Practical Electronics - December 2022 PDF

Practical
Electronics
The UK’s premier electronics and computing maker magazine
Circuit Surgery Audio Out Make it with Micromite
Understanding Universal op amp board Detecting, comparing and storing
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Practical
Volume 51. No. 12
December 2022
ISSN 2632 573X
Electronics Contents
Projects and Circuits
Hummingbird Audio Amplifier by Phil Prosser 16
This miniature amplifier is nimble, small in size but strong, delivering up to 60W
into 8Ω or 100W into 4Ω.
USB Cable Tester – Part 2 by Tim Blythman 28
Our USB Cable Tester, introduced last month, is ideal for going through piles of
cables and sorting them out – a great first step in diagnosing a fault!
SMD Trainer Board by Tim Blythman 36
This simple SMD Trainer project is a great way to practice soldering a variety of
surface-mount devices.
Series, Features and Columns

Techno Talk by Mark Nelson 8
Giant Boost for Batteries
The Fox Report by Barry Fox 10
From virtual reality to virtue signalling
Net Work by Alan Winstanley 12
This month’s Net Work focuses on some energy-saving and monitoring resources,
as well as looking ahead to the future of nuclear fusion.
SMD Soldering Tips & Tricks by Tim Blythman 41
This article accompanies our SMD Trainer project and provides a lot of detail
to help you become an SMD soldering master.
Audio Out by Jake Rothman 48
Universal single op amp board (optimised for audio electronics) – Part 1
Circuit Surgery by Ian Bell 54
Electronically controlled resistance – Part 4
Make it with Micromite by Phil Boyce 58
Part 42: PicoMite Fingerprint Reader – Part 1
Max’s Cool Beans by Max The Magnificent 62
Flashing LEDs and other engineering temptations – Part 34
Regulars and Services

Wireless for the Warrior 2
Subscribe to Practical Electronics and save money 4
NEW! Practical Electronics back issues DOWNLOADS – 2021 now available! 6
Reader services – Editorial and Advertising Departments 7
Editorial 7
Soldering surface-mount devices
Exclusive Microchip reader offer 9
Win a Microchip PIC32MM Curiosity Development Board
PE Teach-In 9 40
Teach-In bundle – what a bargain! 66
PE Teach-In 8 67
Practical Electronics PCB Service 68
PCBs for Practical Electronics projects
Made in the UK. Classified ads and Advertiser index 71
Written in Britain, Australia, Next month! – highlights of our next issue of Practical Electronics 72
the US and Ireland.
Read everywhere.
© Electron Publishing Limited 2022
Copyright in all drawings, photographs, articles,
technical designs, software and intellectual property
published in Practical Electronics is fully protected,
and reproduction or imitation in whole or in part are
expressly forbidden.
The January 2023 issue of Practical Electronics will be
published on Thursday, 1 December 2022 – see page 72.
Practical Electronics | December | 2022 1

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THE DEFINITIVE TECHNICAL HISTORY OF RADIO
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circuit diagrams, technical specifications covered: special receivers, direction finding
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Building GPS into
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Understanding
Audio Out
Practical
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Universal op amp board

Detecting, comparing and storing
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distortion circuits microcontrollers = PicoMite Backpack! controlled resistance transformers infrared to synchronise time controlled resistors transformers op amps PicoMite systems and compressors transformers Using actuators TFT display to a PicoMite and using digipots (optimised for audio) fingerprints with a PicoMite
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void interrupt(void)
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Bluetooth Link
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Assembly
Music Build a GPS

FCM_INTERRUPT_TMR movlw D′7′
o(); bsf STATUS, RP0
bcf STATUS, RP1
movwf _adcon1 Hex
movlw D′192′
Preamplifier
:040000008A01122837
Keyboard tracker with USB

movwf _option_reg :08000800F000F00S030
Preamplifier
EF10000
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EF300BA110A122928352
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Techno Talk – Time for a total rethink? 08 Techno Talk – What’s in a name? 09 Techno Talk – Solar flares – time to panic? 10 Techno Talk – Hidden hazards 11 Techno Talk – Giant boost for batteries 12
Cool Beans – Touch-sensitive robots and using servos Cool Beans – Mechanical control with a servo Cool Beans – Lixie displays and magnetic core memory Cool Beans – Investigating rotary encoders Cool Beans – LogiSwitch debounce breakout board
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Net Work – The irresistible rise of automotive electronics Net Work – Li-ion battery fires, Win 11 and What3Words 9 772632 573023
Net Work – Whole-home mesh wireless systems 9 772632 573023
Net Work – Technology and the Queen 9 772632 573023
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Practical
Volume 51. No. 12
December 2022
ISSN 2632 573X
Electronics Editorial
Editorial offices
Practical Electronics Tel 01273 777619
Electron Publishing Limited Mob 07973 518682 Soldering surface-mount devices
1 Buckingham Road Fax 01202 843233
Brighton Email [email protected]
Apart from the general shortage of silicon over the last few years,
East Sussex BN1 3RA Web www.electronpublishing.com one of the biggest gripes for amateurs and hobbyists has been the
inexorable rise of SMDs (surface-mount devices). While these are
Advertisement offices fantastic for mass producing compact, cheap electronic products,
Practical Electronics Adverts Tel 01273 777619
1 Buckingham Road Mob 07973 518682
for the home design/constructor they can be a real problem.
Brighton Email [email protected]
East Sussex BN1 3RA The simple fact of the matter is that soldering SMDs is
Editor Matt Pulzer
inherently harder than ‘traditional’ through-hole components.
General Manager Louisa Pulzer First, there are no ‘legs’, wires or holes to secure and orient
Digital subscriptions Stewart Kearn Tel 01202 880299 parts before applying solder – components just sit on the board.
Online Editor Alan Winstanley Second, and probably here is the biggest problem, SMD parts
Web Systems Kris Thain
Publisher Matt Pulzer are smaller, sometimes considerably smaller than their through-
hole counterparts. In fact, some parts are so small they are
Print subscriptions barely visible and are specifically designed to be applied using
Practical Electronics Subscriptions
automated pick-and-place machines, making the challenge
PO Box 6337
Bournemouth BH1 9EH Tel 01202 087631 of manually placing and soldering these minute parts almost
United Kingdom Email [email protected] impossible.
Technical enquiries Unsurprisingly, since commercial and industrial consumers
We regret technical enquiries cannot be answered over the
telephone. We are unable to offer any advice on the use, purchase, of silicon prefer the lower costs involved with SMD-based
repair or modification of commercial equipment or the incorporation production, the market has simply followed demand, and for
or modification of designs published in the magazine. We cannot some years we have been in the situation where certain new ICs
provide data or answer queries on articles or projects that are
more than five years old. are not even supplied in through-hole format – strictly SMD.
Questions about articles or projects should be sent to the editor So, what to do? Well, there are two options. It’s worth
by email: [email protected]
remembering that despite all of the above, there are still very
Projects and circuits many through-hole components available, and while you would
All reasonable precautions are taken to ensure that the advice and be limiting some of your options by avoiding SMDs, there is still
data given to readers is reliable. We cannot, however, guarantee enough user-friendly through-hole silicon to keep most people
it and we cannot accept legal responsibility for it.
happy. If you want to stick to just through-hole then you can.
A number of projects and circuits published in Practical Electronics That said, however, a better option is to grasp this nettle and
employ voltages that can be lethal. You should not build, test, learn to solder SMDs. If that’s your preferred route then you’re
modify or renovate any item of mains-powered equipment unless
you fully understand the safety aspects involved and you use an
in luck, because this month we have a great article and a trainer
RCD (GFCI) adaptor. project to help you learn to solder SMDs. Do remember that not
all SMDs are the same size. While some are definitely out of reach
Component supplies for manual solderers, plenty of SMDs are entirely useable with a
We do not supply electronic components or kits for building the
projects featured, these can be supplied by advertisers. We bit of practice and some useful guidance. You may need to invest
advise readers to check that all parts are still available before in a new soldering iron, plus a few other tools and materials, but
commencing any project in a back-dated issue. the cost is not high and the rewards justify the outlay.
Advertisements
Although the proprietors and staff of Practical Electronics take If you’ve been meaning to take the plunge into the SMD pool,
reasonable precautions to protect the interests of readers by now is the time jump in!
ensuring as far as practicable that advertisements are bona fide, .
the magazine and its publishers cannot give any undertakings
in respect of statements or claims made by advertisers, whether
Matt Pulzer
these advertisements are printed as part of the magazine, or in Publisher
inserts. The Publishers regret that under no circumstances will
the magazine accept liability for non-receipt of goods ordered, or
for late delivery, or for faults in manufacture.
Transmitters/bugs/telephone equipment
We advise readers that certain items of radio transmitting and
telephone equipment which may be advertised in our pages
cannot be legally used in the UK. Readers should check the law
before buying any transmitting or telephone equipment, as a fine,
confiscation of equipment and/or imprisonment can result from
illegal use or ownership. The laws vary from country to country;
readers should check local laws.

Giant Boost Techno Talk
for Batteries Mark Nelson
Imagine a battery that you can recharge a thousand-times faster than anything available today. If you
can’t, you should read this article. It covers the intriguing possibility of quantum super-batteries that can
recharge in minutes or even seconds.
W
hen the BBC began to to create a type of quantum battery in becoming viable for practical, commer-
broadcast 100 years ago, it was which the recharge time is related in- cial application is both real and unreal.
clear that the crude ‘crystal set’ versely to the amount of stored energy. Dr Kavan Modi, associate professor of
receivers offered for sale were hardly A demonstration battery of this kind quantum physics at Monash University
what you would call a mature technol- has now been built by a team of research- (Australia) concedes: ‘For us, the theo-
ogy. Wearing headphones and poking ers in Italy led by Tersilla Virgili and ry [is] just an interesting playground to
around to find the most sensitive spot Giulio Cerullo. They write: ‘This leads explore fundamental ideas of time and
on the crystal wasn’t a user-friendly to the intriguing idea that the charging energy. I don’t think there will be tech-
way of listening to the wireless, and it power of quantum batteries is super-ex- nological applications. Of course, I may
took a while before valve radios gave us tensive, meaning that it increases faster be completely wrong.’
straightforward tuning and easily adjust- with battery size. Each molecule repre- He may be. If you consider quantum
able volume controls. sents a unit that can exist in a quantum computers, these were once purely con-
In the same way, it’s hard to deny that superposition state of two energy levels ceptual but are now close to becoming a
in some ways the rechargeable batter- (fundamental and excited), similar to commercial reality. Google aims to have
ies installed in road vehicles are also the way a qubit, the basic unit of quan- a commercial-grade quantum comput-
unwieldy and inefficient. Lithium-ion tum information, can be both 0 and 1 er by 2029, and is only one of several
batteries may be adequate for computers simultaneously in quantum computers.’ companies racing to build a business
and smartphones, but when scaled up around this emerging technology. In the
for motive power applications, they are Collective behaviour makes for same way, the overwhelming economic
clearly bulky, weighty, slow to recharge strength in numbers necessity to find a means of recharging
and potentially unsafe. The lithium and Our two experts continue: ‘By construct- EV batteries as rapidly as filling a petrol
other ‘critical minerals’ used to manufac- ing the quantum battery in a way that tank will incentivise research and de-
ture them are not only far from plentiful, units can exist in superposition, the velopment of viable quantum batteries.
but also vulnerable to being weaponised total system can behave collectively. At this stage, the only certainty is that
in global trade wars. What we desper- This behaviour, known as ‘quantum nobody can say whether or when quan-
ately need is a radically different battery coherence’, allows the units to act co- tum batteries will be commercialised.
technology that is easier to make, with operatively [interconnectedly], giving But consider LED lighting: electronical-
far less ecological impact, faster to re- rise to a hyper-fast charge that depends ly generated light was demonstrated as
charge and offering much greater energy on the number of molecule-units. In the long ago as 1907 by the English experi-
density within a given physical volume. future, this type of device can be applied menter HJ Round of Marconi laboratories,
in various scientific and technological using a crystal of silicon carbide and a
Bring on the super cell! fields, such as wireless chargers, solar cat’s-whisker detector. It took more than
Does this perfect battery technology cells and cameras.’ a century to produce affordable LED
exist? Conceptually it does, and scien- This hyper-fast speed points immedi- lamp bulbs!
tists around the world are doing their ately to the killer application of quantum
utmost to bring it into a state of real- batteries: the ability to slash the time Quantum magic
ity. It goes by the name of the ‘quantum taken to recharge the batteries of EVs. A qubit (short for ‘quantum bit’) is a
battery’ and if the term ‘quantum’ is a The $64,000 question is, by how much? basic unit of quantum information,
word that you recognise but know lit- Researcher Ju-Yeon Gyhm at the Institute used in quantum computing. In con-
tle about, don’t worry – you’re in good of Basic Science in the Republic of Korea ventional computing the unit is a bit
company. However, so you don’t need has calculated that quantum batteries (short for binary digit), which can
a degree in physics or higher maths to could be charged in a thousandth of the have only one of two states: one or
understand this article – there’s a brief time that classic batteries would take zero. But in quantum systems, a qubit
explainer panel at the end. to be revitalised. What’s more, in nor- can exist in both states simultaneous-
So, how do quantum batteries differ mal batteries, the power increases with ly, a property that is fundamental to
from the batteries used in smartphones the number of cells in parallel. But in quantum mechanics (and quantum
and electric vehicles (EVs)? To quote the quantum batteries, you can make the computing). The classic example
website scitechdaily.com, quantum bat- power increase with the square of the of this is Schrödinger’s hapless cat,
teries are a new class of energy storage number of cells. which hypothetically can be simul-
devices that operate according to the taneously both alive and dead, as a
principles of quantum physics, the sci- Highly speculative result of its fate being linked to a ran-
ence that studies the atomically small, Rather as Schrödinger’s cat (see below) dom subatomic event that may or may
where the laws of classical physics do not can be simultaneously both alive and not occur. https://bit.ly/pe-dec22-cat
always apply. Remarkably, it is possible dead, the prospect of quantum batteries

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The Fox Report
Barry Fox’s technology column
From virtual reality to virtue signalling
I
AAPA , the self-styled ‘Global ExCel is a huge cluster of giant, big thing as virtual reality (VR) and
Association for the Attractions utilitarian exhibition halls, now nicely augmented reality (AR). Although
Industry’ (don’t ask me how the accessible by the new Elizabeth tube only a few couch potatoes will don
acronym derives), recently came to the line as well as the driverless Docklands headsets to watch movies (which is
ExCel Conference Centre in Docklands Light Railway. what so absolutely predictably kills
near London City Airport. (See: www. If you’ve ever watched the movie, 3DTV and cinema 3D every time it is
iaapa.org/expos/iaapa-expo-europe The Long Good Friday, the transformed re-invented) people who go to theme
for more details.) ex-docks area round ExCel is what Bob parks may well be up for wearing one.
Founded in 1918, IAAPA is – in Hoskins cleverly foresaw before he was Put simply, the theme park indus-
plainer English – the trade body for scarily disappeared in the back of a cab. try is over-layering VR/AR tech on
companies involved in the big business I went along looking for new elec- conventional park rides, games and
behind the world’s amusement parks, tronic technology that might make a day experiences – see the pictures below.
theme parks, attractions, water parks, at a ‘park’ more fun… or more scary. Most speak for themselves, except the
resorts, family entertainment centres, What I came away with was an over- one which shows the tribute to the
zoos, aquariums, science centres, mu- riding impression, best summed up Queen – who had just died – elec-
seums, cruise lines, manufacturers and by a bunch of pictures. In a nutshell, tronically plastered all over ExCel’s
their suppliers. the Attractions industry sees the next front entrance. What a pity no-one
e w !
n ze s
1555F IP68 sealed flanged enclosures si
Learn more: hammfg.com/1555f
Contact us to request a free evaluation sample.
[email protected] • 01256 812812

on ExCel’s tech staff seemed to have consumer complaints process is a pan- The latest, and one of the best yet
noticed that the Windows PC used tomime farce which can trap anyone examples, is to be found on Cam-
to source the image had downloaded daring to complain about a telecoms ser- den Council’s Planning Search site. I
itself an operating system update and vice provider in a circular loop – with suggest you look quickly before they
was begging for a re-start. Ofcom refusing to accept individual finally wake up to the absurdity of
complaints and referring people to the the search process, which has so far
Online ‘safety’ Telecoms Ombudsman and Informa- obstructed anyone trying to trace a
The UK will be one of the first countries tion Commissioner (ICO), while the planning application for a building,
in the world to pass laws aimed at mak- Ombudsman refers complaints back to by not unreasonably expecting it to
ing online users safer, while preserving Ofcom and to the ICO, while the ICO show up under its street address, see:
freedom of expression. The Online refers people back to the Ombudsman; https://bit.ly/pe-dec22-daft
Safety Bill – due 2023 – will introduce and all the while Ofcom boasts that Note the instruction that to search
rules for sites and apps such as social the number of complaints is falling, as by site address, ‘you can enter a house
media, search engines and messaging people doubtless just get weary of life number and street name or post code’.
platforms, along with pretty much every and give up on complaining. So far, so good. But you also need to
service used to share content online. Just for the heck of it, I sent Dame know that the ‘Site address is sensitive
Few people will argue with the basic Melanie Dawes, Ofcom’s Chief Ex- to punctuation and spaces. Do not use
idea and good intention, providing it is ecutive, a personally addressed letter, commas or the word London.’
handled well. So, who will handle it? suggesting that if she were interested in Hmmm. Not very user-friendly. But
the way Ofcom’s own guide literature is let it pass. But here’s the killer-driller:
A safe pair of hands? muddled and how real-world complaints if you want to get a result from your
Ofcom has the gig, and says it will, can get loop-locked, I would show her search you must, ‘use % when typing
‘within the first 100 days,’ have a draft some carefully documented examples. addresses; eg, %1%Camden%Road%.’
Code of Practice for the industry and My letter mysteriously failed to reach Discovering this Boolean obstacle to
then ‘consult publicly’ ahead of going her office. Ofcom then asked for a essential everyday planning business
live in 2024. Ofcom will have ‘a range resend but failed to provide a direct makes yet another of those ‘couldn’t
of investigation and enforcement pow- email address for her office or personal make it up’ moments.
ers’, ‘build on the expertise we have assistant. So, fool that I am, I travelled
already brought in from the technology to London and hand-delivered a copy
industry’, ‘work with other regulators… to Ofcom’s HQ in Southwark, along
to ensure a joined-up approach’ and with hard copy of the PE article. NEW DOWNLOAD!
‘ensure the tech companies are more I’ve heard nothing from Dame Dawes,
transparent and can be held to account but a member of the Ofcom’s Consumer
for their actions.’ Contact Team has been delegated to
Says Ofcom: ‘The Bill does not give recommend seeking independent legal 5-year collection
Ofcom powers to moderate or respond advice and using Ofcom’s complaints
to individual’s complaints about in- system to complain about Ofcom. 2016-2020
dividual pieces of content…the sheer They just don’t get it, do they? And
volume of online content would make it surely hangs a question mark over All 60 issues from Jan 2016
that impractical.’ how Ofcom will now handle the extra to Dec 2020 for just £39.95
Fair enough, but it means Ofcom task of controlling Online Safety.
will have to rely on unspecified other PDF files ready for
bodies to steer enforcement. This is …and finally immediate download
exactly the way it works for controlling I collect examples of how official bodies
telecoms service providers; or, frankly, are often run by officials who clearly
Purchase and download at:
doesn’t work. do not use the IT they are expecting
As I put on record in Practical consumers to use – or have utter con-
www.electronpublishing.com
Electronics in October 2022, Ofcom’s tempt for consumers.

