPEK Fig.6, the front panel is made from 3mm red perspex. easily. The back of the panel is sprayed matte black, except for the display window shown dotted ‘AL DIMENSIONS IN MLIVETRES ‘AL HOLES 34M DIA COUNTERSUNK. and countersink carefully because the material fractures Left: this is the inside the case before the PCB and battery are installed. ‘The end pieces are secured using M3 x 6mm countersink- head screws and M3 x 16mm tapped metal spacers. The Perspex front panel (below) is spray- painted matte black ‘on the inside, with the display window masked out Everyday Practical Electronics, March 2013Constructional Project ‘The PCB is mounted inside the case on four M3 x 6mm spacers and secured using machine screws (pan head on top, countersink head through the case) thoy sit flush with the board surface id that they are oriented correctly (ie, each decimal point at lower right). Board check Having completed the board assembly, attach the battery holder and insert @ pair of fresh AA cells. If everything is working correctly, the display will show four dashes while the PCB is face up. ‘Nov slowly tilt theboard up toverti- cal with its long edge on the bench and check that it displays an angle within 1 few degrees of horizontal (ie, just ‘above 0.0 or just below 360.0). If that checks out, hold it perfectly still for about 30 seconds. At the ond of this period, the display should go blank as the device falls asleep. When it does, siveita firm shake to wake it up again, Finally, check the calibration button by positioning the board at an angle of 2 few degrees and briefly pressing the calibration button. When the button is released, the display should read zero, ‘Troubleshooting If there is no display, check that the ‘component values and orientations are Mo x MM CK SCREW Jf correct. That done, visually inspect the solder side for bad joints or sold shorts. If that looks OK, use a mul meter to check for 3V on the micro’s supply pins (ie, between pin 2 and pin 20), and check thet the MCLR pin is pulled high. If you have access to a scope or fre- quency counter, check for sms pulses repeated every 20ms at the gates of the MOSFETs. If these are present, you can be confident the micro is operating. Ifthe micro is working but no angle measurement takes place, the prob- Jem probably lies with the soldering of the accelerometer. In that case, romove the battories and inspoct your work with the aid of e magnifying glass. Since you checked for shorts earlier, the most likely problem is an open-circuit pin, so carefully resol- der each one using a fine-tipped iron and applying very small amounts of, solder. Basically, you want the solder to melt and wick up under the chip. If you inadvertently apply too much solder, use solderbraid to remove the excess. MO x MM MACHINE Sc Housing ‘We made the housing from of 50mm x 25mm x 3mm aluminium channel (a standard extrusion that should be available from your local aluminium centre). The end pieces are also aluminium extrusions, this time 20mm x 12mm x 1.4mm angle extrusion. You will have to cut and drill the aluminium as shown in Fig.5, takin: care to do-burr all the holes. If you wanta form factor more skin toaspirit level, you can cut the 50mm channel Joncer than shown, so that it extends out either side of the end-pieces. ‘The front panel is a piece of trans- lucent red perspex, cut and drilled according to Fig.6. Keep the protec- tive film in place as long as possible to avoid scratches. The inside of the perspex is spray-painted matte black, after masking off the rectangular sec- tion that will be directly in front of the LED displays (see above photo) ‘The best way to make this mask is to first peel off the protective film on the inside surface and then cover the central section (ie, where the display window goes) with masking tape. = cr larcaces, AWM “fg : if aes. ssembled int 0 EMM SPACER Fig this crossscton disgran shows how the Digital Spirit Level its case. The battery holder is in place with foam-core double-sided tape Everyday Practical Electronics, March 2013 Bnstructional Project The Freescale Semiconductor MMA8451Q is a 14-bit 3-ayis acceler. meter witha builtin DSP ( to 0 ): CRGPLLEND in the config register CONFIGIL to 0 to seat he EL od PLLDIV ate in config register CONFIGIL to 110 to divide the @MHz signal down to the required 4MHz. Finally, PLLSEL, in the Coli ester CONFIGSH must be Oto use the 96MHz PLL output. ‘OSCOON no loser controls the speed of the clock, so this register no longer needs tobe explicitly st in our software, Config changes Al of these changes consist of values set in the CONFIG registers this should come as no surprise, because until the clock is running we cannot execute 30 how eould we set oblem is solved, of course, by specify the con- fic ister values usin: the CONFIG command in our source file, which the amor wil pick up and write Sirectiy into the Flash-memory-based CONFIG registers. To find the appropsi- ate CONFIG commands to use, we had to took back in the ‘PICL® Confs Set- tings’file within MPLAB's help system, Re