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| Thread ID: 60270 | 2005-07-27 07:48:00 | OT - Oscillators | Dannz (1668) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 375911 | 2005-07-27 07:48:00 | I am using a oscillator as the main component in a project i am doing, the circuit isnt working, is there any way to test the oscillator? | Dannz (1668) | ||
| 375912 | 2005-07-27 09:10:00 | I'd use an oscilloscope to view the wave form and amplitude, and a frequency counter to measure the frequency of oscillation. If you dont have those, then if the oscillator is audio frequency, you could feed the output into an audio amplifier, or into the line-in of your sound card and listen to see if you get a tone, having due regard to the output impedance of the oscillator compared to the input impedance of the audio amp. You dont want to load up the oscillator output as it may stop oscillating if it doesn't have a buffer output stage. |
Terry Porritt (14) | ||
| 375913 | 2005-07-28 02:40:00 | A multimeter will often give a good indication. You might not have a sensitive enough AC range, but if the oscillator produces "DC" AC (between ground and supply only) a DC range will often indicate "half" volts (pepending on how symmetrical the waveform is). I once saw a "regulated" supply giving 2.5V instead of 5V (according to the AVO mete)r. An oscilloscope showed it was switching between 5V and 0V at about 10kHz. The embarrassed builder had left out some essential capacitors, and when provoked the supply would oscillate very well. | Graham L (2) | ||
| 375914 | 2005-07-28 05:51:00 | Thankyou for your replies | Dannz (1668) | ||
| 375915 | 2005-07-28 06:43:00 | Graham has a good point, an ordinary digital multimeter will give a useful reading on AC ranges up to about 5-10Khz. | Terry Porritt (14) | ||
| 375916 | 2005-08-06 22:19:00 | I found that it was the program i had written not the oscillator, thanks for your help | Dannz (1668) | ||
| 375917 | 2005-08-07 03:11:00 | A programme with an error in it? That's impossible. :cool: If you are using a PIC or PIC-Axe micro chip, it's a good idea to hang an LED on one of the pins, even temporarily. If you can make that flash you're in business. :thumbs: |
Graham L (2) | ||
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