Net Work
Alan Winstanley
This month’s Net Work focuses on some energy-saving and monitoring resources, as well as
looking ahead to the future of nuclear fusion.
I
t was exactly three years ago, seems likely that cash incentives may Their contracted tariffs would presum-
in the December 2019 issue, that be offered to help shift energy con- ably prevail, leaving users no worse
I wrote about the rocky roll-out sumption to off-peak periods. off financially. I’ve also suggested in
of Britain’s smart meter programme. The National Grid holds the UK’s the past that smart meter owners might
Smart meters originated as an EU supply lines together, and it spells out start to receive a text message or a
policy, and I described how, a decade the picture for the National Transmis- nag-screen popping up on their IHD
earlier, the EU’s energy policy had sion System (the gas network) in its (In-Home Display) when demand is
established three fundamental goals: Gas Winter Outlook 2022/23 at: https:// high, encouraging them to turn down
to secure energy supply, to combat ngrid.com/3z9BpA9 (PDF, 51pp); the lights. If you don’t have a smart
climate change and to establish an the winter forecast for electricity is meter, then you won’t get the message,
‘internal market’. As part of these published at: https://bit.ly/3CULty6 and presumably you will miss out on
lofty ambitions, 80% of traditional (PDF, 25pp). any cash bonus they offer.
electricity meters would be replaced These publications are aimed mostly
with ‘smart’ ones by the year 2020, or at industry, so readers will probably Killer watts
so the EU Commission hoped. find the website of National Grid A clear trend is emerging of consum-
With energy supplies now in tur- ESO more enlightening (see: www. ers fixating on their smart meters or
moil, radical measures have been nationalgrideso.com). The Electricity IHDs, LCD monitoring devices that
introduced across Europe to reduce System Operator manages all of Great glow red in anger when major ap-
consumption, shore up gas reserves Britain’s electricity supplies, and with pliances are devouring power. One
and import more liquefied natural it comes the job of balancing the na- family friend goes out of her way to
gas (LNG). German public buildings tion’s energy supply and demand. keep her smart meter ‘in the green’
and swimming pools, for example, Their own annual Winter Outlook her- and feels put under intense pressure
have reduced their heating (or turned alds some ‘cautious action’ that will when the cooker’s turned on; likewise,
it off altogether) and unnecessary be taken to secure wintertime supplies I read how one Amazon reviewer ex-
amenity and advertising lighting has (see: https://tinyurl.com/2ee2bz4f). claimed that a portable dehumidifier
been turned off, with more cutbacks Under the heading New times requires ‘takes hardly any electricity and my
to come. new tools, one of the ESO’s new ob- smart meter stays on green when this
At the time of writing, the UK is jectives is ‘Creating a new “Demand is working’.
currently exporting some 2.2GW of Flexibility Service” where energy It’s obviously no bad thing if IHDs
electricity through its interconnects users will be incentivized to reduce influence energy consumption this
to Europe, while importing 1.1GW consumption/turn off power at key way. There are also smartphone apps
from Norway at the same time. As times to reduce overall demand across available that will work in conjunction
mentioned last month, the Gridwatch the system’, as they put it. with your smart meter data, or they can
website www.gridwatch.co.uk gives This new ‘demand management tool’ work in lieu of an IHD – useful if your
a very useful summary of Britain’s could pay consumers not to consume supplier has yet to provide an IHD or
energy production and usage – but electricity. Uncon-
remember it’s for guidance only. firmed reports suggest
that inducements
Winter of discontent would start at a mini-
The ongoing stability and resilience of mum of £10 for using
energy supplies are probably foremost energy off peak. Using
in everyone’s minds. Unprecedented washing machines
price increases have started to hit con- and dishwashers, EV
sumers and that’s before the winter chargers and other
weather draws in, when demand for current-heavy appli-
energy will soar and supplies will be ances this way could
stretched. While UK consumers are shave 2GW off the
now receiving Government energy nation’s peak electric-
subsidies until April 2023, everyone ity consumption, the
is being encouraged to start saving ESO hopes.
energy, and in last month’s Net Work Presently, there’s
I suggested that consumers might nothing to suggest that
receive some sort of ‘carrot’ from consumers would be The Loop ‘Smarter Meter’ app displays your smart meter
electricity suppliers to reduce peak- penalised for using data on your smartphone or tablet, and can help optimise
time electricity consumption. It now energy at peak times. energy consumption.

yours has been lost or damaged. One
example is the Loop ‘Smarter Meter’
app. Loop claims it helps you under-
stand your electricity usage and shows
you easy ways to use less and save
money. Also, they claim as much as
30% of a total bill can be due to phan-
tom loads running in the background
(think of it as a household’s quiescent
current) – Loop will help to identify
and eliminate them. Loop reckons
users cut their usage by 10% on av-
erage, and the app will also simplify
the job of changing supplier (because
in the UK, consumers aren’t tied to a
local energy utility company and can
pick their own supplier). The app is
free from your mobile platform app
store; see https://loop.homes for de-
tails. I tried to find out more about the
app’s technical workings, but Loop
was unreachable by email, and there
is no phone number either. The name
behind Loop, Trust Power Ltd, seemed
unapproachable too.
The design proposal for the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) fusion
PE readers will know that a kWh
reactor, the UK’s first nuclear fusion reactor which will be built at West Burton, Notts.
rating relates to kilowatts drawn per
hour, and calculating an appliance’s
running costs is simple enough, though fleet – now nearly half a century over- Government announcing an initial
the unwelcome addition of gas and due – will incorporate Small Modular £20m investment into a pilot plant
electricity ‘standing charges’ adds Reactors which will probably take ten to explore whether nuclear fusion
some £270 per year to our bills. These years or so before they go onstream. could become a commercial reality. A
are the kind of calculations we will Their modular approach allows pro- nuclear fusion power station would
soon all be making, and a handy online duction to be distributed around the harness the energy of plasma gener-
Electricity Cost Calculator at https:// country, and Rolls-Royce has already ated at temperatures ten times greater
bit.ly/pe-dec22-ecc includes tariffs for shortlisted seven potential sites for than the sun and shaped by electro-
all major countries and gives the total constructing three factories dedi- magnets within a tokamak, a Russian
cost of electricity consumed over a set cated to manufacturing Rolls-Royce acronym that translates as ‘toroidal
period in minutes or hours. (For UK 470MW SMRs. The first, and largest chamber with magnetic coils’.
readers, information about the current factory will make the critical ‘heavy The fusion process is inherently
‘price cap’ will be found on Ofgem’s vessels’ themselves and two more fac- safe in the sense that it cannot ‘run
website at: https://bit.ly/pe-dec22-cap). tories will produce all the ancillary away’ and nuclear fusion has already
Unfortunately, not everyone under- equipment needed. Thus, it will be been created in laboratory trials, but
stands that it’s only the unit price possible to deliver SMR modules by the process won’t be commercially
(£/kWh) that’s been capped, not your road or rail, ready for final assembly viable as long as it consumes more
actual annual bill. Prices are now re- on site (even, possibly, in anti-nuclear energy than it generates. The next
viewed quarterly. Scotland, which still has two nuclear stage of research is to build the UK’s
power stations and has not yet ruled first prototype commercial nuclear
A fusion future SMRs out). fusion reactor. The site of an obso-
As the energy market continues to The drive towards renewable and lete coal-fired power station at West
evolve, Britain’s new nuclear power green energy continues, with the UK Burton in Nottinghamshire, England
Nuclear fusion has been accomplished at laboratory level. The The multinational ITER nuclear fusion plant under construction in
next step is to scale it up. (BBC/YouTube) Provence. It is hoped that ‘first plasma’ will occur in 2025. (Photo:
ITER Organization, April 2022)

has been chosen for a new Spherical Tokamak for Energy
Production (STEP) fusion reactor, which the UK Atomic
Energy Authority says will have many features of a fully
operational power station. The research project is likely
to be of comparable scale and value to a major operation-
al power station, they add.
STEP will connect to the UK’s National Grid and is
expected to produce net energy (ie, more power than it
consumes) although it is not expected to operate com-
mercially at this stage. The first phase is to produce a
concept design by 2024 as part of a 20-year research pro-
gramme, and it should be commissioned by the late 2030s.
A local BBC news clip explains more at https://youtu.be/
HOxunnbY75g and the UKAEA describes the STEP proposals
at https://ccfe.ukaea.uk/research/step/. An overview pro-
gram (PDF) is downloadable at: https://bit.ly/pe-dec22-ukaea
Other research into nuclear fusion taking shape includes
a huge multinational research project called ITER, which
has been under construction in Provence, southern France
since 2010 and will house the world’s largest tokamak. It
will be the CERN of the nuclear fusion world. It is hoped The TP-Link Tapo P110 is a budget smart socket with energy-
that ‘first plasma’ will take place in 2025 with full opera- monitoring features.
tion getting under way around ten years after that. There
is a vast wealth of very interesting background informa- has a pushbutton but little else, and the UK version is
tion at the ITER website, see: www.iter.org rated at 13A, 2,990W (resistive), though European ones
Back home, work continues in Britain to re-commis- with a 16A Schuko socket are downrated to 10A, 2300W
sion a major offshore gas storage facility, the ‘Rough’ field for some reason. It’s a sealed unit, and although the label
that was the largest gas storage asset in the UK, holding mentions a fuse, it’s not user-serviceable so the socket
up to 70% of the nation’s reserves. It closed in 2018 after would have to be thrown away if the internal fuse failed.
Centrica, its operator and the owner of British Gas, dis- They are probably not intended to control larger motorised
covered potential problems with some of the wells that appliances or anything containing a hefty power supply,
fed into the gas storage field. The closure wasn’t a simple but only time will tell how reliable they are.
case of short-sighted planning: the cost of remedial work I’m trying a couple of P110 smart sockets on my Mer-
was deemed too high and would have rendered the gas cusys/TP-Link home mesh network. The Tapo app needs
field commercially non-viable at that time. It is hoped installing on a smartphone or tablet using the same Wi-Fi
that Rough will once again start to carry some reserves network as the smart socket. The Quick Start guide con-
to meet at least some of the forthcoming winter demand. sists of ‘get the app’ via a QR code, after which an online
Centrica has also announced plans to convert a decom- account must be set up. The Tapo app is generally easy
missioned gas-fired power station hall at Brigg, North to use and there was no problem finding the new smart
Lincolnshire, into a battery storage facility that could socket on my network; you can also share the app with
supply the equivalent of a full day’s energy consump- other family members on the same network. After automat-
tion for 11,000 households. America’s GE is providing ically fetching a firmware upgrade, it was ready for use.
the 50MW/100MWh battery storage technology, which The app has a few handy features, some of which are
will store energy from the 43 onshore wind farms dotted hidden away a little. A ‘Scheduler’ acts like a weekly time
around the county. The battery backup will help the UK’s switch function, although it can also be set to switch on
National Grid to store renewable energy and iron out peaks or off at sunrise or sunset. An ‘Away’ mode is in fact a
and troughs in the network, and it should be fully oper- daily/weekly random timer cycle that can be set to make
ational in late 2023. it appear that someone is home. A countdown timer can
(As an aside, the Brigg site was in fact a British Sugar time the load for anything from a minute to 24 hours
factory from 1928 until the early 1990s, and as a young before switching it on or off.
lad the author grew up in its shadow; they say smells are The basic energy monitor logs power consumption in
evocative and the pungent sweet smell of seasonal sugar kWh for both today and the last 30 days. Tapping a data
processing drifted around while your scribe busied him- field (eg, 0.1kWh used today) opens bar graphs of usage
self with a soldering iron in the garage. More than a dozen from the past 30 days and 12 months. This function is
sugar factories eventually closed, a sign of progress.) hidden from view, and like one or two other aspects, is
easy to overlook or forget about: there’s a log of the on-off
A smart socket history buried in the Shortcuts menu.
The brand TP-Link is well known for its wide range of en-
try-level and mid-range network peripherals. You’ll find Alexa, turn on the lights
TP-Link switches and routers everywhere, together with The smart socket is both Alexa and Google Assistant
a range of domestic smart bulbs, LED light strips, Wi-Fi compatible, so it can be operated via voice control
security cameras and mains plugs and thermostats. So, with a smart speaker. Various ‘smart actions’ and auto-
still on the theme of saving energy, I’ve been trying out mation routines are built in, and it appears that Tapo
a ‘smart’ mains socket from TP-Link’s budget Tapo range is now IFTTT (If This, Then That) compatible. See
that has an energy monitoring function to help users keep https://ifttt.com/tplink_tapo for a small number of IFTTT
an eye on power consumption. automation routines. The TP110 smart plug costs typ-
One feature of TP-Link’s Tapo P110 ‘Mini Smart Wi-Fi ically £10 if you shop around, and more details are at:
Socket’ is its compact size. The minimalist mains socket https://bit.ly/pe-dec22-tapo

A cheaper Tapo smart socket (the days my telly swallowed 87kWh or
TP100) does not include energy mon- £16 worth at 2021 prices, or double
itoring. The Tapo line-up includes that, looking ahead.
Wi-Fi cameras and a trial of unlim- Due to the design, it may not fit
ited cloud storage (Tapo Care) starts some British mains wall sockets that
at £2.99 a month for six months or are near floor level. The mono LCD is
£25.99 a year for one device (£93.99 not backlit, and my PM 230 had no
per annum for up to five devices). TP- fuse protection inside. It’s informative
Link also lists an older range of ‘Kasa’ though, and a battery backup maintains
smart devices which needs the Kasa settings and data. The UK manual of
app instead. The Kasa equivalent of the PM 231 can be downloaded from
the TP110 is the KP115 Mini Smart https://bit.ly/pe-dec22-pm231. There
Plug with energy monitoring. are many unbranded alternatives on
Unfortunately, a lot of misleading Amazon and eBay.
or outdated information about these
ranges will be found online, but the The Queen’s email
Kasa and Tapo platforms are incom- Following my feature last month cel-
patible so it’s easiest to stick with ebrating some technology milestones
one line or the other. The Tapo line is in the reign of the late Queen Eliza-
the cheaper, entry-level system of the beth II, my thanks go once again to
two which will be adequate for many regular PE reader Godfrey Manning
users wishing to add a smart device who shares some memories:
or two, to control small appliances, ‘I noticed the late Professor Peter
tabletop lights or radios, especial- Kirstein was credited with the photo
ly using Alexa or Google to control on page 12 of HM Queen Elizabeth II
them. Kasa seems a bit more robust sending an email at RSRE. As an un-
and has many more IFTTT routines dergraduate at UCL (intercalated BSc Brennenstuhl’s PM 231 meter measures
available, which might appeal to more Medical Statistics & Computer Science, power usage, efficiency and costs,
advanced users. I also noticed that 1977/78) I worked in the same depart- along with other useful parameters (UK
the Kasa Smart Wi-Fi Plug (HS100) ment as Prof. Kirstein. I’d heard of version shown).
that I have on the bench does have a ARPANET (possibly JANET – the Joint
replaceable fuse. A device similar to Academic Network – too) but such an as we radio amateurs say in Morse),
TP-Link’s range would be the Tenda advanced research project seemed out Godfrey Manning G4GLM, Edgware.’
SP9 smart socket, which has energy of my grasp and I felt that it (and the Thank you for writing, Godfrey
monitoring features. Professor) were rather distant – or, at – can anyone identify the terminal
Apart from smart sockets, there are least, beyond what someone like me monitor the Queen used when send-
countless energy-monitoring plug-in could be involved in! ing her first email?
adaptors with built-in LCDs that dis- ‘Our only network connection to Once again, my column inches
play and log power consumption. The remote computers was by RS-232, often have been filled, so that’s all for
versatile Brennenstuhl PM 231 Watt- 300 baud over an acoustic coupler this month’s Net Work. Do remem-
age & Current Meter displays voltage, telephone modem. We were grateful ber that this article’s web links will
frequency, current, power factor (cos for what we had! As to Her Majesty’s be ready-made for you to click on
ø) and power output, and it calcu- VDU, could it be one of those made by in the Net Work blog available at:
lates the total energy consumption, Newbury? Yes, Britain could still pro- www.electronpublishing.com – see
running costs (with day and night duce such things in those days. Also in you next month!
tariffs) and runtime. My older version my career, from 1982-84 I worked on
(PM 230) informs me that my smart a hospital path-lab system written in
TV draws 9W on standby (ongoing, the (wholly unsuitable!) CORAL-66 as The author can be reached at:
that’ll be £25 a year) and over 140 also seen in your photo. Regards (‘73’
[email protected]