config setting changes Sook like CONFIG OSC = INTOSCPLL CONFIG CFGPLLEN = ON CONFIG PLLDIV = 2 CONFIG PLLSEL = PLL96 When these wore made and the code was built-and loaded to our cll the LED flashed sixes iste = batalla we hadnt “inerslos vu inour ter configure tion code. Good, Weare now runnin ata clock rate of 48MHz rather than 8MHz! ‘How has this affected our current con- sumption’ With the LED oft, the current Gonsumplion hes sent mA even though the CPU is not running (is in IDLE mode mos ofthe time), the higher clock spood has increased our ‘standby current by a iactor of three. But what would the current consumption have ‘been if we were just runnin’ around in. an idle loop rather than puttin the CPU to sleep? A cuick code chan e to tem- ly remove the SLEEP instruction reveals all 12.7mA. So now, the use of IDLE mode when we run a fill speed is saving us 6.1mA. 5.5mA is, however, a fairly poor cur- rent to be drawing if you are running off batteries. Bven if you were to use expen: sive 2000mAh AA cells, they are only going to last 363 hours ~ 15 days. For tunately, we can do better, much better! Low:powor oscillator ‘The key to reducing the current con- umption i to uso secondary oscil connected, rather strangely, to the Timer! module This oscillator has been designed specially to work with tuning fork’ styl crystals, and operates at a very low power. ! Notmal. microprocessor crystals are thin rectangular slabs of quartz with 58 Fig 2. Micropsoces: Sor crystals é g conductive costing on either side iternating voltage to the Conductive plates causes tho crystal to vibrato, which in tum genoratos a voltage. As the crystal oscillates at its wena feguanc, the oslator fctively ‘latches on to" this frequency rather riba ing around Watch style crystals are cut diffe ently, as miniature tuning forks. These tiny forks resonate at a much lower frequency — the most commonly used froquency be! 32.768kHiz - bat more sigilicantly, they require a much lower clrive level to et them to work, (infact, i you over «ve thom they will beak, ich has happened to uson more then fone occasion!) Watch crystals are typi- cally supplied ina distinctive tube case, fas seen on the let in Fig2, and in Fig.3, ‘where the outer tube has been removed. eo gts Tach on, fa resonant ffequency and. develop 2 strong enough signal 10 feed the Fig.3, Inside a watch crystal rmicooaaiollr~ it can be i the or diode of tilioocands, Uclos you i> tend totum the osclator of rtuent, this is not scnous tues The tbat sroblem tobe aware ofis that the circuit {rout raporant~ wires betwoon the CPU an tne two series capacitor rst seed ede latogs choad and ad ewatch crys- ene eT fo he eure a be faba atid ote intl RC ee tarts ttwatoap and inthe oo tea but ne eal ‘shut down ts is. oc eens Justrun the ner trom the 22k crystal ‘updated cea taper choin Purana rel aga Software changes ‘The watch crystal oscilletor is tied d= rectly to the Timer1 module, so we will chance the software from’ usin: the ‘main sysiem clock with Timerd as the ‘source for periodic interrupts to Timert. Fig 4, Revised circuit win watch crystal Everyday Practical Electronics, March 2013Fig.5. New breadboard layaut ‘The first ‘gotcha!” that comes with hanging to Timer! is that its interru flog and enable bits are in the periph- eral interrupt section, resisters PIRI and PIE1. The technique required to enable interrupts is the same ~ clear the IF ag, the et the ag bt you ‘must also en ‘pheral interrupts by setting the PELE bit in the INTCON rogister. Next, we need to configure the ‘Timeri control register TICON. It’s a single 8-bit register and the required settings can be guessod at (we got it ton the second attempt). e main question was what to set the pre-scaler to. As Timert is a 16-bit timer we can leave it as 1:1 ~ then the timer will overflow once every two seconds. Instead, wo will pre-load the timer with a value of 32767, which will cause the timer to overflow and ur interrupt to trigger once a second. Sou can se the fil source listing in Figs funning this code on our board gave tho same functionality, but as expected, signiticantly lower current consump- tion — down from 5.5mA to approxi- mately 60uA, Qne hundred mes lower, meaning, our battery lite fom 18 days to over yesrs al or addition of ‘three oe Dons costing. les than ‘is significant reduction in ‘sloop’ power — consumy fon is due to the eiience in design ew {al oscillator exim- ae te So clock oscillator, as 8 watch crystal re ites significant {tas power to make it oscillate “Sloep’ ‘current, of courso, is not the only factor to consider when ddotorminine battery life, but as the ap- to desi. i» low-power projects fs about maximising the time spent in ‘sleep’ mode, the less power the device consumes in sleep moxie the beter. ‘This circuit can now do something the Arduino or Raspberry Pi can only ‘dream of - run off batteries for months at a time, Although it doesn’t do any: thins, use/ul yet, we have the basic foundations with which to build on. Fig.6. Source code isting Next month, we expand the low- power