Category Archives: Electronics

I have been looking at some power data for telephone circuits today and this data provided a useful empirical check on the theoretical calculations that I have done elsewhere. When I showed the data to some other engineers, they had some good questions that I thought would be worth covering here. Continue reading →

I thought enough people may want to see this slight variation that it would be worth putting into a separate post. It turns out the optimal linearization value for RS is exactly the same as for my original post. This result makes sense if you think about it a bit because a nearly linear output across one resistor in the circuit implies a linear voltage across the other. You can derive this result rigorously using the same approach I used in the Appendix of my original post. Continue reading →

Quote of the Day With hard work, difficult material can be grasped. Step by step, incrementally, the novice can become the master. — Joshua Waitzkin. World Tai Chi champion and subject of the book 'Searching for Bobby Fischer'. He is … Continue reading →

Quote of the Day We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. - Aristotle Introduction I often build small electronics projects for use around my home. I recently put together a small sensor … Continue reading →

I have a home project that requires me to design a Schmitt trigger circuit. There are numerous places on the web where you can find design equations for the Schmitt trigger constructed using an open-drain comparator. Unfortunately, these design equations do not model the output low-level saturation voltage of the comparator and in my application I need to be concerned about this voltage. My objective is to determine formulas for the resistors in the circuit as a function of the various threshold and output voltage levels I require. Continue reading →

Introduction A circuit question walked into my cube the other day. An engineer in another group was working his way through an application note and he found the presentation unclear -- I agreed with him. The application note provided an … Continue reading →