The Humm
Audio A Like a hummingbird, this miniature
amplifier is nimble, small in size
but strong, delivering up to 60W
into 8Ω or 100W into 4Ω. It is ideal for
R
eaders frequently ask us for so compact and has modest power In the end, we looked at larger
advice on building amplifiers supply requirements, you can quite high-quality amplifiers and shrunk the
with more than two channels. easily jam half a dozen (or more!) of design. The result is the Humming-
We’ve published many Hi-Fi ampli- them into a reasonably sized chassis. bird Amplifier Module, which packs
fier module designs over the years, but We designed these for driving a surprising punch for its size, while
mainly they have been designed for multi-way loudspeaker systems using keeping many of the low-distortion
maximum power and minimum dis- an active crossover to split the sig- characteristics of the larger amplifiers
tortion, resulting in modules that will nals into frequency ranges to suit from which it takes inspiration. It can
only fit one or two per case (unless you each driver. This approach needs one achieve up to 60W into 8W or 100W
use a huge case!). amplifier per driver (woofer, tweeter into 4W with distortion below 0.0008%
We have published amplifier designs and so on) but you generally don’t at 1kHz and less than 0.008% all the
using all-in-one IC ‘chip’ amps like the need as much power per amplifier, way up to 20kHz. That’s way better
LM1875T. They are always quite com- since they are working together. than ‘CD quality’.
promised, both in terms of maximum Initially, we looked at using small,
power output (typically topping out low-cost Class-D amplifier modules Design
at around 30-40W) and performance, which could deliver 30-50W. After If you are familiar with larger ampli-
with distortion and noise figures far quite a bit of searching, we concluded fier topology, then an examination of
worse than a discrete amplifier. that there was nothing readily avail- the circuit diagram (Fig.7) will show
This design offers an excellent able with distortion performance many similarities between the Hum-
compromise between the two. It’s within an order of magnitude of what mingbird and larger siblings. On the
cheaper and easier to build than we’d call ‘Hi-Fi’. Many smaller Class-D other hand, for compactness, the prin-
our best Hi-Fi amplifiers while still amplifiers exhibit high-frequency dis- cipal differences are:
delivering plenty of power with very tortion above 0.5%, worse than many n
We opted for one pair of output tran-
good performance. And because it’s decent loudspeaker drivers! sistors, rather than two
Features Specifications
● Low distortion and noise ● Output power (±32V rails): 100W RMS into 4W, 60W RMS into 8W
● Extremely compact PCB ● Frequency response (−3dB): 1Hz to 150kHz
● Fits vertically on a 75mm heatsink and can be stacked in a 2RU case ● Signal-to-noise ratio: 118dB with respect to 50W into 4W
● Produces specified power output continuously with passive cooling ● Input sensitivity: 1.2V RMS for 60W into 8W; 1.04V RMS for 100W into 4W
● All through-hole parts ● Input impedance: 22kW || 1nF
● Low in cost, simple to build ● Total Harmonic Distortion (8W, ±32V): <0.008%, 20Hz-20kHz,
● Onboard DC fuses 50kHz bandwidth 32W (see Fig.2 and Fig.6)
● Output over-current and short-circuit protection ● Stability: unconditionally stable with any nominal speaker load ≥4W
● Clean overload recovery with low ringing ● Power supply: ±20-40V DC, ideally ±34V DC from a 25-0-25 transformer
● Clean square wave response with minimal ringing ● Quiescent current: 53mA nominal
● Tolerant of hum and EMI fields ● Quiescent power: 4W nominal
● Quiescent current adjustment with temperature compensation ● Output offset: typically <20mV (measured)

mingbird
Amplifier
building multi-channel amplifiers for applications like surround sound
or when using an active crossover. Despite its compact size, only a few
compromises were made compared to much larger designs – it even
has output protection!
Image Source: https://pixabay.com/photos/hummingbird-bird-flight-wings-2139279/ By Phil Prosser
n

We chose inexpensive NJW21193/4 The SOA protection is tightly cou- short circuit or severe overload. This
output transistors pled with the output stage and sits protects the amplifier from all but the
n

The maximum supply rail voltages between this and the voltage amplifier worst abuse.
are just ±40V (larger amplifiers often stage (VAS). The VAS and driver come Calculations confirmed that using
go to ±60V). next, and sit between the fuses, again a mains transformer with a 25-30V
with little room to spare. At the front AC secondary providing rail voltages
It’s also worth noting that the PCB is end of the board is the input stage. of ±35-42V would be safe with a sin-
not large – just 64mm wide – and cir- How the various sections of the ampli- gle pair of output devices into 4W, 6W
cuit simplification lets us use through- fier fit on the PCB is shown in Fig.1. or 8W, delivering 60W into 8W loads
hole components exclusively. We are only using one output device and 100W into 4W loads. With a 25V
The width of the PCB is defined per side, so we have chosen a robust transformer, that’s reduced slightly to
by the two output devices and ther- device with a generous safe operating 50W for 8W.
mal compensation transistor. This is area (SOA). Few devices are sturdier For those of you who follow audio
also a neat fit for the emitter resis- than the NJW21193G/NJW21194G amplifier design, the topology here is
tors required for a stable operating (or their beefier MJL21193/4 sib- basically the ‘blameless’ amplifier (as it
bias point. lings). These are rated at 16A, 250V is dubbed by Douglas Self), which just
Despite their relatively large size, we and 200W. works. The innovation in this project
have used DC rail fuses in this design, We decided to add output SOA is more about our aproach to simplifi-
as they form an important protective protection to the amplifier that mon- cation and minimisation.
layer for the amplifier in case some- itors the output current and voltage No doubt using SMDs would have let
thing goes wrong in use. and shuts off the output in case of a us make the PCB less, err, packed.
Fig.1: this depiction of the Hummingbird PCB is at 90% of life-size and shows the purpose of each set of components.
The input stage is responsible for setting the gain and distortion cancellation while the VAS and drivers buffer the
signal from the input stage to provide suitable drive for the output transistors. The SOA protection circuitry keeps the
output transistors within their ‘safe operating areas’.

Still, we managed to fit all the required
through-hole components into an area
of just 88 by 64mm. That will easily fit
standing on its side in a standard two
rack unit (2RU) high case, and assem-
bly is not especially difficult.
Performance
We took total harmonic distortion
(THD) measurements of the prototypes
at 10W and 35W into 8W by power-
ing it from a bench supply, shown in
Fig.2. The 35W measurement required
using a 40dB attenuator with our test
equipment, while the 10W level only
needed a 20dB attenuator. That is why
the distortion results at 10W look so
much better than at 35W.
Given that the shapes of the two
curves are very similar, it’s likely that
the actual performance of the ampli-
fier is closer to the 10W figures, even
up to its maximum 60W power out-
put. We can confidently say that this
amplifier generates very low distortion
levels, and at 10W, is below 0.002% Fig.2: total harmonic distortion (minus noise) plots for the Hummingbird at two
THD over much of the audio range. different power levels: 36W (red) and 10W (blue). The other curves show the test
Note that Fig.2 also shows partial results with various combinations of output transistors, driver transistors and,
distortion curves for various alterna- in one case, a different VAS transistor (BD139, pink curve). Regardless of which
devices you choose, the performance is pretty good.
tive output/driver/VAS transistors,
and we will explain those options a the amplifier via an attenuator, while The 22kW input resistor is selected
bit later. the right channel is monitoring the sig- to match the 22kW feedback resis-
The amplifier behaves well at clip- nal into the amplifier. As you can see, tor so that each side of the differen-
ping. The most common problem is the distortion at the output is hardly tial amplifier formed by PNP tran-
the output ‘sticking’ as the amplifier any higher than the input signal, and sistors Q7 and Q8 has matched DC
exits clipping from the negative rail, the second and third harmonics are input impedances. Assuming that
when the VAS transistor comes out of roughly equal at around −110dB. these transistors have equal current
saturation. The Hummingbird behaves through each leg and similar hFE, the
well coming out of clipping, as shown Circuit description offset voltages at the bases of Q7 and
in Fig.3 and Fig.4. Fig.7 shows the Hummingbird circuit. Q8 will be about the same.
We also tested with a square wave A 220kW resistor biases the input sig- This should ensure a low output off-
signal, and the result is in Fig.5. There nal at CON2 to 0V DC. The input signal set voltage on the amplifier. We mea-
is not a lot to show here; it generates passes through a 10μF bipolar capaci- sured less than 20mV on our prototypes.
a bandwidth-limited square wave out- tor and then a 100W resistor shunted by We have specified BC556 transistors
put as shown, with no overshoot and 1nF and 22kW to the low-noise signal for Q7 and Q8, although you could use
minimal undershoot. ground. This connects to the output low-noise BC560 devices if you can
Finally, Fig.6 shows one of the ground via a 10W resistor. The 10μF find them. These are commonly avail-
spectral plots taken while gathering and 22kW combination at the input able and perform well in this applica-
the measurements for Fig.2. The left sets the −3dB low-frequency cutoff tion. 100W emitter degeneration resis-
channel is connected to the output of point below 1Hz. tors are used for Q7 and Q8. These
Fig.3: a scope plot of the amplifier’s Fig.4: this time, the amplifier has been Fig.5: we fed a square wave signal
output waveform into an 8W resistive driven into clipping with a 3W resistive (orange) into the Hummingbird and
load, driven into clipping. You can load, representing pretty much the connected its output to a 3W resistive
see there’s a tiny bit of ‘sticking’ worst-case situation it will have to deal load (harsh, we know). It handled this
to the negative rail as it comes out with when driving a real 4W (nominal) very well, with no sign of overshoot or
of clipping, but not enough to be loudspeaker. Once again, the recovery undershoot; clearly, it’s a very well-
concerned about. from clipping is fine. behaved amplifier.

Fig.6: one of the many spectral plots we produced as part of the performance tests. You can see the THD readings of the input
(red) and output (blue) signals towards the bottom. You can also see all the harmonics of both signals in the central area. The
test signal is at 1kHz, so the first harmonic is at 2kHz, third at 3kHz and so on. The amp’s output was passed through a 40dB
attenuator, reducing the fundamental to −15dB and dropping the measured noise floor to that of the instrument.
assist with achieving balance and lin- input to Q8 increases, which reduces The VAS transistor needs to have a
earity in the differential amplifier. This the current into Q16. Because the cur- very low COB or output capacitance.
reduces its sensitivity to transistor and rent mirror ‘tries’ to keep the current There are not many really suit-
temperature variations. through Q15 and Q16 the same, this able devices being made these days,
The input stage operates with 3mA excess current flows into Q13’s base. most likely as the best VAS transis-
of bias current. This is set by the 220W Q13 forms part of a quasi Darling- tors were also video amplifier tran-
resistor in the emitter leg of PNP ton transistor pair with Q14, which sistors for cathode ray tube (CRT)
transistor Q3, which serves as a con- ultimately drives the amplifier out- monitors, which have gone the way
stant-current source. put. These transistors together form of the dodo! We used the BF469 video
The keen-eyed will note that we the voltage amplifier stage (VAS). It transistor here in the past, but they
have omitted a resistor from between transforms the current from the front are now obsolete.
the constant-current source and the end into a voltage. The load on the VAS is the constant
differential amplifier. Our lower Q14 is a KSC3503DS transistor, current from PNP transistors Q1 and
voltage rails mean this is not neces- which is specialised for this sort of Q2, which is set to about 8mA, plus
sary, as Q3 can handle the resulting application. These are available from the current required to drive the out-
100mW dissipation. Mouser, Digi-Key, element14 and RS. put stage.
The collector legs of the differen-
tial amplifier feed into a current mir- The Hummingbird Amplifier is built on a
ror made using NPN transistors Q15 PCB measuring 64 x 88mm. It can be built
with multiple configurations of transistors.
and Q16. A current mirror works by
For example, this photo uses MJE15032/3
exploiting the fact that with a matched transistors for Q4 and Q12. These could
set of transistors at the same tempera- be replaced with BD139/140 transistors
ture, the VBE (base-emitter voltage) rela- respectively. See Tables 1-3
tionship vs current will be the same. for more detail.
So by connecting the bases of Q15
and Q16, and putting the same resis-
tance in their emitter circuits, if we
drive 1.5mA through Q16, Q15 will
similarly seek to conduct 1.5mA as
it has the same base-emitter voltage.
This ensures that the differential
pair of Q7 and Q8 operates with the
same current in each leg, which means
it operates optimally as a linear differ-
ential amplifier.
The output of the differential ampli-
fier is a current that flows into the base
of NPN transistor Q13. If the amplifier
output is higher than the input, the

Fig.7: the Hummingbird amplifier circuit is
pretty standard if a bit minimalist. It has a lot
in common with our previously published,
higher-power amplifiers like the SC200. Note
NPN transistor Q17, which has been added to
protect Q14 during negative clipping excursions
and the SOA protection transistors, Q6 and
Q10, with three resistors each to set the I/V
limit slope and intercept.
Between Q2 and Q14, we have

NPN transistor Q9 and its base-bi-
asing resistors. This forms a sim-
ple ‘VBE multiplier’ that allows us to
set the voltage between the bases of
the output stage and driver transis-
tors Q4, Q5, Q11 and Q12. These are
arranged in standard emitter-follower
connected pairs.
The amplifier must operate in
Class-AB for good performance, where
both the positive (NPN) and negative
(PNP) output devices are conduct-
ing for output voltages around the 0V
crossover point, as shown in Fig.8.
We want to bias the amplifier to draw
about 50mA in the quiescent state as
this gives the best output stage linear-
ity around the crossover point.
To achieve this, we need to set a
‘constant’ voltage to bias the four
base-emitter junctions at just over
their turn-on voltage (about 0.6V Hummingbird 100W Amplifier
each), for a total of around 2.4V.
But the base-emitter threshold volt-
ages of Q4, Q5, Q11 and Q12 all vary Our output stage is a single pair by MJE15032/33 driver devices, as
with temperature, so Q9 is mounted of transistors, Q5 and Q11. The there is not enough current available
on the same heatsink as Q5 and Q11, NJW21193/4 types, as stated earlier, from the VAS to drive them directly.
and Q9 is used to multiply its own VBE have been selected for their SOA large The output devices both have 0.22W
voltage using a 390W fixed resistor and (safe operating area). These are driven resistors in series with their emitters,
potentiometer VR1. This way, the bias
voltage will track the VBE voltages of
those two transistors, giving a mostly
constant bias current.
When properly adjusted, VR1 will
Output Device Conduction
be about 130W. Q9’s base-emitter volt- N PN NPN

age is across this resistance, around
0.6V, giving about 4.6mA through VR1
and also the 390W resistor. That gives
1.8V (390W × 4.6mA) between Q9’s Class-A N PN Class-B
PNP
base and collector, for a total of 2.4V
(0.6V + 1.8V).
Fig.8: four common amplifier classes;

Class-C is mainly used for RF, not
audio, where distortion is less of
a concern. Class-A has a single
transistor that varies its conduction
over the whole cycle, while the other
three classes use complementary NPN NPN

pairs. In Class-B, one device conducts
for the positive half of the cycle; the
other conducts during the negative
half. Class-AB is like Class-B except Class-C Class-AB
PNP PNP
that both devices conduct when the
output is near 0V (the purple area
is where they overlap), while for
Class-C, neither device conducts in the
crossover zone.

providing a small amount of negative experience thermal runaway, nor does Fig.11 shows the same SOA curves
feedback for their bias currents. the performance change due to this as Fig.9 and Fig.10, but also adds
The driver devices are capable of change in bias, so it is a worthwhile com- dashed ‘SOA protection’ lines. These
much higher current and dissipation promise to keep the module compact. are the limits we’ve chosen to ‘program
than demanded in this application. in’ for each pair of output devices to
However, they are widely available SOA protection ensure they stay within their SOAs.
and reasonably priced, so they suit We are using a single pair of output The effect of driving the Humming-
this application well. They do not dis- devices so we feel it prudent to protect bird into a 1W load is shown in Fig.12.
sipate enough power in this applica- them against unexpected overload or The input signal is at the top, while
tion to require heatsinking. short circuits. Shorting the output of the ‘clipped’ output waveform below
However, suppose you are pushing a typical amplifier often leads to the shows the protection kicking in. This
your luck by increasing the rail volt- failure of output devices, driver tran- will not save you from ultimately over-
age or driving very low impedances sistors and ultimately the fuse, often heating the output transistors, but it
with continuous waveforms, or you in that order. We get around that by will prevent the immediate loss of
wish to achieve ideal bias tracking. In adding some basic safe operating area ‘magic smoke’.
that case, you might benefit from fit- (SOA) limiting components. Some people claim that this type
ting them to the heatsink (or the back The SOA curves for each pair of rec- of protection degrades the amplifier’s
of the output devices) on flying leads. ommended output devices (taken from performance, but the measured spec-
Ideally, we would have mounted their data sheets) are plotted in Fig.9 ifications speak for themselves.
them on the main heatsink so that their and Fig.10, along with curves repre- To understand how the SOA protec-
VBE voltages track those of the output senting the maximum specified output tion works, consider the top half, based
devices, as Q9 will multiply its own power being delivered into purely resis- on NPN transistor Q6 and diode D1 plus
VBE changes by a factor of four. We tive and reactive loads, the latter rep- three resistors: 18kW, 820W and 220W.
did not do that, to keep this module resents worst-case loudspeaker load. In normal operation, the voltage
as compact as possible. As you can see, except for the across the 0.22W emitter resistor of
The driver transistors still heat up TIP35/36 pair, all devices will be Q5 is less than 0.6V. Ignoring the extra
and cool down as the load changes, within their SOAs under these con- resistors for now, this means that Q6
which provides some thermal track- ditions. However, some loudspeak- is biased off and has no effect.
ing, but it won’t be exact. ers can have significant impedance Under fault conditions, the voltage
The result is that under transient dips at specific frequencies that could across the 0.22W resistor increases to
application of a heavy load, the output cause the transistors to operate out- the point that Q6 starts to switch on.
stage bias will tend to decrease slightly side their safe areas, and also acci- This diverts current from the base of
as the module gets hot delivering a sig- dents can happen with the wiring driver transistor Q4 to the output,
nificant amount of power. It does not (accidental shorting together). starving the driver of base current.