sleep mode to turn the function ality into something really useful ~ a real-time clock. ‘The software for this month's article ‘can be downloaded, as usual, from the magazine's website at www.epemag3. Suitable watch crystals suppliers are Farnell part number 1652575, and Me- plins part number Ujo2C. Coase basen AB cceo 2 www.cbus-shop.com certs rei ee) Eeupens nts ater Te Everyday Practical Electronics, March 2013 ‘Sorting out your bits and pieces? Check out our E-shop... «Wie offer components. modules its. Led lighting. musical stuf, Industral, Contract design, device programming, short-range radio, slentiic tems. and some rely weird tng! And if we don't have what you need..et us know. wa ust might add it, [COAST ELECTRONICS 'B HOLWORTH CLOSE ‘BOURNEMOUTH HIT GPF “Yet01202 244309 www coastelect co.ukmonth we have a question about flip-flop tri verim’ posted on EPE Chat Zone by james ‘There are to man types of IK li fo 1) Kdge Teiggoned (eve or-ve ed0) 2) Pulse Triggored (Master Slave) With edge-triggered flip-fops, the data is transferred tothe Qand Q-bar outputs on ave ori clock ee With pulke-triggered flipslops, the data is transjecred from the J and K npuis into the flip-flop on the ve clock edge and then appears at the Gand Q-bar outputs on the following eos ad, 7a 1 see that edge-triggered fip-lops are readily available in more modern families, ag, 441C78, 741879 and In addition the 4027, whoreas the 7473 {pulse triggered. I also see that the 7476 is pulsectrlscered but the 741876 and P4HC76 ar both edge- triggered, Nf question ~ is it tue that the pulsetrisecced flip lop imastesstave fas phased out afer the standard 72 sores, and If 80, wh? 7 sead that for pulsetravered fip- flops the J and K inputs must be hed Stable during the full time of the sve Clock pulse, ethervie it willafoct the outputeae nols on the and K inputs. FF pulsestrggered fipyfiovs wore Phased out in newer technologies, ould this be the reason? We will look at the issue of ip-flop triggering by strting with the baste idea of « logic gate-based momory circuit, and working towards the circuitry used in the pulse-triggered circuit james mentions. We will mainly consider set-roset, rather than JK circuits, because they are slightly simpler, but the basic trizqerin principles are the same. In this discussion, it is useful to make a clear distinction between latches and flip-flops. A latch is a memory circuit with outputs which ‘may update (chance) as a direct result of changes on inputs other than the clock (indeed, it may not even have a clock). The outputs of a flip-flop always update under the control of the clock. The precise manner in. which this clock-control happens gives us the difference between pulse and edge-triggered flip-flops, as mentioned by James. 60 /GIRCUIT Flip-flop architecture Latches or Flip-flops This distinction between latches and ilip-lops is widely accepted as a useful concept, but it is far from universally adhered to, and probebly does not date from earliest development of bistable/ ‘memory circuits. Under this convention, tho well known set-reset circuits Shown ltr in Fig and Fig must be called latches; although they are quite commonly referred to as flip-flops (we will describe their operation in. more detail soon). If you are interested in the controversy/confusion surrounding flip-flop terminology, then have a look at the talk page of the flip-flop entry in Wikipedia at: en.wikipedia.ony/wikt! ‘TalleFlip-lop (electronics). Having got past these preliminaries, we ean et to the basics of how alateh or flip-flop memory works, Think of two inverters in series (se0 Fig.1). A in vives @ 1 out and 0 in ives @ 0 out. Now consider what happens when we connect the output back to the input, wo create a feedback loop circuit with no input (see Fig.2) ‘There is no conflict in the loop since the logic determines that both points Aand C from the original circuit are at tho samo logic level. Fig. . Two inverters If point ‘A’ is somehow made 1, it will stay at that level indefinitely (as on: as power is applied). Similarly if we set ‘A’ to 0, it will stay at This ability to indefinitely hold one, of two possible states is the basis of the memory used in latches and fl flops. memory function provided by the circuit in Fig2 is not particularly useful as there is no input by which it can be given a stete to remember. There are a couple of j¢ approaches to achieving thi t, we can break the loop using switch and employ another switch to connect the input; this epprosch is ‘commonly used in CMOS technolocy, where the switches are implemented using transmission gates. Second, logic gates can be used to modify the 1o-icof the loop in order to enable the state to be set, this approach is used in TTL technology and is therefore ‘most relevant to james’ question. Fig 2.An inverter loop. the basis of latch ‘and tip Nop memory” The circuit in Fig.3 replaces the loop inverters of Fig3 with two NAND gates. If nt = In2 = 1 the circuit is equivalent to the two-inverter loop and hence will exhibit the same memory