Fig.9: SOA curves for all the output devices you can Fig.10: a similar plot to Fig.9 but this time, the load lines
use in the Hummingbird, plus load lines for 8W purely are for 4W resistive/reactive loads and we’ve eliminated
resistive and 45° reactive loads (representing a worst-case those output devices that we don’t recommend for driving
loudspeaker). This shows that all the output devices are 4W loudspeakers. All three options are pretty safe; the
safe for driving such loads with the recommended supply MJL3281A/MJL1302A pairing comes pretty close to the
voltages, except perhaps the TIP35/36, so it’s probably best reactive load line, but the SOA protection circuitry is there
to avoid those if possible. to save the day if necessary.
This, in turn, starves the output device voltage divider formed by the other Construction
of base drive until the output current two resistors, so that at low output All parts are through-hole, and they fit
reduces to the point that Q6 is no lon- voltages, more current is injected, and on the 64 x 88mm, double-sided PCB
ger switched on so hard. the current limit kicks in earlier. coded 01111211, shown in Fig.13 and
This creates a local feedback loop This results in the SOA protection availabel from the PE PCB Service. The
that limits the output current, thus pro- being ‘sloped’ to fit the SOA of the parts are closely spaced but not too
tecting the output stage. Diode D1 is output devices, and allows more cur- tight. We have kept the pad sizes gen-
included so that the opposing current rent at high output voltages, because erous to make soldering easier.
protection circuit is not reverse-biased the voltage across the devices is lower. Before we continue, we strongly
by heavy output loads. Thus they dissipate less power for the advise you to use transistors from a
In the absence of the three extra same current. reputable supplier. There are cheap
resistors, Q6 would switch on at an transistors on internet auction/sale
output current of about 3A (0.6V across Output device selection sites. Do not be tempted by these.
a 0.22W resistor). This is too early, so The pinout of the output devices is Fakes are prolific, even in surpris-
to allow more current, the 820W and very common. The Hummingbird ingly simple devices. All the devices
220W resistors form a voltage divider delivers the measured performance recommended for this amplifier are
with a division ratio of 0.21. Thus, with the parts specified, but we have available at reasonable prices from
a current of about 13A through the checked that the amplifier works prop- major suppliers.
emitter resistor is required to turn the erly with a range of other output tran- Start by fitting all the small resistors
over-current protection on. sistors. You do need to change the SOA and diodes – make sure the orienta-
Without the 18kW resistor, the cur- protection resistor values, though, as tions of the diodes match what’s shown
rent limit will be the same regardless per Table 1. You also have options for in Fig.13 and on the PCB silkscreen.
of the output voltage. Adding that the driver transistors (Table 2) and VAS Follow with the trimpot, orienting its
resistor injects more current into the transistor (Table 3). adjustment screw as shown. This is
Table 1 – alternative output transistors

NPN output PNP output SOA protection resistors Comments and limitations Status
NJW21194G NJW21193G 18kW 820W 220W Performance as presented Verified
MJL21194 MJL21193 22kW 750W 220W Performance as presented; THD <0.001% Verified
at 1kHz with MPSA42 VAS
FJA4313 or FJA4213 or 22kW 470W 270W Limit to 25V AC transformer if driving Verified
2SC5242 2SA1962 difficult 4W loads
2SC5200 2SA1943 18kW 560W 220W Performs as specified Verified
MJL3281A MJL1302A 18kW 820W 220W Not checked
TIP35B/C TIP36B/C 27kW 1kW 390W Limit to 25V AC transformer, prefer 8W Verified
load. Surprisingly good performance
TIP3055 TIP2955 12kW 680W 270W Limit to 25V AC transformer and 8W load Not checked

► Fig.11: this shows all the output transistor SOAs again,
as well as the SOA protection lines (dashed). While
the protection lines are straight, they’re positioned to
stay below the SOA curves in almost all cases, so the
amplifier can’t drive the transistors outside of their SOA
curves. The SOA protection lines for the NJW21193G/
NJW21194G and MJL3281A/MJL1302A are identical
(green dashed line) since, despite being different curves,
they cross over at a critical point.
Fig.12: we deliberately overdrove the amplifier by ►

connecting its output across a load of just 1W and fed it with
a single sinewave pulse. This causes the output transistors
to deliver so much current that it triggers the SOA
protection circuitry. You can see from the bottom trace how
it limits the output voltage/current to protect the transistors.
critical because we need to be able to with their + (longer) lead to the left good practice to mount these a few
set the quiescent current to a minimum when the PCB is oriented with the millimetres proud of the PCB.
before the module is first powered up. output devices at the top. Ensure that The PCB will accept standard 5W
Next, mount the input and out- you have adequate voltage ratings on cast resistors, but we liked the look
put connectors. We have used parts these parts (ie, at least what is speci- and fit of some smaller resistors from
with the common 5/5.08mm spac- fied in the parts list). Mouser (see the parts list). They need to
ing on these (except the input, a Now install the TO-92 transistors. It have a rating of at least 3W in this appli-
2.54mm-pitch header). is worth finding matched pairs for Q7 cation, so 5W is quite conservative.
You should consider how you will and Q8 and also Q9 and Q10, if you
mount the modules before choos- can. To do this, check the hFE figures Making inductor L1
ing either screw terminals or plug- of a handful of each type. Select pairs The output inductor is made from
gable connectors. Access to a screw that have reasonably similar hFE mea- 0.8mm enamelled copper wire (ECW)
terminal may be obstructed in some surements; within 10% is fine. Also, as follows:
arrangements, so in that case, use try selecting pairs that have high hFE 1. Find a mandrel that is a bit over
pluggable connectors. figures compared to the others. 10mm in diameter and has a slight
Now install all the non-polarised With the BC549 and BC556, an hFE chamfer so that once complete, you
capacitors. Fit the MKT parts close to figure below 100 is cause to throw the can push the inductor off. We used
the PCB. Ensure you use a 100V-rated part in the bin, although such a low a large ‘Sharpie’ brand permanent
device for the 220pF capacitor. reading is rare indeed. marker.
Follow with the 5A fuses and their Now is a good time to mount the 2. Put masking tape around this man-
clips. We find it easiest to put the fuses remaining resistors. The only ones that drel but ensure the sticky side is
in their clips and then solder that as get warm are the 0.22W output stage facing outwards.
an assembly to the PCB. This ensures emitter resistors, and that’s only when 3. Place a bend in the enamelled cop-
everything is well-aligned. delivering full-power sinewaves from per wire (ECW), 30-40mm from the
Fit the electrolytic capacitors next, the amplifier, which will not happen end, and wind nine turns onto the
noting that they must all be installed with musical material. But it is still masking tape.
Table 2 – alternative driver transistors

NPN driver PNP driver Comments Status
MJE15032 MJE15033 As specified (MJE15034 and MJE15035 have not been tested but should be similar) Verified
MJE15030 MJE15031 These perform well with 8W and 6W loads. At 3W, distortion increases faster than Verified
the specified devices, but they are still a fair choice
TIP31B/C TIP32B/C Performs close to specifications. With 3W loads, distortion increases faster than Verified
the specified devices, but they are still a fair choice
BD139 BD140 Install in opposite orientation (ECB vs BCE pinout). The −16 gain group parts are Verified
the best choice. Limit to 25V AC transformer
MJE350 MJE340 Install in opposite orientation (ECB vs BCE pinout). Not ideal. Marginal on Not
maximum current. Limit to 8W and 25V AC transformer checked

Table.3 – alternative VAS transistors very low. Do this by turning it clock-
NPN VAS Comment Status wise a minimum of 20 turns. Check
with a multimeter that there is close
KSC3505DS As specified Verified to 500W between the cathode (striped
BF469 As specified Verified end) of diode D3 and the right-hand
end of the 390W resistor, just to the
BD139 Slightly elevated distortion, but a surprisingly good Verified
left of Q11.
performer – rumour has it that there are many ‘types’
Do this now – if you forget, you
of BD139, so ‘your mileage may vary’.
might blow the fuses when you power
MPSA42 Pinout is different. Measured THD <0.001% at 1kHz Verified it up, and fuses aren’t always fast
with MJL21193/4 output transistors. More negative enough to protect semiconductors.
rail ‘sticking’ than KSC3505DS, but not excessive You can do some initial testing
without mounting the amplifier to a
Fig.13: building the Hummingbird heatsink. This test will check that the
is straightforward; fit the amplifier is operational. Remove the
components to the PCB as shown 5A fuses from the board and install
here. Watch the orientations of all the test (blown) M205 fuses with 10W
diodes, transistors and electrolytic 5W resistors soldered across them.
capacitors. For the TO-220 and We refer to these as ‘safety resistors’.
TO-126 devices, the metal tabs Connect a voltmeter between the
face as shown here (if your TO-126 output and ground, set to a 200V range
device lacks a metal tab, it would
(or similar). Connect another voltme-
typically be opposite the side
with writing on it). Don’t forget ter across one of the 10W resistors, set
that if any of your transistors are to a 20V range or similar. If you only
substitutes for the recommended have one meter, run an initial check
devices, they will have different monitoring the output voltage only.
part codes than those shown here With the input to the module dis-
– see Tables 1-3. connected, apply power. Anything
over about ±15V is fine. If you can, set
4. Put a few drops of super glue on the current limit on the power supply
the ECW. Don’t worry if it gets to about 100mA.
on the masking tape, but you Check that the output voltage settles
probably don’t want to get it on to 0V ±50mV. We built 14 test units,
your mandrel! and all were within that range. Also
5. Give this a minute to set, then check that the voltage across the 10W
wind another layer on top of the safety resistor is less than 1V.
first nine turns. You might only be If either of these tests fail, imme-
able to get eight more in; that is OK. Adjustment and testing diately power it off and check for
Add more superglue and again let it It is critical that the bias adjusting the cause.
to set. potentiometer is set to maximum resis- Have you got the bias pot set at
6. Add the final winding of nine turns tance so that the initial bias current is the right end of its travel? Are all the
over that and glue again. capacitors in the right way around? Do
7. Push the inductor off the mandrel. you have a signal feeding
Don’t be scared to give it a solid push. the input? If so, discon-
8. Tease the masking tape from inside nect it. Are all the tran-
the inductor; we used long-nose sistors and diodes in the
pliers. Then we added some extra right places and the right
super glue. way around? Check that
9. Trim the ends, scrape the enamel those output devices are
off them and mount it to the PCB in the right spot!
above the 4.7W resistor as shown.
Finishing construction
Fig.14: route the wiring
Now fit the remaining transistors: solder to each module like
Q2, Q4, Q12 and Q14 directly to the PCB. this to ensure you get
The BD139, NJW21193 and NJW21194 the stated performance.
devices that mount on the main heatsink Current flowing through
(Q5, Q9 and Q11) come last. these wires will cause
Before proceeding, check your magnetic fields, which
mounting arrangements and ensure affect the operation
that you load these at the right height of components on the
for mounting on the main heatsink. The amplifier. Routing the
best way to mount these transistors to cables this way keeps
those magnetic field
the heatsink is with the insulating kits strengths low. Once
and machine screws. Bend their leads you’ve run them, use
to fit the board and then solder them. cable ties and cable
If you can, tap the heatsink to accept clamp to hold them
the screws, otherwise, drill through in place and keep
between fins and use long screws/nuts. everything neat.

Parts List – Hummingbird (for one amplifier)
1 double-sided PCB coded 01111211, 64 x 88mm, avavaiable from the PE PCB Service
1 split rail power supply delivering ±20V to ±40V DC (eg, 15-28V AC mains transformer, bridge rectifier, filter
capacitors, mains socket, mains-rated wiring, heatshrink tubing etc) – see Fig.15
3 2-way 5/5.08mm pitch mini terminal blocks (CON1, CON3, CON4)
1 2-way polarised/locking pin header (CON2)
4 M205 fuse clips (F1, F2)
2 5A 5mm ceramic fuses (F1, F2) Altronics kit
1 1m length of 0.8mm diameter enamelled copper wire (L1) Australian company Altronics offer a kit for this
1 500W vertical or side-adjust multi-turn trimpot (VR1) project, code K5158, at around £35 per module
2 TO-3P insulating kits (washers and bushes) PLUS p&p – see: www.altronics.com.au
1 TO-126 insulating kit (washer and bush)
3 M3 x 25mm panhead machine screws
3 flat washers to suit M3 screws
3 crinkle washers to suit M3 screws
3 M3 hex nuts
2 blown 5mm fuses (for testing, or purposefully blow 100mA fuses)
1 heatsink, type depending on intended application (we used one Altronics H0545 for six modules)
1 small tube of superglue
1 5cm length of masking tape
Semiconductors
5 BC556 65V 100mA PNP transistors, TO-92 (Q1, Q3, Q7, Q8, Q10)
1 MJE350 300V 500mA PNP transistor, TO-126 (Q2) [Altronics Z1127, Jaycar ZT2260]
1 MJE15032G or MJE15034G 250V/350V 8A NPN transistor, TO-220 (Q4) [element14 9556621, Digi-Key
MJE15034GOS-ND, Mouser 863-MJE15032G]
1 NJW21194G or MJL21194 250V 16A NPN transistor, TO-3P (Q5) [Jaycar ZT2228, element14 2535656, Digi-Key
NJW21194GOS-ND, Mouser 863-NJW21194G]
3 BC546 65V 100mA NPN transistors, TO-92 (Q6, Q13, Q17)
1 BD139 80V 1A NPN transistor, TO-126 (Q9) [Altronics Z1068, Jaycar ZT2189]
1 NJW21193G or MJL21193 250V 16A PNP transistor, TO-3P (Q11) [Jaycar ZT2227, element14 9555781, Digi-Key
NJW21193GOS-ND, Mouser 863-NJW21193G]
1 MJE15033G or MJE15035G 250V/350V 8A PNP transistor, TO-220 (Q12) [element14 9556630, Digi-Key
MJE15035GOS-ND, Mouser 863-MJE15033G]
1 KSC3503DS 300V 100mA NPN transistor, TO-126 (Q14) [element14 2453955, Digi-Key KSC3503DS-ND, Mouser
512-KSC3503DS]
2 BC549 30V 100mA NPN transistors (Q15, Q16)
3 1N4148 75V 250mA small signal diodes (D1-D3)
Capacitors
1 220μF 25V electrolytic [Altronics R5144, Jaycar RE6324]
2 100μF 50V 105°C electrolytic [Altronics R4827, Jaycar RE6346]
2 47μF 50V low-ESR electrolytic [Altronics R6107, Jaycar RE6344]
1 10μF 50V low-ESR electrolytic [Altronics R6067, Jaycar RE6075]
1 10μF 50V non-polarised electrolytic [Altronics R6560, Jaycar RY6810]
1 220nF 63V MKT [Altronics R3029B, Jaycar RM7145]
1 220pF 100V NP0/C0G ceramic [eg, element14 2860112, Digi-Key 445-173535-1-ND, Mouser
810-FG28C0G2A221JNT6]
Resistors (all 1/4W+ 1% metal film axial unless otherwise stated)
1 220kW 5 100W 0.5W or 0.6W 1% metal film 2 22kW 1 82W
2 18kW 2 68W 2 3.9kW 2 47W 0.5W or 0.6W 1% metal film
3 2.2kW 1 39W 1 1.2kW 1 15W 1W
2 820W 1 10W 1 390W 2 10W 5W 10% (for testing)
4 220W 1 4.7W 1W
2 0.22W 5W 5% [element14 1735119, Digi-Key BC3440CT-ND, Mouser 594-AC050002207JAC00]
Is your power supply delivering and VBE multiplier transistor. Power Allow this to settle and readjust. It
both positive and negative rails, and it up and adjust the bias by turning will take a while to settle; depending
do you have the ground connected? potentiometer VR1’s screw anticlock- on your mounting arrangement this
wise while watching the voltage across should be done with the full supply
Setting the bias the 10W resistor. Nothing will happen voltage applied (ie, the final voltages
This requires the amplifier to be for quite a few turns; then, the bias cur- you intend to use).
mounted to a heatsink with appropri- rent will rapidly increase. Adjust this Re-install the 5A fuses, and you are
ate insulators for the output devices to achieve 500mV across the resistor. ready to go. You can check the bias

The Amplifier can be cleanly mounted to
a 75mm heatsink as shown above. The
SOA protection resistors are missing as
we wanted to compare the performance
with and without them. After which you
can daisy-chain them together to form a
larger system such as a six channel setup
shown adjacent. This setup was mounted
in a 2U rack case.
later by measuring the voltage across this measuring a batch of modules power to be 60W on each subwoofer
the 0.22W resistors; you should see we built to verify our results; we had channel, possibly half this for the mid
10mV across each. If you’re mount- to tighten the connections to achieve and a tiny fraction of this on the high.
ing multiple modules on a heatsink consistent results. As a result, a power supply based
sideways as we did, the side-adjust on a 300VA transformer will be more
style trimpot specified makes this Getting the most out of it than enough for all six channels.
quite easy. We expect this module to find use Even a 160VA transformer might
where a small, low distortion, rugged cut it if you don’t plan on driving it
Installation and reasonably priced multi-channel especially hard. If your application
To minimise distortion to the levels amplifier is required. As these mod- calls for high power levels, there are
presented requires careful attention to ules will fit on a 75mm heatsink, many more appropriate options, such as the
layout and the power supply wiring. of them can be mounted vertically in SC200 Amplifier Module (see PE, Jan-
Our recommended wiring layout per a 2U rack case. uary to Match 2018). You could use
module is shown in Fig.14, and the Our original application for this a pair of those for the low-frequency
recommended power supply config- amplifier was to provide six channels channels and the Hummingbird for
uration is shown in Fig.15. for a stereo system using three-way the others.
The wiring from the main supply loudspeakers with active crossovers.
capacitors should have the positive, With two channels for subwoofers, Reproduced by arrangement with
negative and ground wires twisted two for mid-range two for tweeters, SILICON CHIP magazine 2022.
together. The output should fold back we expect the maximum continuous www.siliconchip.com.au
toward the output devices, run paral-
lel to the 0.22W output resistors, then
follow the power wires.
The output wire should follow the
power wires back past the power sup-
ply and pick up a ground wire, mini-
mising the loop area created, then run
as a pair from there to the speaker ter-
minals (see above).
Ensure that the power supply has a
‘star earth point’ from which you con-
nect to the input ground, the ampli-
fier ground and the speaker output
ground. Also check that the way you
connect the rectifier and its ground
connection to the capacitors does Fig.15: we’ve left the power supply for the Hummingbird somewhat open-ended, as
not inject noise onto your star earth it has pretty standard requirements. It just needs split DC rails without too much
point. Connect the input shielded ripple, somewhere between ±20V and ±40V. The configuration above will produce
around ±34V, which is right in the sweet spot and uses commonly available parts.
cable screen to the star point. Make sure your filter capacitors have a high enough voltage rating (above the
Make sure all connections are highest expected peak DC voltage) and enough capacitance to ‘hold up’ the supply
secure and have low resistance; poor between 100Hz recharge pulses at the maximum sustained output power you’re
connections can easily double the expecting. Generally, you will need at least a few thousand microfarads per rail;
distortion levels, or more. We found ideally, at least 10,000μF per rail for multiple amplifier modules.