capebility However, if one of the inputs is 0, then the output is forced to either 1 or 0 imespective of the previously. stored value. fini = 0 and in2 = 1,an output of Oisgiven. Thisis retained (remembered) ‘even after Int returns to 1. Int =1 and In2 = 0, an output of 1 is given. This rejainned when In2 retums to 1. “D=pL Fig.3. Set-reset aich Set-reset latch ‘This type of circuit is called a sot-ros0t latch (SR or RS latch) and its circult {s often drawn in the form shown in Fig. A 0 input is used to change the latch’s state ~ the sot and reset inputs are ‘active low’ ~ hence the bars drawn ‘over them in the diagram. “The output of either gate in Fig-4 may be used: they are complementary and we eer cere if we set both inputs to zero then both outputs will -0 to 2, which will break the definition that’ the outputs are complementary. We are not relly using the latch correctly in this case and this condition is commonly referrod to as an {llogal input. Taings goteven worse ifwe retum both inputs (0 1 simultaneously, because although the outputs will return to a complementary state, their factual values are unprodiciable, Fig.4. NAND set-reset latch circuit and symbo! Everyday Practical Electronics, March 2013If we connect two NOR gates in the same conficuration, we set an SR latch with ective-high inputs (see Fir.5). Fig.5. NOR set-reset fetch circuit and symbol Digital circuits often have a clock signal to coordinate activity (more on this later); however, the SR latch does not use a clock to tell it when to store the data. We can modify the circuit in Fig.$ to add a control (or clock) input, C, es shown in Fig. When C=1 in Fi.,6, the circuit operates as an SR latch (with set and reset active high). When G=O, both of the inputs to the cross-coupled NOR gates are at 0 and thoroiore inactive. ‘The latch will rotain the state ithad when C was last at 1. The latch is enabled when C=1 and disabled wh Fig. Setreset latch with control input and symbo! The SR latch (controlled or not) uses separate sizuals to store 1 or 0. This is often very useful, but it is not convenient if wo want to store the logic level ofa particular signal (data line). To overcome this we can make data latch from an RS letch with the addition of, extra gates, as shown in Fig7. ‘Transparent data latch With the circuit in Fig7, whan we want to store the state of the D input we make Chigh. When Dis 1 the input ofthe SR latch is sotto 1 and the Ris sotto 0. This results in a 1 being stored and output at Q. Similarly, ifD is Othe SR ltch is reset. When Cis is the Q output follows the value of D, ie, if D changos while C is high, s0 does Q. When we take C low both inputs of the SR latch are forced low and D has no influence on Q. The latch eraernuars the ast value applied to DwleCwasat a ‘A memory circuit whose output is either the sored value, or follows the input, is called a transparent latch. The SR latch in Fig 6 could also be deserived as transparent because, like the circuit in Fig7, the inputs directly influence the outputs when the clock is 1. Fg.7. Transparent data latch and symbol Larger, digital circuits typically comprise seis of memory elements intetoomnosted via locks of combinational lozic, as illustrated in Fig8. Tho purposo of the clock is to control and coordinate changes in the circuit by determining when new values are loaded into the memori Thus, the next value stored in memory will depend on the cu values of other memories, the main inputs of the circuit and its own current value (if there is feedback in the circuit) If we @ circuit using the latches just described, then when the clock changes to 1, all the latches become transparent and may change their outputs. These outputs are connecte sates to other latches, which may therefore receive new values at their inputs before they have responded to the original ones. In fact, multiple changes could ripple throuch the transparent latches, leadin: to an unpredictable outcome. Clocked ciroults The latches we have described are therefore very «lficult to us» when building larger clocked circuits. What wwe need is situation where the clock causes all memories to update only based on their currently prevailing, inputs and then locks out any further ‘updates until the circuit has settled in response to just this change. To do this, ‘wo neod to prevent the memories from fever becoming transparent. The clock needs to be the sole moans by which the output change can be triggered. We can achieve this by using two latches in series with opposite clock polarities. plinsider the circuit is transparent and 12 is holding dat. When C=0, Lt isholding data and 12 is transparent. Thus, the circuit asa whole is never transparent; one latch is always hholding when the othoris transparent. ‘When C in the circuit in Fig.9 is 1, La will spond to the current state ofthe R ‘and $ inputs, but this will not affect the ‘outputs because L2 will be holding the ‘current stored value. When C changos from 1 t00, La will hold whatever state it is in at thet point end this will pess ‘through