Part 2: by Tim Blythman
U
S Cable
B Tester
Our USB Cable Tester, introduced last month, is ideal for going through piles
of cables and sorting them out. It’s also a great first step in diagnosing a
faulty USB-connected device. It can perform continuity and short-circuit
checks on practically any USB cable and will report problems such as high
resistance in the power wires; a source of frustrating intermittent faults.
I
n the initial article last month, their ability to carry current under real- The second reason is to help those
we described the reasoning and prin- world conditions. The resistance and who construct and repair cables. You
ciples of operation behind the USB voltage drop is reported. can use it to check individual cable
Cable Tester. Bristling with all the This feature will ferret out many halves, mainly to ensure that there
standard USB sockets, it will test and cables that are causing intermittent are no shorts between any conductors.
diagnose any cable with either a USB-C problems. When devices such as por- The third is perhaps the most
or USB-A (2.0 or 3.2) on one end and table hard drives mysteriously stop important. That is to check that the
any of USB-C or USB-B (such as 2.0, working, it’s possibly due to their very fiddly USB sockets have been cor-
3.2, micro or mini) on the other end. high-current needs being hampered rectly soldered to the PCB. It’s a kind
It will report whether the cable is by poor connections. of self-diagnosis.
suitable for power only, USB 2.0 or USB With this tool, you can weed out We will offer a different order of con-
3.2 operation (and indicate whether dodgy cables and choose the best ones struction than usual to take advantage
one or two SuperSpeed lanes are pres- for high-current applications. Now you of this self-diagnosis feature.
ent). With USB 3.2 (which has replaced can know for sure if it’s the cable or the
USB 3.0 and USB 3.1), each Super- device that’s causing problems. PCB layout
Speed lane consists of four wires, form- The USB Cable Tester can also run The internal photos and the overlay
ing differential pairs in both (upstream tests when only one end of a USB diagram (Fig.3) show that the USB
and downstream) directions. cable is plugged in, and it does this sockets all lie along one edge of the
The unit scans every combination of for three reasons. PCB. CON5, CON6 and CON8 are on a
wires among the upstream-facing and First, it verifies cables that are OTG narrow neck without any surrounding
downstream-facing ports. It can tell (USB on-the-go) compatible, which components. That makes fitting those
you which wires are internally shorted short their GND and ID pins. This state sockets easier.
or open circuit to help with diagnosis indicates to a device that it should The other sockets (CON3, CON4 and
and repair. instead behave as a host. Since OTG CON7) are near the relays and buck
The USB Cable Tester also runs cables are usually adaptors, their other circuitry around Q3. Since these com-
pulses of up to 1A through the cable’s end is typically a socket, so you can’t ponents are only needed for the power
power (VBUS and GND) wires to assess plug in it at both ends. testing and not connectivity testing,

we can fit those other components
after confirming the USB sockets
have been soldered correctly.
So, no components below the
rows of resistors and above the
sockets should be fitted until
later, except for the two other sur-
face-mounting parts, the 220mW
resistor and the inductor L1.
These are low in profile and
can be fitted with the other sur-
face-mounting parts to simplify
the workflow.
Enclosure
Prepare the case lid as the first
step because the LCD is needed
to perform our initial diagnostic
tests, and also we need to align
all the parts to fit the LCD head-
ers accurately.
Refer to the cutting diagram,
Fig.4. The single 4mm hole at
upper right is for access to push-
button S1; we suggest reading the
Options section below to deter-
mine if you wish to fit it (and thus
whether this hole is needed).
It’s essential that the opening for the Fig.3: the only parts that are somewhat tricky to fit are the USB sockets. Make
LCD is centred horizontally to avoid sure that IC1, RLY1, RLY2, the diodes and MOSFETs are oriented as shown.
Note that there is a single 10kW resistor among the rows of 1kW parts. The USB
the connecting header being skewed. Cable Tester might still work if you mix this up, but it will drain the battery
We used a technique that requires a much more quickly. The six USB sockets are located along one edge of the PCB.
sharp hobby knife, pliers (prefera- It is important to fit USB-C socket CON4 before the relays and associated parts
bly wide-nosed), a hacksaw or jigsaw are mounted on the board, so you have decent access to its pins.
and a drill.
You can use the bezel as a template, With the LCD in place, you can use Mount the bezel to the outside of
keeping in mind that the bezel will it (or the bezel) to mark and drill the the lid with the four 15mm-long M3
hide most imperfections in the top location of the four mounting holes. machine screws, keeping the matte
panel. Mark the edges of the hole on If your LCD doesn’t have a pin surface facing out. Secure on the inside
both sides; small holes drilled in the header fitted to its underside, solder with four nuts. While simplifying
very corners of the cutout area will it now. When the screen comes with assembly, these nuts also provide the
help to align the two sides. a header, it’s usually supplied sep-
Firmly score the rectangular cutout arately. Try to keep the pins at right
with the hobby knife against a straight angles to the LCD’s PCB to ensure that
edge. Take care with this, as a slip with they will fit squarely into the header
a sharp knife can really hurt you! sockets on the main PCB.
Make a hole in the centre of the
rectangle that’s large enough to
accept the saw blade, then use
the saw to cut up to the scored
edges. You’ll need to make a
number of these cuts around the Tactile switches with long
edge to divide the rectangle into actuators can be hard to
manageable pieces. come by, although you
Then carefully flex the plastic can certainly use such a
to snap it along the score lines and part if you can find it. Our
break out the centre area in small assembly uses four wires
sections. If the score lines are accu- to stand S1 off the PCB so
rate, the result will have neat, precise that you can access it from
edges. Use the hobby knife to lightly outside the case.
shave small pieces of plastic from the
edges of the hole to enlarge the hole
if necessary and to tidy up.
Another method is to drill a row
of holes inside the periphery of the
marked area to remove most of the
plastic, then file the edges smooth
until the LCD fits. This is slower but
requires fewer tools.

Fig.4: fortunately,
the laser-cut bezel
hides any small
inaccuracies in the
large rectangular
cutout in the case.
The LCD mounting
holes must be
drilled accurately to
ensure that the LCD
aligns with the PCB
underneath. The hole
marked in green is
used for accessing S1,
and is optional.
Scrolling text can

be hard to read at
some LCD contrast
settings, so the
revised firmware
(C/D) halves the
scroll speed and
provides a hidden
option 4 under
calibration to adjust
it (1 = original
speed, 2 = default, 4
= extra slow).
spacing necessary to clear the top of described above. Then place the two and powered up later while allowing
the headers on the LCD panel. case pieces back together. This should access to the test points and jumpers
Slide the LCD module over the align the socket pins into the pads on on the PCB.
machine screws and secure it with the main PCB. If you are having trou-
the remaining M3 nuts. The top of the ble, try aligning one edge of the case Soldering the USB sockets
LCD panel should sit just proud of the and pivoting the other end closed. Some of these are surface-mounted,
bezel on the outside of the lid. You This will bring the pins into location so the usual collection of SMD tools is
can see this in our photos at the end one at a time. required. With CON4 and CON6 being
of the article. With the pins located, screw the case some of the finest pitch parts we have
Using four self-tapping screws, halves together to secure everything in worked on, a magnifier is a necessity,
secure the main PCB to the other half place. Then use your soldering iron to as is a good source of bright light. A
of the case. This will allow us to align tack one pin to the main PCB at each mobile phone camera set to a high dig-
the headers to the LCD and solder end of the two headers (four pins in ital zoom level is an excellent alterna-
them in exactly the right place. There total) through the side opening. This tive to a magnifier.
should be a 20mm gap between the is easiest at the end near the top of You should also have a fine-tipped
main and LCD PCBs when the case the PCB. Once you are happy they are adjustable soldering iron, flux (prefer-
pieces are assembled. secure and still correctly aligned, dis- ably paste) and tweezers. Fortunately,
Note that the enclosure will only assemble the case. most of the USB sockets (except for
fit together one way, so check that Now solder the remaining pins with- CON8) have locating pins, making
it slots together with the LCD1 pads out disturbing the alignment and then exact positioning easy.
on the PCB in line with the LCD pan- refresh any pins that might need it. At Your flux should recommend a sol-
el’s pins. If the LCD panel’s pins are this stage, you should be able to reas- vent to use for cleanup. Some desol-
above the USB sockets when the case semble the two halves with the pins dering braid (solder wicking braid) is
is assembled, remove the PCB and lining up and seating into the header, a cheap and handy thing to have on
rotate it by 180°. pivoting the case as described earlier. hand for fixing any bridges or other sit-
If you have 20mm spacers, you might If you’re having trouble with the uations where there is too much solder.
like to use them (and the three mount- alignment, you could instead join the Remember that flux can generate
ing holes on the PCB) to align the LCD. LCD to the main PCB with ribbon cable, smoke. Use a fume extraction fan
Doing it that way is less fiddly. strands of hookup wire or similar. Keep or work outside if necessary. Work-
Before proceeding, check our pho- in mind to follow the correct pin ordering outside is another way of getting
tos of how the header sockets are fit- ing and use at least 5cm of cable for decent illumination.
ted to the main PCB. Note that they each connection to allow for flex when Start with the mini-USB socket,
only occupy the six end positions of the case halves are separated. CON5. Apply flux to the pads, rest
each end of the header; the four central Remove the main PCB from the case the part in place (locking its plastic
positions are not connected (as they are to continue the construction. To sim- pins into the PCB holes) and apply a
not used in the LCD’s four-bit mode). plify testing, we recommend detach- bit more flux to the top of the pins.
Separate the case pieces and slot ing the LCD from the lid to allow the Ensure that it is flat against the PCB.
the sockets onto the LCD’s pins as bare PCB to be attached to the LCD Also try to keep the part square and

which will involve getting most of the
USB Cable Tester functional.
You can fit inductor L1 and the
220mW resistor now. Neither is pola-
rised, so apply flux, rest the part in
place and tack one lead with the iron.
You may need more heat on L1 due to
its size. Solder the second lead on each
part, then go back and refresh the first
lead if necessary.
Now is a good time to clean up any
flux that may be present on the PCB,
Using given that all the surface-mounting
the finished parts have been fitted and there will
USB Cable Tester is as be little need for more flux paste to be
easy as plugging one end of a cable used. This will allow closer inspection
into a Downstream Facing Port, the other end into of your soldering.
an Upstream Facing Port and then checking the LCD for its assessment. Your flux should recommend a
cleaning agent, but isopropanol or
parallel to the PCB so it will align cor- should avoid that problem. Apply flux methylated spirits are good alterna-
rectly with the front panel. paste before placing the socket, then tives. Ensure that the board is allowed
Clean the iron’s tip and apply some add more before soldering the pins. to dry and that any flammable solvents
fresh solder to it. Then apply it to the Set up your magnifier to give you a have a chance to evaporate before you
point where the pins meet the pads. If good view, clean the iron tip and apply get back to soldering.
you can’t get in close, try applying the fresh solder. You’ll see that two of the Use your magnifier to examine the
iron to the extended pads and allow 12 pins have shorter PCB pads; these cleaned PCB. Any faults you can pick
them to draw solder off the iron tip. are not connected in circuit, so they up now will be easier to see and repair
If you get a good fillet at the point do not have to be soldered. before more components are fitted and
where the pin meets the pad, then all Solder the surface-mount pins, add- may be more apparent now that the flux
is well. Do the remaining pins, then ing flux, cleaning the iron tip and add- has been cleaned up.
turn up the iron slightly to secure the ing solder to it as needed. Inspect your If you’re unsure about your solder-
mechanical pads. Clean the tip and add work closely, as it’s only possible to ing, use a multimeter to check for con-
fresh solder as needed. easily remove the part and start afresh tinuity between the bottom ends of
Pay attention to the mechanical if the other through-hole pins haven’t where the 26 1kW resistors will be fitted
pads, as these sockets will see a rough been soldered. in the middle of the PCB, since these
life and be subjected to repeated inser- If you think there might be bridges, all go back to the USB sockets. If you
tions and removals. There is also a use more flux and solder wicking braid find any short circuits, you can use the
through-hole pad accessible from the to remove them. Take care not to allow circuit diagram and overlay to identify
reverse of the PCB to help secure the solder onto the upper parts of the leads. the affected connector and pins.
shell of this part. Remember that flux can make
Flip the PCB over and apply the iron inspecting solder joins difficult. You Through-hole parts
to the pad. Gently feed in solder until can avoid the hassle of cleaning the Continue by fitting the resistors, refer-
the hole fills up. There should already entire board of flux for inspection by ring to the overlay diagram (Fig.3) as
be flux present if you have used it gen- gently wiping away the flux with a a guide. Fit the four 10kW parts first,
erously; if not, add a little more. cotton bud dipped in an appropriate then the 28 1kW resistors, then the rest.
Now use the same technique for flux solvent. Check the resistances with a multime-
CON8, the micro-USB socket. It has no When you’re happy with the top ter if you are not confident of the part
locating pins, so you will have to take of the PCB, flip it over and solder the markings. The 100W, 1kW and 10kW
extra care with its alignment. Its front through-hole pins. These are closely resistors only differ in one colour band.
should be parallel with CON5 and its spaced too, but surface tension should Once identified, solder them in and
pins centred in their pads. Work one keep the solder where it needs to be, trim the leads close.
pin at a time to avoid bridges. If you and you can also use solder braid to To get the LCD operating so we can
get a bridge, remove it with extra flux remove bridges here. run the tests, we need to fit all the
and solder braid. Turn up the iron and solder the four parts above and including IC1, except
Like CON5, turn up the iron to mechanical mounting pins. For these, S1 and S2. If you don’t have a pre-pro-
solder the larger mechanical pads. more solder is definitely better than grammed microcontroller, you should
There are also extra pads underneath less. Add some solder to the two cen- install CON2 to permit programming
the PCB to help secure CON8; solder tral pads under the connector to help in-circuit.
these similarly. with mechanical strength. Now fit D2, the 100nF capacitor near
CON4 and CON6 are the trickiest It might look like two pairs of the IC1, 10kW trimpot VR1, Q1 and CON2
part of this build; the other two remain- through-hole pins on each of CON4 if needed (we recommend a vertical
ing USB sockets (CON3 and CON7) and CON6 are bridged; the two outer- header for CON2).
are through-hole only parts. The most most pairs in the row of eight. This is Be sure to align Q1 and VR1 to the
significant trouble we had with pins fine as they are all connected to their silkscreen pattern. Also solder the bat-
on these parts bridging was when sol- respective socket’s GND pin. You can tery holder to CON1, running red to ‘+’
der crept up to where they sit closer check this against the circuit diagram and black to ‘−’.
together, near their tops. and overlay. Check that D2 is a 1N5819 and that
If you keep your iron down near the We suggest leaving CON3 and CON7 its cathode stripe faces as shown on
PCB and just on the PCB pads only, you until you can complete the self-tests, the silkscreen. You don’t need a header