to the outputs as L2 becomes transparent. During this time, Li is holding, so it does not respond to R ‘and S. Thus we see that R and $ never directiy change the outputs and we ‘can, in accordance with the convention ‘stated earlier, call this circuit a flip-flop (rather than ¢ latch). ‘The circuit in Fig is referred to as a master-slave flip-flop because the value held and output by L2 (the slave) is controlled by L1 (the master). The circuit is described as pals triccoed because the update rocess requires a pulse to lovic 1 on the clock, On the 0 to 1 change of © 1¢ current values of R and S set the ate of Lt. If we assume R and $ do not change when C is high this value will be transferred to the output when C changes from 1 to 0. The fact that the value captured at the start of the clock pulso does not appoar until tha end of hn ala sara to a8 ‘8 postponed output. The ] symbols hint (othe fip-lop’s outputs on the schematic symbol indicate that it has ¢ circuit in Fiy.9, when C is 2, 1 regponds to every chance on K ifR pulses 1 (sot) and condition will be forgotten, even though it occurred within the current clock pulse on G. This behaviour is termed ‘ones catching and is potentially problemetical when building lerger Circuits with this flip-flop. Consider Fip.8 ovain, assuming the ‘memories are the circuit in Fig.9. The inputtoM4comes froma combinational logic circuit (CL2) ~ assume this input is Mé’s reset and that the set is not shown, The memories connected to CL2’s inputs will all change at more or less the same time when the clock updates all the memories (on its 1 to Vand Cof L2 is 0, so L1 Fig8. Simiied, goner- ‘ised -soquential. loge it comprising clocked ‘memories (M) and com- bination logic (CL). Every ‘memory is coniroied by the clock, but or simply iris isnot shown Everyday Practical Electronics, March 2013 61Fig.9. Pulse-triggered master-slave set reset tip-lop and symbol. Note the post- een ermeens oo Fel ee 5 © transition). Unfortunately, when ‘multiple inputs to a combination logic, circuit chense simultaneously the cireuit’s outputs may produce glitches. Glitches Glitches are caused by unequal delay paths from input to output. For exemple, assume CL2’s output is currently 0, with in input of, say, 0011. Then assume the input changes to, say. 0000, so two inputs have chanced. Also assume that CL2’s truth table gives an output of 0 for both these input combinations (0011, and 0000). The change on one of the inputs may, vie a short path through the lozic cause the output to change 191 alter a short delay: however, the other input change may take longer ropagate through the circuit resulting in the final output of ©. Thus the output pulses to 1 temporarily before setlins to the correct value. ult the scenario ust described, the ip‘lop in Fig. may ‘catch” the glitch and reset, despite the fact the tuo input value is 0 and no rosot should have occurred. This leads to the requirement, stated in james? ‘question that ‘inputs must be held stable during the full time of the +ve clock pulse.’ This condition is hard to achieve and is indeed a sood reason for pulse-trigered fip- ops becoming obsolete. The term ‘glitch’ (the situation just described) Fig.10. Negative edge-tniggered master- siave D-type flip-flop and symbol is generally more ay propriate ‘than see tae conteee but fame? description is basically correct. The old 7476's circuit is lar to tne one in Figo. Tt hes come shane at fo inloment he behar nut Fi:.9 is adequate to under: ‘its basic operation and shortcomings. Incidentally the JK flip- flop overcomes tho probloms with all the SR circuits we have shown in this article — the illegal condition when bot and rast are both active and the tnprodigible behaviour if they both from this state together — the JK adds a useful toggle action instead of the illegal stat (Gonlder the cic in Fig, where the latches ae both ofthe Spe shoes in Fig7. As with the circuit in Fig.9, fC ‘L1 is transparent and L2 is holding dle end when Ce 0 Li balding sine Le nepentgin t cir ae whale lo ever tanapaent ‘and similarly the D input never directly causes the outputs to change. When €in ig 10 change om 10, La stores ihe veus const on. of Lill be Relea hi san ee C= 0. is tangparnt erciore the valio just stored by ii atthe circuit's Q output. This val wil nt change FD changes because 1 is holding, When C chances back to 1 the value of Q of Lt will be stored by L2. As the output was already equal to Q of L1, Q will not change. The 110n G also makes Latch 1 transparent, allowing any change on D through to Q Fig. 11. Positive edge-tiggered TTL D- {ype fp -fop which does not have a mas ter-siave structure ‘of L1. This brings us back to our starting point: a further change from 1 to 0 on G ‘ill load a new D value into La. Edge triggered ‘The stored value and hence output of the circuit in Fip.10 is only influenced by D when the clock changes from 1 0.0. For this reason, it is described as being negative-edge’ triggered. On @ {lip-fop circuit symbol a small triangle {is placed at the clock input to indicate 1s on are Negnv (1 0) edketrssored flip. “theron ce at he Geek inp a in Fiy.10. ‘This circuit in Fig.10 has the same tasersavestnucturasthatin Fig, bt is edve rather than This other potenti confusion sn fp flop terminology where ‘mastersiave’ ‘and ‘pulse triggered’ are sometimes assumed to mean the same thing. The traditional TTL edgestriggered flip-lop has a different structure (60° Fig.11), but circuits like that in Fig10 are widely ‘wed in CMOS echnoogy, Bdge-tzsered flip-flops, however structured, donot sue fromthe ‘catching’’ problem of ‘pulse-iggered circuits. Therefore the consis on when their inputs have to be stable fare_much less. stringent. In their inputs must be stable for @ shor tig (etered to as the stp end eld to as the setup times respectively). Edge. trigsored {lp-fops are immune to jitches from combinational logic blocks as long as these are finished by the setup time (ie, just bolore next clocked) EVERYDAY PRACTICAL ELECTRONICS Stewart Kearn on 01202 880299 Crea [email protected] 6 Everyday Practice! Electronics, March 2013Get the MAX | with the MINI Replace your DIP40 MCU with a pin-compatible MINI board and get up to 40x better performance! Keep everything you love about 8-bit MCUs in DIP4O packaging and get up to 40x better performance. Our powerful MINI boards are pin compatible with PICL8F45K2x making them a perfect excuse to smoothly switch to 32-bit. Get used to having plenty of available memory and lots of processing power. Each MINI comes preloaded with a fast USB HID bootloader, so programming is as easy as it gets. Try it out for $29 only. [[] MikroElektronika DEVELOPMENT TOOLS I COMPILERS FBOOKS fast slow www.libstock.com bootloader { Insive 40x MINI-M4 for STM32 contains STM32F415RG (ARM Cortex” M4) bootloader CO insive MINF-32 contains PIC32MXS34F064H bootloader INSIDE 25x . MINI-M4 for Stellaris 7. 1x PICL8F4SK22 GET IT NOW www.mikroe.comee ey EVERYDAY PRACTICAL EXFESELECTRGMICS EPE Magazine can now be downloaded at PocketMags.com or download the app for your iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch or Android phone ics Technology & Electron 2 worldwide ine for UK magazine meiata downlo now avail The No | i Computer projects !s * Each individual issue costs only £1.99 TEN * 6 Month Subscription £9.99 . * 12 Month Subscription £19.99 & (just £1.67 an issue) = Download Now and have EPE at your fingertipsSUPPOSE it varies from one project to another, but once you have ‘mastered the basics of solderin and have become familiar with the main electronic compon construction methods, the side of project construction is often the relatively easy bit. Obviously. there are exceptions, which are mainly the very large projects and the tiny ones that pack ‘a quart into a pint pot. ‘The very large projects are relatively pn doves: ‘ 16.5tanthmete stings and sting manipulaton 1 Puss cl modclaton sec Features include pane! creator, cveut debug etal networks. © code customieston.ftng pom and new corporents. 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VAT Se oyaty tov iv use n commetcal ot Berm pete poe can 0 ‘mapas nites tr wel a2 wordude ‘Reo pages subject torestichone see “ener wi ets) ‘Nom conias fan View mage solware toh Windows ih gocksta nots luge Please send me: CD-ROM ORDER FORM GS ferte'Serea Plemero va 5 Floweede tor Picmero V3 (DOWNLOAD + COROM) —, “4 5 Foweode fr Plemcra v5 (DOWNLOAD ONDH) econ eicedd Flowcode for AVA V5 (DOWNLOAD + CORON) Eigebayavountent Flowcode for AVR V5 (DOWNLOAD ONLY) Econ Flowcode for ARM V5 (QOWNLOAO + COROM) d Erolesslonal 10leser OD Flowcode for ARM V5 (DOWNLOAD ONLY) Bate 5 Floweede for dsPIC'¥s (BOWNLOAD + COROM) 5 Floweede fo dsPlC V5 (DOWNLOAD ONC) 1 Floweede fr PiC2s V5 (DOWNLOAD » CDROM) S Fottads fer leas (@oWNLORD ONLY) low Pca £18.95 nc VAT lai iey rem eat ag Porat Username: ee: tester on cach voor ete see. ee 5 Picmicro Development Board V4 (hardware) ~ currently unavailable. Professional, Mutiplo User and Sito License Versions overseas readers gd oe base prea ofeach rr for arma postage (do not 96 VAT unless you two in a9 EU [Evep0a9 Une) counry thon aaa VAT at 20% r prove your tea VAT registration ramen A Chreuit Wizard - Standard 5 Circuit Wizard - Professional SEPE PIC Resources V2 Electronic Components Photos trae eae raven : Sreteastes suring a bee ren aos Tt 113 Lynwood Drive, Mere Wimbo 1 Signature; Dorset BH21 1UU ; pica | otererecene Fin soy pate WHORE PUBLISHING Dm mater ete ae 1 Please charge my Visa Mastercard’ Maestro; © Card expry date ‘Soca re nora Set wn seven dys Maestro lssue No. (Prete 9.29 on jt rae we gree ‘www.epemag.com n Everyday Practical Electronics , March 2013fel worn by Alan Winstanley Pocket the best! wl EGULAR readers will know that some mejor civanges to our online presence were underteken in Jecember of lest year. A number of key factors gave rise o the decision to retire the US-based website, which has operated for about a decade, providing a PDF version of our, ‘magazine to subscribers. In addition to copyright concerns, the server was hacked @ number of times during the second half of last year, perhaps through a server backdoo The team in the USA behind £PE Online, Alvin Brown and his colleague Clivo (‘call me Max’) Maxfiold, wore introduced to £/°S Magazine in the 1990s when we stumbled upon each other while I was surfing the sci.electronics Usenet newscroups. on a DOS-based newsreader in my. case, in the days before the world-wide web. (The Usenet database was ultimately absorbed into Google Groups.) We met up in England and jointly went on to produce the PhizzyB computer simulator or Beboputer, based on Max's brilliantly-written book ‘Bebop Bytes Back’ and it featured on £PE's first-ever cover CDROM. We have worked closely together as a team and remained cood friends ever since. 