socket soldering has no detectable
faults. The Battery value should be
between 4.2V and 4.8V. You can com-
pare this with a multimeter voltage
reading between TP1 and TP2; if the
reading here is roughly correct but
the displayed value is not, the circuit
has a problem.
If all is in order, then you can prog-
ress to the remainder of the construc-
tion below.
Problem?
If there is no LCD backlight, there's
likely a problem around transistor
Q1. If you can light the backlight by
grounding the LED cathode (pin 16) of
the LCD, then it's definitely the PCB
components and not the LCD.
If you get a message on the LCD
listing the UFP or DFP, these mes-
sages will point to USB socket pins
A close-up view of the soldered pins on some of the USB sockets. This is what
that might be shorted. Refer to the cir-
you want the solder joints to look like; glossy, with clear fillets between the
PCB pads and socket pins, and no bridges between them. Elongated pads are cuit diagram and overlay to find those
provided for many of the pins which make soldering them significantly easier. pins. Disconnect the power supply,
check and make repairs, and then
test again until you get the ‘Ready for
at CON1; you can solder the wires to soldering around the five tracks that cable.’ message.
the pads. The holes near CON1 are for go to CON2 from IC1.
strain relief, so thread the battery leads Two of the programming pins (PGD Remaining components
from below the PCB into the tops of and PGC) are also used for probing the Fit the three remaining capacitors.
the holes and then solder from below USB sockets at CON3 and CON4, so The two 1000μF and one 10μF elec-
(see photos). make sure that they are not shorting trolytic capacitors all have their posi-
While there is room to fit a socket to anything else. tive (longer) leads facing to the right,
for IC1, we don’t recommend you use If you have opted to use a according to the PCB silkscreen.
one. For a start, the large number of PIC16F18875, use the 0410821D.HEX Slot the two remaining USB sock-
pins will make fitting and removing file instead (Both of the Hex files are ets (CON3 and CON7) into place.
IC1 tricky. We only used one to allow available from last month’s download Tack a couple of leads and ensure that
us to test different microcontrollers. bundle on the November 2022 page the parts are flat against the PCB and
Gently bend IC1’s pins to slot into of the the PE website.) Our original squarely aligned to the PCB. This will
the PCB, making sure that the pin 1 prototype used a PIC16F18875, which help align the sockets to the front panel.
marker goes to the left as shown. Tack is why the PCB is marked with this When the sockets look correct, sol-
down two pins on opposite corners part number. der the remaining pins and be gen-
and check that the part is flat and ori- We decided to standardise on the erous with the mechanical tabs to
ented correctly. Adjust if needed and PIC16F18877 as we think it will be ensure that they have the necessary
then solder the remaining pins of IC1. more useful in the future and doesn't mechanical strength.
Before we move on to the start of cost much more (it has more room There are two more diodes. Fit the
the testing, we first need to program for expansion). Though they are from single 1N4148 near CON4; it will sit
the chip. the same family, some of their special between the two relays and is easier
function registers are in different loca- to fit before them. Check that its cath-
Programming tions, so remember that the HEX files ode stripe aligns with the silkscreen
Install cells in the battery holder to are not interchangeable. markings. The remaining diode is D3,
power the circuit (unless you have When finished, detach the program- a 1N5819 near L1.
a programmer that can supply up to mer and power down the circuit (eg, Then fit the two relays, RLY1 and
25mA at 4.5-5V). You can use a PICkit by removing the cells). RLY2. They should have one end
3, PICkit 4 or Snap programmer. marked with a stripe that will match
We use the MPLAB X IPE for pro- Testing the line on the PCB at the end nearest
gramming; it can be downloaded Plug the LCD into its headers, apply to IC1. As for any multi-lead part, sol-
(along with the MPLAB X IDE) from power and adjust VR1, the LCD con- der a couple of pins and check that the
www.microchip.com under the ‘Tools trast control, until the display is leg- device is correctly positioned before
and Software’ tab. ible. You should see a splash screen soldering the remaining pins.
Select the PIC16F18877, click with a countdown timer, followed by Then fit the other 2N7000 MOS-
‘Apply’, select your programming tool the main USB Cable Tester screen. FET (Q2) near RLY2 and Q3 – the
and click ‘Connect’. Open the HEX file You can check the contrast voltage larger TO-220 P-channel MOSFET,
0410821C.HEX using the ‘Browse’ but- at VR1's wiper. Our unit reads around near L1. Its marked face should be
ton and then press ‘Program’. 1V with a fresh battery. towards L1 with the tab closest to the
If you see a ‘Program and Ver- If you see a ‘Ready for cable.’ mes- cutout in the PCB. Ensure Q3's leads
ify successful’ message, all is well. sage after seven seconds, construc- are pushed down against the board so
Otherwise, check the wiring and tion is correct so far, and your USB that it doesn't foul the enclosure lid.

Screen 1: on reset, the calibration prompt is displayed. This Screen 2: the Calibration screen has four options which
splash screen is shown for seven seconds. Calibration mode are accessed by sending a 1, 2, 3 or 4 character. Sending
is entered if the USB Cable Tester receives an ESC character Ctrl-C at any time will exit calibration mode. The measured
via the CON9 serial header during that time. battery voltage is displayed at top right to assist calibration.
Options Fit the JP1 and JP2 headers but leave displays its prompts and responses on
The remaining parts are optional and the jumper shunts off for now, or plug the LCD instead of the serial terminal.
only really needed for calibration them onto just one pin of the header. Open a serial terminal program (eg,
(which isn't required). However, as S2 fits flat against the PCB as it is TeraTerm) and connect to the USB-se-
we noted in the last month’s article, only used for setup and calibration. It rial converter at 9600 baud, 8 bits, no
you can also use S1 to wake up the shouldn't be accessible during normal parity, one stop bit (8N1). It won't mat-
USB Cable Tester without plugging in use. Snap it into the pads and ensure it ter if your USB-serial converter has
a cable. This could be handy if you are is flat against the PCB before soldering. 3.3V or 5V signals. The 1kW resistor
often testing just one end of a cable. If you want to make S1 available will limit the current flow, and IC1
The UART header (CON9) is only for use after calibration, you need to will recognise logic levels in this range.
needed to enter calibration mode via a drill the extra hole shown in Fig.4 Now power up the USB Cable Tes-
USB-serial module. S2 can be used to and mount S1 above the PCB, near ter PCB. When the prompt shown in
reset the microcontroller and quickly the top panel. Screen 1 is visible, press the ESC key
jump in and out of calibration mode. To align everything, attach the main on the serial terminal. If communica-
JP1 and JP2 are used to calibrate PCB to the enclosure using one screw tion is working correctly, you should
out the resistance of the internal wir- in each corner. Use lengths of tinned see Screen 2. If not, check your wiring
ing and traces. copper wire to attach S1 to the PCB. and reset the micro with S2 to get the
The other two calibrations are for the Align S1 to the inside top of the front prompt to press ESC again.
microcontroller's internal 1.024V refer- panel with some tape or Blu-Tack, then, At Screen 2, you can press 1, 2, 3
ence voltage and current-sense shunt after placing the lid on top, tack solder or 4 on the terminal to change the dis-
resistance. The internal reference is one of the wires in place. played value, as seen in Screen 3, after
specified to be accurate within ±4%, This just needs to be enough to locate which you are prompted to confirm
so the USB Cable Tester will be per- S1. Remove the tape and the lid. With the change (Screen 4) with ‘Y’ or ‘N’.
fectly functional without calibration, the better access this provides, add If you press ‘Y’, you will see something
but it will be slightly more accurate if more wires to secure the switch on all like Screen 5.
this is done. four corners. To calibrate the VREF value, mea-
The current sense resistor should If you don't need external access sure the supply voltage between TP1
be within 1% and won't need adjust- for S1, it can be simply soldered flat and TP2 and compare this with the dis-
ment. The measured voltage is around against the PCB like S2. played voltage shown at top right. The
100mV with 1mV resolution, so the This completes the soldering for the internal voltage reference is in inverse
shunt resistance only needs to be USB Cable Tester. Double-check your proportion to the displayed voltage.
adjusted if you can't use the specified work, then plug the LCD into its header. So if the displayed voltage is 1% too
shunt value. high (for example), increase the VREF
Values from 100mW to 500mW Calibration value by 1% of its current value. With
should work, although we have only If you wish to perform calibration, the internal reference specified being
tested the specified 220mW value. connect a USB-serial converter to accurate to within 4%, you should
Lower values will give less accu- CON9 using female-female jumper not need to change this up or down
racy, while higher values reduce the wires. If you are using a CP2102 type by more than 40 points.
headroom to measure voltage drop (like us), the pin marked ‘TXD’ on the Another way to calculate this is that
in cables. converter connects to R on the PCB. an error of 0.01 in the displayed volt-
Fit CON9 with the pins facing up; GND on the converter connects to ‘−’ age (ie 10mV) is equivalent to about 2.1
this will allow a pair of jumper wires on the PCB. VREF steps. So if the displayed value
or similar to be connected between Only one data line needs to be is 4.68V instead of 4.65V, add 6 points
the USB-serial converter and the PCB. connected as the USB Cable Tester to the VREF value.
Screen 3: each calibration value is entered in decimal. The Screen 4: there is a final confirmation prompt before an
value can be accepted by pressing Enter (CR, ASCII code entered value is committed to EEPROM. To answer the
13) or cancelled by pressing ESC. You can clear the last prompt, enter either upper or lower case ‘Y’ or ‘N’.
keypress with delete or backspace.

Screen 5: while the value is being saved to EEPROM, it is Screen 6: with JP1 and JP2 fitted, only the Tester’s internal
also displayed as a final check before returning to the main resistance is reported. The value at the bottom of the screen
Calibration screen. is the contact resistance value. A similar screen is seen
when a power-only cable is plugged in for testing.
The nominal shunt value should be underside of the enclosure, we suggest As shown in Screen 11, the results of
accurate enough. You can measure the gluing it with neutral-cure silicone or the UFP and DFP tests are summarised
shunt resistance any time the relays construction adhesive. If you do use so that single-ended tests may be car-
are inactive (all the time in calibration screws, fit self-adhesive rubber feet to ried out. This is done by unplugging
mode) and there are no cables plugged the underside of the box to prevent the one end of the cable at a time, leaving
in. Measure between TP1 and TP3. screws from scratching any surfaces. just the UFP or DFP connected.
To calibrate the relay contact resis- Slot the rear panel supplied with the It's common that the DFP and UFP
tance, use option 3 to set this to 0mW. case in place, then fit the cells. Care- tests will detect that GND is shorted
Then exit calibration mode by press- fully position the enclosure lid, feel- to the shield. This is the case for some
ing Ctrl-C on the terminal or resetting ing that the LCD header locks in place. USB-C cables and doesn't seem to
the microcontroller. The LCD backlight may illuminate if cause any problems.
Attach jumper shunts to JP1 and JP2. the unit has not gone to sleep, but there The final line summarises the results
This will simulate a power-only cable won't be a meaningful display since of the current pulse test. Values around
being connected, and you should get the LCD controller will not have been 200mW can be expected for cables in
a display like Screen 6. Note down the properly initialised. good condition. Up to around 500mW,
resistance value shown, then remove Allow the unit to go to sleep (the they could work fine, especially for
the shunts. LCD backlight will go off), then plug light loads; higher values indicate a
Reset the micro again and go back in a cable (or press S1) to wake it up; cable that may cause problems.
to calibration mode with ESC on the this should reinitialise the LCD, and You can test cable combinations,
terminal. Save the noted value as the you should see one of the cable report- such as when a cable is supplemented
contact resistance and exit calibration. ing screens (or the idle screen). If this by a USB extension cable. However, as
If you reattach JP1 and JP2, you should is the case, all is well, and you can we noted, high-speed signal integrity
see a value very close to zero. secure the two halves of the case with is not tested by the USB Cable Tester.
At this stage, you can try out the its two included screws. If you want to check a USB extension
USB Cable Tester on any USB cables cable, first test a cable with a plug that
you have lying around. See the Usage Usage will fit into it on one end (ie, A-type or
section for further information. Screens 7-11 show the Tester in use. C-type) and a B-type or C-type on the
Screen 7 is the idle screen, which other; ideally, a USB 3.2 SuperSpeed
Final assembly shows the battery condition and time type, although you can still do the test
Power down the unit by removing until the unit enters low-power sleep if you don't have one.
the cells, detach the LCD from its mode. It is present when the unit is Verify that cable is good and note
header and reattach it to the lid as awake, but no cable is detected. its type and resistance. Then plug that
described earlier. Once a cable is inserted, you should cable into the extension cable and test
Put the front panel PCB over the see the full diagnostic display, as seen the combination. Subtract the resis-
USB sockets on the main PCB and in Screen 8. The first line shows a broad tance reading noted earlier from the
slot the pair of PCBs into place in the pass/fail assessment of the cable. new reading to measure the extension
base of the enclosure. Secure the main The second line identifies the USB cable's own resistance
PCB to the enclosure using the eight rating and the number of short circuits Screen 9 shows what might be seen
self-tapping screws. (+) and open wires (−) detected. For an if the cable has a fault; the first line
There are solder pads on the inside OK result, these are both zero. The third indicates this. The second line lists the
of the front panel PCB, so the panel line shows more detailed information nearest 'working' cable type to what has
can be affixed to the main PCB by sol- depending on the test results, listing been detected and also the number of
dering these pads to the USB sockets. the wires involved in any short or open faults present; in this case, '1−' means
The battery holder may have circuits detected. The text may scroll if that this is most likely a USB 2.0 cable
screw holes, but to avoid marring the it doesn't fit on one line. but with one conductor open circuit.
Screen 7: once calibration is complete, the main idle screen Screen 8: a typical test result on a USB-C to USB-C cable
is shown unless a cable is plugged into the ports. The shows what is expected for a fully USB 3.2 compatible cable
battery condition is reported and the sleep timer counts with two SuperSpeed lanes, meaning that it has the USB 2.0
down 10 seconds before entering low-power sleep mode. D+/D− pair as well as the SuperSpeed wires.

Screen 9: the Cable Tester will elicit a variety of information Screen 10: with USB-C cables being reversible, it’s necessary
about a faulty cable, including what it thinks it ought to be to test them with both insertion orientations. If this screen
and what problems it might have. Here, an open GND wire is seen, the current orientation does not connect the D+/D−
means that the cable will not function, even for charging. pair and you should try another orientation.
The third line indicates that the open tests, with the USB 3.2x1-2.0 or USB screen, as usually, there should be no
wire is the GND conductor, so it is 3.2x2-2.0 indication for the remainder. connections between pins.
unlikely to work at all. The ‘High resis- That is, unless your cable has an extra If four or more pins are listed, they
tance’ message is only shown when the D+/D− pair, which is non-standard, but might not all be shorted together, but
cable is incapable of carrying the low- it could still work on some devices. they will all be shorted to at least one
est 100mA test current. If all the combinations show USB other pin. Up to 11 wires can be dis-
The display in Screen 10 needs some 3.2x1-2.0 or USB 3.2x2-2.0, there is played, so there might be more than
explanation. USB-C leads only have a problem with the D+/D− pair either those shown if the screen is full.
one D+/D− pair (the wires required for being missing or open circuit. The x1 Also remember that you must always
a legacy USB 2.0 connection) but can designation means one SuperSpeed connect a cable between one of the
be plugged in one of two ways, and lane is present, while x2 means two UFPs and one of the DFPs. For exam-
some cable orientations do not detect lanes, which is only possible with a ple, a normal USB-A to USB-C cable
this pair. USB-C to USB-C cable. can be plugged into the two DFP sock-
In this case, the USB 3.2x2-2.0 indi- Screen 11 shows a typical UFP- ets, but this will not give a meaningful
cation is shown. That means that two only test result. If short circuits are result; the USB-C end should instead
of the SuperSpeed lanes needed for a detected in both the UFP and DFP be plugged into the UFP socket.
USB 3.2 connection are detected, but simultaneously, but no continuity is
the USB 2.0 wires are not. For these detected between the two ends, then Conclusion
cables, you must try each USB-C plug the UFP and DFP screens will alter- With this comprehensive and easy-to-
both ways around (rotated 180°). nate. This either means your cable has use piece of test gear, you can now sort
If only one end is USB-C, run the test failed very badly or (more likely) you through all your old USB cables and
one way and flip it to try the other. If have two different cables plugged in. see whether they are worth keeping.
you have USB-C at both ends, flip one For Screen 11, one end of an OTG With a 30μA sleep current, the USB
end, flip the other, then flip the first cable has been plugged in. The fourth Cable Tester will happily sit for years
end back; this will test all four plug line shows a specific message for on the shelf, always ready.
orientation combinations. this case – it has detected that the For a final flourish to your USB
You should get a USB 3.2x1 or GND and ID wires are connected. Cable Tester, you can carefully apply
USB3.2x2 result for only one of these Only short circuits are shown on this some white acrylic (or similar water-
based paint) to the etched text on
Screen 11: a the front of the LCD bezel. Wipe the
typical use for the excess away with a damp cloth and
single-ended cable allow to dry.
tests is checking
if OTG cables
correctly ground
the ID pin. Here Reproduced by arrangement with
we see that is that SILICON CHIP magazine 2022.
case, with a specific message provided on the bottom line. www.siliconchip.com.au
The header on the LCD screen aligns with two 6-pin sockets on the main PCB.

By Tim Blythman
SMD
TRAINER BOARD
Are you interested in learning to solder small surface-mount devices but
don’t want to ruin an expensive board or chip gaining those skills? Perhaps
you have no choice but to learn since so many parts made these days only
come in SMD packages. This simple SMD Trainer project is a great way to
practice soldering a variety of surface-mount devices. If done correctly,
you’ll be rewarded with a series of LEDs flashing in sequence.
S
urface-mount devices if you come across anything that you eyes – but there is no reason for it to
(SMDs) are the preferred type don’t fully understand. That’s espe- come into a child’s hands as it is defi-
of parts used in most commercially the case if you are not expe- nitely not a toy.
cial equipment due to their compact- rienced at soldering, or have doubts
ness, good reliability, low cost and about your ability to handle SMDs. First half
widespread availability. While some Assuming you have read that arti- IC1 is a timer IC (a 7555). We’ve cho-
manufacturers are still producing cle (at least in part) and are starting to sen this CMOS variant rather than the
new through-hole parts, your choices get an idea of how you would go about bipolar transistor-based 555 to allow
become a lot more limited if you can’t assembling this board, let’s move on the circuit to work at low voltages and
handle SMDs. to describing its design. be powered by a coin cell. The supply
We know it seems daunting initially passes to IC1’s pin 8 (positive) and 1
(it did to us, too), but you will be sur- Circuit details (negative). Pin 4 (RESET) is held high
prised how easily you can do it with The circuit of the SMD Trainer Board to allow the timer to run.
a bit of practice. And that’s precisely is shown in Fig.1. We’ll explain how IC1 has its supply bypassed by a
what this board is designed for. It’s a it works before going any further. It’s 100nF capacitor and a second 100nF
working circuit designed using a wide important to know what it should capacitor stabilises the internal voltage
variety of different SMD parts, allow- do, so that you can figure out what’s on the CV pin (pin 5). IC1 is config-
ing you to try out soldering them. This wrong if it doesn’t work initially. ured with the 100kW resistors and 1μF
way, you can master the techniques There are two main parts to the cir- capacitor in the well-known astable
and become familiar with the common cuit, the second of which depends on oscillator configuration.
sizes and packages. the first. The first part of the circuit is In this arrangement, the 1μF capaci-
It’s designed so you can start with also easier to build, so you can try out tor charges from the supply via the two
the larger parts and, as you gain con- your skills on that before dialling up 100kW resistors; its top is connected to
fidence, move onto the smaller ones. the difficulty. input pins 2 and 6. When pin 2 rises
And you can test it along the way, so Common to both parts is the power above 66% of the supply voltage (about
you’ll find out pretty quickly if you’ve supply. Coin cell holder BAT1 is par- 2V), an internal flip-flop toggles and
made a mistake and have an opportu- alleled with a USB socket, CON1. Only pin 7 is connected to ground (through
nity to correct it. one of these should be fitted. We rec- a transistor inside IC1). At the same
This article includes the basic ommend the coin cell holder, as a coin time, pin 3 goes low.
instructions for building and testing cell is less likely to deliver damaging This causes the 1μF capacitor to dis-
the SMD Trainer Board, along with current in case you make a mistake charge through the lower 100kW resis-
a description of how it works. The building it. tor into pin 7, until the voltage on the
accompanying article provides con- Due to the presence of a coin cell, capacitor reaches 33% of the supply
siderably more detail regarding the take care that the SMD Trainer Board (about 1V). The flip-flop resets, pin 3
necessary tools and techniques. is kept out of reach of children (swal- goes high, pin 7 stops sinking current,
We recommend that you look at that low/choke hazard). It has flashing the capacitor begins charging again,
article now and refer back to it later lights, so it will appeal to curious and the cycle repeats.