'EPE Online was built from the cround up without any precedent to refer to, at time when not even a suitable online payiment platform was available in the UK, so EPE Online was pioneerin: work in a number of ways. Many. readers have sung Alvin's praise for customer service, and it is thanks to Alvin's endeavours at the helm, with web guru Dean Hudson pulling the levers on the servers, that FP Online has been delivered to its readers around the world all this time. Everyone at ££ wishes to thank Alvin, Dean and Max for their tireless work in providing what we proudly believe was the world’s first magazine that you could also download from the web (from November 1988). ‘At the same time, we have introduced #5 to a new digital newsstand pletiorm that enables us to share our enthusiastic hobby with new readers on the web. With the drive towards realtime online access and the trend towards mobile and tablet computins as well, our new online issue is being handled through the PocketMags platiorm, an internationally. Connected service that offre many magazine titles conv- eniently under one location. By logging into your PocketMags account, magazine issues under your subscription can be viewed onscreen, ebook sy, but, you can also ‘search and purchase many other e titles as well: Readers for PC, Mac, Kindle Fire, Android, Apple iPed and Phone, Blackberry Playbook and Windows 8 are all available free Work on our new website is well under way, log on at www, from PocketMags. Everyday Practical Electronics, March 2013 ‘epemag.com ‘A new Beta PocketMags reader allows the proprietary file to be downloaded for accessing: when not online. You ccan bookmark pages, select and print them, delete files off your PC to save space and simply download them again your PockotMs account when needed. I is pointed out thet this beta program is still under development, and tht Festa wecanes oa odback, Mora dt re available at: www.epem vay-epe-online! Many new subscribers have not come across our title boiore and the addition to our readership numbers has been. very encouraging, Welcome aboard! Many existing readers, have also told us directly that they are enjoying accessin PE this way for the first time, end they can check out other tis onthe digital newsstand to, However, we know that not everyone likes ‘when it happens. chances were implemented in a i-ht timetame and there {sno doubtis: that a number of EPE Online users were vociferous in expressing their views. In today’s economy, though, it’s just a fact of life thatthe best businesses have to make tough decison fart, but we wil aay sive to ‘do the richt thing’ by rea ing individually and offer plous or ensne PE Online subocoar as area possible Although we cannot pretend that we will resurrect the 1990s, ‘way of doing things, EPE Online subscribers are welcome to contact [email protected] for personal attention to their queries. Far sited In tandem with this transition, £PE launched the framework of its now website. It is accessible at www.epemag.com or (Same thins) ww.eperm co.uk. The static website i sone int sla cf clan to oe ead re a contents will be jed to support legacy issues of HE magazine, It is being updated monthly by the writer, just ‘as it has been every month without interruption since 1996, the year that Net Work first appeaied, ‘A new Library is also boing Duiltto host our source codesand PCB files from the past 12 or 00, These les ere aed available online, but until work ‘on the front-end of the website is completed, readers wishing to locate older files can send f blank email to downloads@ ‘epemag.cora. Our autoresponder will send details of how to download them directly from the web. OF cours, if there are ‘any questions then we are just fan email sway: contact details ‘are on the new website. Don't forgot that the author's own site at www.epemagnet hosts files Bfiom the earliest days of EPE's PIC projects. While we ae fully committed to the new platform, we know how readers value zed collection of back issues, so we wil also be making available EP Back Issue discs of PDFs for readers wanting to ‘maintain their own digital Library. Theso will bo available by ‘ail order and elso via the online shop as a matter of course, accessible from our website. E continues to make good progress in what are challensins times ‘or the