SMD Trainer
Fig.1: this simple circuit lets your soldering
efforts speak for themselves. IC1 is
configured as an oscillator that alternately
flashes LED11 and LED 12. IC2 is clocked
from IC1’s output and lights up each of
LED1-LED10 in turn. Power comes from
either a USB socket or coin cell holder.
With the provided component val- other chips, but is left disconnected makes it easier to keep track of what
ues, the oscillator frequency is around in this case. step you are up to.
4.8Hz with a 66% duty cycle at pin 3 Each of the ten outputs noted above For the most part, this order is dic-
(ie, pin 3 is high about 2/3 of the time). has a 1kW series resistor and LED con- tated by the component heights. Com-
When pin 3 is low, current is sunk nected to its output. Thus, a clock sig- ponents that are close to the PCB are
from the supply via LED12 and its nal at pin 14 causes the LEDs to light placed first as they don’t restrict the
1kW series current-limiting resistor, up in order, one at a time. placement of taller parts. Also, this
causing it to light. When pin 3 is high, The components around IC2 have means that the PCB can be turned
MOSFET Q1 is switched on by the a variety of sizes to present a more upside down without the through-
positive voltage at its gate, and cur- interesting challenge; IC2 is also in a hole components falling out; they are
rent flows through LED11 and its series smaller SMD package than IC1. See held on the PCB by the work surface.
resistor instead. Thus, these two LEDs Table 1 for more details. Working with SMD parts has sim-
flash alternately. ilar motivations, but there is much
This first part of the circuit is built Placement and order less need to invert the PCB, so no real
from larger SMD parts, like those we Our recommended assembly order for chance of parts falling out. Also, most
usually include in our projects when most through-hole designs is for a few SMD parts have a low profile.
through-hole parts are unsuitable. reasons. Working by component type, Therefore, in SMD assembly
It can operate independently of the for example, starting with resistors, the primary consideration will
remainder of the circuit, and can be then diodes, capacitors and then ICs, be to place the more difficult-to-
built and tested as the first part of a
two-part challenge.
Second half
A horizontal line on the PCB divides
it neatly into two distinct parts; part
two is below this line.
IC2, a 4017-type decade counter,
is the heart of the second part of the
circuit. It is powered from the same
supply as IC1, connected to its pin 16
(positive supply) and pin 8 (negative
supply). Its supply is also bypassed by
a 100nF capacitor for stability.
IC2 has ten outputs at pins 3, 2,
4, 7, 10, 1, 5, 6, 9 and 11. These
are driven high, one at a time, in
response to a clock signal applied to
pin 14. This signal comes from pin 3
of IC1 mentioned above. Pins 13 and This is the SMD Trainer board that we put together (shown at approximately
15 are pulled low to allow normal 166% actual size). If you’re having trouble making out the M0603/0201 LEDs, it
counting operation. Pin 12 is a carry might be because they’re not fitted! We couldn’t solder these by hand, and won’t
output, which can be cascaded to pretend that it’s easy to do so.

For the larger pads that secure the
USB socket mechanically, simply
apply the iron, add some solder until a
tidy fillet forms, then remove the iron.
A generous amount of solder here will
result in a secure connection.
Using a similar procedure, place IC1
and Q1, ensuring that they are oriented
correctly. Then solder the resistors and
capacitors in place. Note that there are
two different values of each – refer to
our photos.
The LEDs are also polarised, and
must be fitted with their cathodes to
the left towards the resistors.
The SMD Trainer If you wish to fit the cell holder
is designed to function instead of the USB socket, do so now.
without all components installed, It’s usually easier to fit parts on one
making testing your SMD work easy. side of the board at a time, but this will
allow you to test out the first part of the
access or difficult-to-solder parts first, 70.5 x 40mm, coded 29106211 and circuit that you have just assembled.
so that they aren’t impeded by parts available from the PE PCB Service as Flip the PCB over and put some flux
fitted later. just a board or a kit. on the two smaller outer pads. Leave
With this in mind, the best way to We recommend starting with the the large inner pad clear, as the PCB
construct hybrid circuits (that have USB socket if you will be fitting it. The pad itself becomes the negative termi-
both through-hole and SMD parts) leads are not too small, but they are not nal and doesn’t need soldering.
is to fit the SMD parts first. Whether very accessible. Fortunately, this part Also ensure that the holder opening
they are on the same side or not, the has locking pins on the underside that is towards the edge of the PCB, so that
taller through-hole parts will be a go into holes in the PCB. So position- you can easily insert the cell. Position
greater impediment to construction ing the part correctly is easy. the holder roughly in place and add
if they are fitted before the smaller Place flux on all the pads for the some flux to the top of the leads.
SMD parts. USB socket and press the part down. Note that, unlike the USB socket,
This also means that the process of For this application, only the two outer there is nothing to lock this part in
placing ICs last is no longer appropri- pads of the five are needed to supply place on the PCB.
ate. Nowadays, ICs tend to be more power; hence they are the only ones You will probably need to turn up
rugged and less prone to damage from that are extended. You can add more the temperature on the iron slightly (if
static, which was usually the moti- flux to the top of the pads too. it’s adjustable) and load some solder
vation to fit them as late as possible. Clean the iron’s tip, apply a small onto the tip; a bit more than for the
In SMD designs (or at least those amount of solder and press the iron smaller parts. Use tweezers to keep
intended to be hand-soldered), the against the PCB pad. If the solder the cell holder in place and touch the
ICs typically have finer leads and doesn’t run onto the lead, bring it iron to the pad.
are harder to work with. So it makes closer, until it is touching if necessary. Give it some time to heat up; remem-
sense to do them first and then work Repeat for the other outer pad. bering that it is all one piece of metal,
on their surrounding passive compo- With this connector, make sure so it is unlikely to be damaged by too
nents, which are often larger. you don’t touch the iron against the much heat. You should see the flux
USB socket shell when making these smoke and the solder flow. Remove
Assembling the SMD Trainer power connections. The tight angle the iron and give the part (and solder)
Refer now to the PCB overlay dia- here is what makes this tricky. If you a few seconds to cool before releasing
grams, Fig.2 and Fig.3, which show form a bridge, apply heat to all the the tweezers.
which components go where. The SMD pins to remove the part and tidy both The first joint doesn’t need to be
Trainer PCB is double-sided, measures the socket and PCB with solder braid. perfect; the main thing is that the
Figs.2 and 3: start by fitting the components in the top half of the PCB, which forms the alternate flasher, lighting LED11 and
LED12. These components are larger SMDs that are generally not too hard to solder. Once you have those working, you can
move onto the more challenging parts below, which form an LED chaser. With IC2 and its bypass capacitor in place, fit LED1,
LED6 and their series resistors, then move onto the smaller parts, testing it at each step to ensure your soldering is good.

part is accurately positioned and held
firmly in place. Parts List – SMD Trainer
The second pad can be approached
like the larger pads on the USB socket. 1 double-sided PCB coded 29106211, 71 x 40mm, available from the PE
Apply the iron, feed in the solder until PCB Service
a good fillet is formed, then remove the 1 mini-USB socket (CON1) OR
iron. Give it a few seconds to solid- 1 SMD coin cell holder (BAT1) [BAT-HLD-001; Digi-Key, Mouser etc]
ify before returning to the first pad to Semiconductors
make it tidy. You can touch it up by 1 7555 CMOS timer IC, SOIC-8 (IC1)
applying the iron and solder in the 1 4017B decade counter IC, SSOP-16 (IC2)
same fashion. 1 2N7002 N-channel MOSFET, SOT-23 (Q1)
4 M3216/1206 size LEDs, any colour (LED1, LED6, LED11, LED12)
Initial testing 2 M2012/0805 size LEDs, any colour (LED2, LED7)
The first part of the circuit should now 2 M1608/0603 size LEDs, any colour (LED3, LED8)
work. You can test it by fitting the but- 2 M1005/0402 size LEDs, any colour (LED4, LED9)
ton cell or applying power from a USB 2 M0603/0201 size LEDs, any colour (LED5, LED10)
source. If using the button cell, ensure Capacitors (all SMD X7R 10V+ ceramic)
the polarity is correct. You should see 1 1μF M3216/1206 size
LED11 and LED12 flicker alternately. 3 100nF M3216/1206 size SMD Trainer kit
If one LED is stuck on, then IC1 is Resistors (all SMD 1% or 5%) We can sell you just the PCB or we have
not oscillating, and you should check 2 100kW M3216/1206 size a limited run of a kit of parts to build the
it and the components around it. If 4 1kW M3216/1206 size SMD Trainer Board with everything except
only one LED is flashing, the other 2 1kW M2012/0805 size the coin cell (CR2032 type), which is
might not be soldered correctly; this 2 1kW M1608/0603 size widely available. Altronics also has a kit
could include either of the 1kW resis- 2 1kW M1005/0402 size for this project, code K2001, at around £15
tors or Q1. 2 1kW M0603/0201 size PLUS p&p – see: www.altronics.com.au
You might also see what appears to
be the two LEDs on at the same time.
In that case, they are probably flashing order of size from largest to smallest. Check that the leads are aligned
faster than the eye can see. One possi- This will allow you to power up the and solder the remaining pins in this
ble reason for this is that the 1μF tim- circuit at any time after you have any fashion. These tiny parts do not need
ing capacitor has been mixed up with of the larger LEDs fitted, and check much solder, so you might find that
one of the 100nF capacitors. that it is working. you only need to occasionally add sol-
At this point, it’s best to verify that Start with IC2. Apply flux and posi- der to your iron.
this part of the circuit works correctly. tion the part. We’ve been quite gener- Check for bridges and rectify as
Otherwise, if the second part doesn’t ous with the length of the pads here, needed. Follow with the remaining
work, it will be harder to determine for two reasons. 100nF capacitor. LED1 and LED6 are
the problem. First, we have seen SOP variants of M3216/1206 sized parts, so you should
this part being available with various be comfortable fitting them and their
Remainder of the circuit body widths. So this pad configuration respective 1kW resistors. Note that all
You’ll note that the components in the offers the flexibility to accept a range cathodes are on the side away from IC2.
lower half of the PCB are fairly well of compatible parts. Second, it makes
spread out. This is a luxury that won’t it easier to solder. And test again
be present in all SMD designs. Clean the tip of the iron and add a Our design is incrementally functional,
With the amount of space present tiny amount of fresh solder to it. Hold so you can power and test the partially
on the SMD Trainer Board, it’s cer- IC2 with the tweezers and apply the completed design at just about any
tainly possible to install these com- iron to the PCB pad only. You should time. You should see LED11 and LED12
ponents in just about any order. But see the solder flow onto the lead and continue to alternate as before; if they
we recommend starting with IC2 and form a joint strong enough to hold the do not, then you might have a short cir-
its capacitor, followed by the LEDs in part in place. cuit that is shunting power away from
IC1 and its components.
LED1 through to LED10 should
flicker on and off in turn when fitted.
If you get nothing at all, check that
IC2 is fitted correctly, with the correct
orientation and no bridges. Individual
LEDs not flashing are probably a sign
that a single LED or its resistor are not
fully soldered.
Completion
Take your time and work through the
differently-sized LEDs and resistors in
turn. Don’t be disappointed if you can’t
solder the M1005/0402 or M0603/0201
parts by hand. We have not used any-
thing smaller than M1608/0603 in any
There’s a set of TQFP pads located on the underside of the PCB. This is for you of our designs, and even we find any-
to practice soldering, and does not have any electrical connection to the circuit. thing smaller than M1005 challenging.

SMD
By Tim BlyThman
Soldering
TipS & TrickS
While the only differences between SMD and through-hole components is
packaging and how they are soldered to the PCB, there is a lot of jargon
surrounding SMDs and new techniques required to work with them, especially
the smaller types. This article accompanies our SMD Trainer project and
provides a lot of detail to help you become an SMD soldering master.
Image source: www.pxfuel.com/en/free-photo-qhfan
U
ndoubtedly, some people electrolytic can capacitors sitting on sides, the numbers might be reversed
would prefer to learn how to sol- a small plastic base with SMD-style (eg, M1632/0612).
der SMDs by getting a hold of the leads protruding. While smaller than The metric digits are in tenths of a
Trainer board (see page 36) and some most electros, they are still larger than millimetre, so an M3216 part measures
parts and just getting stuck into assem- most surface-mount passives, so they 3.2mm long by 1.6mm wide. Also note
bling it. However, soldering SMDs is a are not hard to work with. that the two terminals will be situated
lot easier if you know the tricks. The parts in chip packaging are at opposite ends, lengthwise.
You might find the information in often described by a four to six-digit Under the imperial system, each pair
this article helpful even if you don’t code, and there are both imperial of digits accounts for 1/100th of an
plan on building the SMD Trainer. and metric versions of this code. For inch, so a 1206 part is 0.12in by 0.06in,
There’s plenty of general advice and example, a common 3216 metric sized close to the metric equivalent.
hints here, so it’s well worth a read. part would be interchangeably known Table 1 summarises some of the more
However, keep in mind that this article as 1206 under the imperial system. common two-lead sizes. Note the last
is intended to accompany the Trainer; Confusingly, there are some parts row showing a five-digit imperial code
it does not describe less common com- with the same codes in both systems (with a dimension under 1/100th of an
ponents and SMD packages that do not (including 1206), but they are very inch or 0.25mm!). You can also see how,
appear on the Trainer PCB. different sizes! confusingly, some codes (such as 0603
If you have some SMD experience One way of differentiating these is and 0402) are present in both rows.
but still might have something to learn, to use the ‘M’ prefix for metric sizes; On our Trainer board, the parts
you could read through this article and this is what we prefer, and we will around IC1 are all M3216/1206 size.
skip over any sections about subjects usually quote both to resolve ambi- This is one of the largest sizes for
that you already understand. guity. For example, you will often see which there is a comprehensive range
(M3216/1206) in our parts lists. This is of parts, so it is a good choice for using
SMD component sizes and packages the largest resistor and capacitor size SMD parts where there is no need to
Many of the components used in our that we have used in the SMD Trainer. go smaller.
Trainer design (including the resistors, Larger parts are available, though; the The LEDs around IC2 vary from
capacitors and diodes) have two leads next step up is usually M3226/1210 M3216/1206 through M2012/0805,
(terminals) and are in so-called ‘chip’ and then M4532/1812. M1608/0603 and M1005/0402 down to
style packaging. These are small, flat The first two digits determine the M0603/0201. Each has a corresponding
and roughly rectangular. These tend component length, while the other resistor of the same size.
to be the most numerous type of com- digits determine the width. Most parts Another two-lead package that you
ponents in any design based primarily are longer than they are wide, so the might see is often used for diodes and
on surface-mount parts. first two digits will be greater, but this is known as SOD-123 (small outline
Some passive components come in is not always the case. Usually, the diode). These are similar in appearance
different types of SMD packages. For leads are along the short sides, but in to the transistor packages we’ll describe
example, it’s common to see small cases where the leads span the longer below, but only have two leads.