publishing: industry and the retail sector as a whole. We have come a long way since our frst small, home-spun website of 1996, and we hope that most, readers will approve of our wish to continually evolve in turbulent times and atract new reeders throush a dial newsstand, Herding cats In December 2012's issue of Net Work, compared running a home wireless network to the frustrations of trying to, herd cats. In my experience, a home Wi-Fi network seems to settle down for @ while until @ conflict of some kind knocks one device or another off the network, which gives rise to some re-configuring, setting up, re-booting, frustration and general cursing at times. Previously, I've recommended InSIDDER software from the heroes st Motagesk (woonametagok.net) end thie essntial piece of free software lets you observe any Wi-Fi channels that are in use in your vicinity, so that you can at least try to choose a wireless channel in the hope of reducing, interference from neighbours. In my case, I'm presently running on channel 13 (not suzzested ‘or the US), but the page on Metageok (ww w.metageek.net/su - channels-1-6-and-11) explang why they, hind channels 41, 6 or 11 are optimum fo ‘users. You can change channel by logeing into your browser's IP address usi 8 web browser, and then aiming forthe router’ contro panel to change the settin Teseems that for many BT broadband 5, channel 6 {is confi: red by default, and sure enough a WL-Fi network was using that channel, with another neighbour using channel 9 instead. A useful whit Optimising Wicless Networks is published by M see: htp:/tinyurl.com further IRtormation on WAT charset topelory cam be food at hitp:/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List of WLAN channels oe. wifi, “ ee you BT ot Foncanone? Lagatew Fine os Nox BT Btn Foctone Byte hour day Sdays 30days 850 6 as = = = Thevoréstgenwfnewert BT wil offer to sell local WF! hotspot access to non-BT-FON customers T've noticed how those surprisingly powerful BT Home Hubs oom to be everywhere. Sniff arovnd on the local networks I thought it unimaginable that BT would ofier a Wi-Fi hotspot in my location, but when I tested an unsecure open network thet seemed 10 hi from a BT Home Hub, I was surprised to be greeted by a BT webpace offering to sell me BT hotspot access. Where did the Wi-Fi access come from? BT Fon is BT's “4 Wi-Fi hotspot network, consisting of BT broadband customers whom BT states ‘share @ small portion of their home broadband with other BT FON members. In return, users get free access to millions of other member's, Wi-Fi Hotspots around the world’. An interactive map of BT Wi-Fi hotspots is at: http:/www.bt.com/static/wa/wifiy pagesiiindhotspots.html with BT FON access highlighted in light blue. It appears not to zoom down to street level. “To see what networks are available to you on a wireless PC, in Microsoft Windows try right-clicking on the network icon in the system tray, then :o View Available Wireless Networks and see if an unsecured BT network is, ‘broadcasting nearby. You can then try to connect directly to it, but if you try to open a web page a BT Wi-Fi hotspot sign-up page will be seen instead. At this stage, BT Wi-Fi aocess is granted sufficient for a sign-up to be made by BT and for you to download the TAC: In order fo purchase, 2 MoPay page pops up and a text message must be sent from your mobile phone to confirm, and an email from "FON. ‘Community’ is used to confirm an account, I cancelled the sign-up and my laptops web browser got stuck in @ loop in protest. ‘A BT broadband customer's ‘home Wi-Fi hotspot’ is automatically enabled and BT FON hives off @ portion of then draw from other BT Wi-Fi hotspots wherever they. may be, In my example, the hotspot access could only hav come from a residential neighbour's broadband because recoznised the SSID. It makes a lot of sense to distribut. Wi-Fi access for the benefit of everybody this way, but it ‘would appear that @ portion of a BT user's broadband can bbe resold to non-BT FON users at anything from £3.50 per hour up to £39 for 4,000 minutes worth of access. ‘The re- salo of Wi-Fi this way goes beyond the ‘mutually benoficial club’ of BT FON users suggested by BT. Tim not sure BT are aware of that. es | a mono OC CHOB Hotspot access is shown in the light blue areas: its derived from BT FON broadband wireless hubs hope you found something of interest in this month's Net Work, Readers can email me st elanGepemag.demon.co.uk ‘or write to the editor at [email protected]. Don't forget to keep checking for the latest developments on our new website at: www.epemag.com. 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Caprese Everyday Practical Electronics, March 2013 oe 161 PIC tamay he CRE gus fea’ ep bye enh coo con EET css ‘rcomputng to pow yu nth wet fewany cine soon Gora ove fa ooh ‘ile. We tng recenty wae ein you eat retin Una Ss eres etd ‘geo Sad consi DIRECT BOOK SERVICE © 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 direct to your door. Full ordering details are given on the last book page.