Components with three or more leads Table 1 – common passive SMD component sizes
IC1 and Q1 on our board are also in
Metric M3216 M2012 M1608 M1005 M0603 M0402
commonly-available SMD packages.
For parts with more than two leads, Length 3.2mm 2.0mm 1.6mm 1.0mm 0.6mm 0.4mm
there are often variants with differing Width 1.6mm 1.2mm 0.8mm 0.5mm 0.3mm 0.2mm
pin counts but otherwise identical pin
pitch and spacing between rows. Parts Imperial 1206 0805 0603 0402 0201 01005
called SOIC or SOP (small outline IC or Length 0.12in 0.08in 0.06in 0.04in 0.02in 0.01in
small outline package) typically have Width 0.06in 0.05in 0.03in 0.02in 0.01in 0.005in
pins with 1.27mm or 0.05in pin pitch.
This is exactly half the pitch of most
DIL (dual in-line) through-hole parts. Integrated circuit packages Some parts can also have large
IC1 is in a SOIC-8 package with a Another common IC package that is ‘thermal’ pads on the underside of
3.9mm body (plastic part) width. Like suited to hand-soldering is the QFP their packages that need to be sol-
DIL parts, width tends to increase as (quad flat pack) and its many variants, dered. Unless the PCB is designed
the pin count increases, to allow room such as TQFP (thin quad flat pack). with a via through the PCB to allow
for the internal leads to fan out along These come with a variety of pin the solder to be fed from the other
with larger silicon dies. pitches, with 0.8mm down to 0.4mm side, it isn’t practical to solder these
The package we have chosen for being typical. by hand either (although a handheld
transistor Q1 is called SOT-23 (‘small They are often used where more hot air reflow tool can be used with
outline transistor’). There are also vari- pins are needed in a small space, great success).
ants with extra pins opposite each of such as for microcontrollers. While The packages and parts described so
these, called SOT-23-6, plus SOT-23-5, the packages are not much smaller, far are all standard to a degree. There
which is much the same as SOT-23-6 with the pins arranged around four are also numerous SMD parts that come
but lacking a middle pin on one side of the sides, they can be more tricky in unique packages. Our SMD Trainer
(see Fig.1 below). to align correctly. has two parts like this; the mini-USB
The basic SOT-23 parts (MOSFETs, We’ve placed a QFP-44 (10x10) foot- socket and the coin cell holder.
small-signal transistors, dual diodes...) print on the rear of the PCB for refer-
are quite easy to work with, as they will ence; it has 44 pins (11 along each side),
SMD component markings
only fit their pads one way, and the while 10x10 refers to the plastic case
Markings on SMD parts can be cryp-
pins are fairly well spaced and acces- dimensions in millimetres. It has a pin
tic, even when present, but resistors
sible. But they are getting to the point pitch of 0.8mm. You can test your skills
(above a certain size) are thankfully
where their size means they are more if you have a suitable part, although it
quite straightforward.
likely to be misplaced, lost or simply won’t do anything. It could also be use-
Instead of a colour code, they are sim-
fly into the distance without a trace if ful as a reference for checking dimen-
ply printed (or laser etched) with the
not handled carefully. sions and pin pitches. numeric equivalent of the colour code.
A clean workspace of uniform colour While it’s usually the tiny size of
A through-hole 10kW resistor would
is the best strategy against losing these SMD parts that makes hand-soldering
have coloured stripes of brown, black,
tiny parts. difficult, there are other reasons too.
orange or brown, black, black, red, indi-
The package size of IC2 on our For parts smaller than SSOP, a designer
cating 10 followed by three zeroes or
Trainer board is the next step down, might choose a QFN (quad flat no-lead),
100 followed by two zeros.
called SSOP for ‘small shrink outline BGA (ball grid array), VTLA (very thin
An SMD 10kW resistor would sim-
package’. You’ll also see these with leadless array) or WLCSP (wafer level
ply be marked ‘103’ or ‘1002’. Note that
other modifiers, such as TSSOP (thin chip scale packaging). there is no tolerance code.
small shrink outline package). Either These parts are not intended to beUnfortunately, the common ceramic
way, they’ll have a 0.65mm pin pitch, soldered by hand; they depend on achip SMD capacitors are not usually
about half that of SOIC. Besides being reflow process or similar to be soldered
marked at all. In this case, all you can
thinner, TSSOP packages are also nar- correctly. That’s not to say that they
do is make sure that the parts are well
rower than SSOP, so watch out – some can’t be hand-soldered at all, but it is
labelled in their packaging and only
footprints will suit either, but not all. very difficult. work with one value at a time.
ICs can be tricky, too,
as they usually have cryp-
tic codes etched into the
smaller space that’s avail-
able on their tops. SOIC
parts may be large enough
to have a sensible code, but
SOT-23 parts are too small
for this. Some manufactur-
ers may even use the same
code that another manufac-
turer has used for a differ-
ent, incompatible part. The
part’s data sheet usually
indicates what code(s) they
have used.
ICs also have a mark indi-
Fig.1: some of the more common surface-mount component footprints are shown at left (eg, cating their orientation.
SOT-23, SOIC-8, SSOP-16, M3216/1206) along with pin numbering. Usually, the marking is

intended to highlight pin 1. This may trees makes an excellent flux) that is H1650A Flux Gel Syringe. The
be a dimple in the plastic moulding or largely responsible for this. There are syringe allows for the precise appli-
a bevel along one edge. Or it might be other, more modern and even synthetic cation of small amounts.
an etched symbol on the part top. fluxes, but resins (called ‘rosins’ after
Referring to the data sheet is the best purification) continue to be used as Cleaning
way to find out what this mark will be. they are quite effective. It’s important to clean up after solder-
We usually mark the location of pin If you’ve ever tried reusing solder, ing, especially if you use a lot of flux
1 on the PCB silkscreen with a small you’ll know that it doesn’t work as well (which is not a bad idea since it results
dot or ‘1’. as new solder. That isn’t due to its age, in more reliable joints). You’ll proba-
Some SOIC parts will have a notch but because the flux has been consumed. bly find that you’ll need to clean your
and bevel marked on the silkscreen too, This is primarily due to the metal iron’s tip as you go.
corresponding to these features that oxides that build up over time as metals A cleaning sponge is the most com-
might exist on the IC. Note, though, react with oxygen in the air. One feature mon choice here; lightly moisten it,
that different manufacturers of equiv- of flux is that it is a reducing agent; the just enough to prevent the iron from
alent parts can use different methods simple explanation of this property is burning the sponge. We’ve seen brass
for indicating pin 1. that it can reverse oxidation. sponges that work pretty well, but they
Since the smallest SMD components The flux reacts with the oxides to don’t seem to have the ability to cap-
are not intended to be placed by hand, leave a pure metal that will bond better. ture all the residue. In a pinch, a light-
they generally have no distinct mark- Many fluxes also form a layer to keep ly-moistened paper towel works well.
ings. Instead, a computerised pick and out oxygen and prevent further oxida-
place machine is programmed to know tion, which also applies to the solder Solvents
how they are oriented in the tape reel itself, PCB pads and component leads. Most fluxes will also recommend a
on which they are supplied; the data Another important feature of flux cleaner (even the so-called no-clean
sheet will often show this. is that it should be heat-activated and fluxes). Isopropyl alcohol (isopropanol)
As LEDs are polarised, they too usu- only work near the soldering tempera- is a reasonable all-around choice. Some
ally have a polarity mark. It can vary, ture. This prevents it from being used fluxes and their slags are sticky and
but it is usually a green dot or T-shape up prematurely. might require scrubbing to be cleaned
marking the cathode, or a small triangle Flux can also enhance heat transfer. up properly.
that matches the direction of the trian- Since all surfaces need to be heated Therefore, an even better option is a
gle in the diode symbol and thus also above the solder melting (eutectic) specialised flux cleaner like Chemtools’
points to the cathode. point to enable good solder bonding, Kleanium Deflux-It G2 Flux Remover.
flux can help get heat into where it Take care with these solvents. Many,
Tools and consumables is required. The flux can be applied including isopropyl alcohol, are flam-
This article is intended for relative directly to the parts and PCB in sur- mable, while some are poisonous or can
beginners, so we will assume you face-mount work, facilitating heat damage the skin. The solvent datasheet
mainly have tools intended for solder- transfer from the soldering iron to or MSDS is the best place to find advice
ing through-hole parts. That means a all components. and information about these things.
soldering iron (temperature-controlled The flux also reacts with the vari- The presence of flux should not
ideally) and some solder wire. You ous oxides and contaminants to neu- inhibit testing of most low-voltage cir-
could use those tools to assemble the tralise their negative effect on the sol- cuits but must be removed from mains
first section of our SMD Trainer Board dering process. The reaction products circuits before applying power. The
with a bit of care, although a few extra are referred to as ‘slag’. This is due to impurities captured by the flux can
items will be helpful. the reactions with the various
oxides. The result is often a
Tweezers dark, sticky substance that col-
You’ll need something to hold the parts lects on the tip of the solder-
in place while soldering. The small size ing iron.
means that you can’t use your fingers; Flux can also be a potently
even if they were small enough, they corrosive chemical and can
would get burnt very quickly! Fine- damage a board if any is left
tipped tweezers are ideal. behind. Your flux should have
To get an idea of what you need, a data sheet that explains this
check out kits like Jaycar’s TH1752 or aspect in detail; those marketed
Altronics’ T2374, which are perfectly as ‘no-clean’ are less likely to
adequate, although precision points leave a corrosive residue.
can be helpful for smaller parts. Just Liquid fluxes, flux pens
about anything that can be described and flux pastes are available;
as tweezers will be better than nothing. our preference is for a paste
or gel as it is easier to apply
Flux and control and sticks around
Practically all electronics solder con- longer. Even for the amount
tains flux or resin, usually sufficient of soldering we do, a fairly
for through-hole construction. But you small syringe lasts for years
probably won’t realise the benefits that (or at least until it expires), so
Tweezers are useful for holding components
a separate flux can bring until you start there is no need to buy a huge when soldering. You can also purchase
using it. amount of flux paste. tweezers with heating cores, which can be used
While you might be used to sol- For ease of handling, we for desoldering as shown in this photo.
der wire ‘just working’, it’s actually recommend getting a small Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
the resin core (the resin from certain syringe, such as Altronics’ File:Soldering_a_0805.jpg

helpful) to see a reasonable amount
of detail. If your device has a macro
mode, then that will be better suited
for close-up viewing too.
For applying flux there’s a variety of different tools you can use, such as this We generally find that it’s handy to
flux pen above. We generally recommend using a flux gel syringe over a pen or have both a fixed magnifier that can be
container of paste because it’s easy to apply and doesn’t boil off immediately rigged up in place above a PCB, as well
as a small handheld unit that can be
create a conductive path that would be makeshift substitute. While the heat picked up and aimed as needed.
dangerous at such voltages. from the iron will likely soften and tar-
You should also clean the flux off nish the Blu-Tack, we’ve never had any Lighting
the PCB to be able to inspect it prop- trouble using it to hold a PCB in place. Good lighting is paramount for success-
erly. Flux and slag can obscure solder ful SMD work. A diffused light source
bridges and poor solder joints. It’s best Magnifiers is best, as point sources can cause shad-
to clean as you go, rather than leave Being able to clearly see the tiny parts ows that obscure parts of the PCB, espe-
it all until the end, as flux is easier to and features involved with SMD proj- cially between component leads where
remove when warm. ects is paramount. There are two bridges might form.
Clean up using the appropriate chem- important ways that you can improve If you only have point sources, then
icals. It’s best to use Nylon brushes and/ the way you view your board: magni- aim them from opposite sides to cancel
or lint-free cloths since you don’t want fication and illumination. shadows. You can diffuse the light by
to leave fibres behind on the board. If you have keen eyes and you’re reflecting it off something white like a
Don’t just spray or pour the cleaning working with some of the larger parts wall, ceiling or sheet of paper.
solution onto the board; you need to in SOIC and M3216/1206 packages, As long as you’re happy you can see
remove it after it has had a chance to you may well do fine without magnifi- what you need to see, then you proba-
dissolve the flux. Sometimes letting it cation. But it is still vital to peer closer bly have enough light.
sluice off will carry away much of the to inspect your work and check that
flux, but you’ll still need to dab it dry. everything is as it should be. Fume extractions
You may find that the cleaning pro- Fortunately, there is a vast range of Remember that flux also generates
cess is imperfect or, even worse, reveals things that you can use for magnifica- smoke which is unhealthy to inhale.
a soldering failure. There’s no choice tion, and you might well already have A fume extraction hood is the recom-
but to go back and fix the problem, then some of these, like a simple handheld mended way of dealing with this but
clean and inspect it again. magnifying glass. can be expensive. A small fan (such as
Some PCB holders include a mag- a computer fan) can work too, set up to
Solder wicking braid nifier of some sort, including Jaycar’s blow away from you.
You might also hear this called ‘desol- TH1987 PCB Holder with LED Magni- If you can’t manage some sort of
dering braid’ or ‘solder wick’; it is a fier. That one includes a soldering iron active fume control, working out-
length of finely woven copper wire stand too. side (or near a large open window) is
that has usually been impregnated with The other extreme is a microscope. another option.
some sort of flux. It is used to wick away While certainly not as cheap, not much
(or absorb) excess solder. magnification is needed. Many micro- Top gear
A typical use is removing the excess scopes also provide excellent illumina- If you don’t already have them, the
solder which has formed a bridge tion. These days, there are many USB items we’ve mentioned so far are all
between two pins, or cleaning solder and digital microscopes available. available at reasonably low prices.
from a pad after removing a defective A smartphone camera is a suitable We’ll also briefly touch on a few items
part and before fitting a new part. piece of gear that most people will that can further enhance your SMD
It is pretty cheap; you can purchase a already have in their pocket. A digital experience.
small roll over 1m long for a pound or camera with an LCD viewfinder is a We noted earlier that a basic sol-
two from RS, Farnell, eBay, Jaycar (Cat similar option. dering iron is probably adequate to
NS3020) or Altronics (Cat T1206A). A You might need to use the zoom fea- work with larger SMD parts. When
typical use might consume a few mil- ture (even digital zoom will be very you start to get into the smaller parts,
limetres of braid, so it too will last for
quite a while.
PCB holder
Many boards that use SMDs are quite
small, and it can be helpful to secure a
PCB in place while working on it. It’s
also handy to be able to move it around
This is a close-up of some solder wick braid. It’s normally sold on a reel and is
to access a particular component at a used for cleaning solder.
certain angle. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Solder_wick_close_up.jpg
Tool’s like Jaycar’s TH1982 Third
Hand PCB Holder or Altronics’ T2356
Spring Loaded PCB Holder are ideal.
The PCB is held in place but can be
adjusted, or the entire tool rotated, to
allow access from different angles.
While these tools are not expen- A solder sucker is better for removing a larger volume of solder, while a braid is
sive, even something like Blu-Tack or better for smaller jobs such as SMD components.
a similar reusable putty can be a handy Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Solder_sucker.jpg

to allow the parts to heat up and bond
with the solder. You should see the
solder flow from the iron and onto the
part and pad.
Remove the iron and continue to
hold the part in place while the solder
solidifies. One second will be sufficient
for small parts with fine leads, perhaps
longer for larger components.
If the part has moved or is not flat
against the PCB, grip it with twee-
zers and apply heat to melt the solder.
Adjust its position until you are happy.
If the part looks like it is still well-
aligned and flat against the PCB, apply
some fresh solder to the iron and work
through the remaining pads.
While it doesn’t need to be an For very narrow or fine pads, place
all-in-one package, a magnifying the iron onto the pads first. The sol-
glass, PCB holder and good der mask on the PCB will help to pre-
lighting will help to make vent the solder from flowing where it
soldering small components shouldn’t. We try to enlarge the pads
easier. This is the Jaycar
in many of our SMD projects to make
TH1987 mentioned below.
this easier, although you won’t find this
then some optional features defintiely If there are a small number of differ- in all designs.
become essential. ent values, then they can be worked Depending on the iron, pad and flux,
Two aspects will help. A fine tip will in parallel. One exception to this are the solder may be drawn onto the pad
allow more accurate soldering as you capacitors, which, as we noted earlier, and lead by surface tension alone. The
generally want to make contact with do not usually have any distinguishing advantage of this is that the iron does
just one pin at a time (but see the section markings. In that case, we recommend not obscure the view of the lead so that
below about drag soldering; larger tips sticking to a single value at a time. you can observe the joint forming. The
can be better with those techniques). Roughly place the components on behaviour of solder and its surface ten-
The edge of a chisel tip can be narrow their pads. Flux gel or paste will gen- sion at the small scales used for SMDs
enough to work down to relatively erally be sticky enough to hold them in is critical, so this will help you get a
small sizes. place. You might find that your twee- feel for what works.
A soldering station with adjustable zers pick up small amounts of flux and You might have seen parts being
temperature is an advantage when will then stick to components. That’s soldered with solder paste in a reflow
working on larger parts. Many of these another reason to keep everything oven; when the solder liquefies, the part
come with stands and sponges, which quite clean. snaps into the correct location. This is
also help. Adjust the component with the twee- due to the surface tension, pad location
Finally, a hot air rework gun can be zers so that it is centred on its pads. and the importance of the solder mask.
very handy for desoldering SMDs or The amount of PCB pad visible will Surface tension also pulls solder
reflow-soldering some of the trickier dictate how easy it is to apply the sol- exactly where it is needed. Only a tiny
parts. These are available at surpris- dering iron, so symmetrical placement amount of solder is required if the parts
ingly low prices and are well worth is not just neat, but crucial to ease of are flat against the PCB. If you see clean,
having if you plan to do much work soldering. curved fillets of solder, that is a good
with surface-mount components. For tiny leads, it can help to apply indication that the joint is well-formed.
some flux to the top of the lead too. You can use surface tension to apply
Using your tools Clean the iron’s tip and apply a minus- a generous amount of solder to ensure
To sum up the advice given above, cule amount of fresh solder to it. a strong joint. A bulging but clean and
make sure you have some flux paste, a Gently hold the component down glossy joint is sure to be more func-
soldering iron tip-cleaning sponge and flat against the PCB with the tweezers tional and solid than a tiny fillet that
some appropriate solvent for your cho- and touch the iron to both the pad and cannot be seen, just as long as it doesn’t
sen flux. Use the flux generously and lead together. Hold it there for a second bridge out against any other part!
keep your iron’s tip clean.
Some form of fume extraction is important if you’re
Soldering techniques working in an enclosed area. While this Hakko FA-430
If you’ve read any of our SMD con- may be out of the budget of some hobbyists, you can
struction articles before, then the fol- instead just use a small fan to blow the fumes away.
lowing will be familiar. We’ll even go
into quite some detail about how you
use the tools we’ve just mentioned. You
can also follow along with the photos
we’ve included.
Apply flux to the pads of the compo-
nents in question. It is a good idea to
work in small groups of similar compo-
nents. For example, you might plan to
work with all the 10kW resistors.

Table 2 – common types of solder
Type of Solder Composition/Name Melting-point Comment
Lead-based SnPb 60/40% 188°C Higher tin (Sn) concentrations lead to greater strength
SnPb 63/37% 183°C Eutectic – melts/solidifies at a single temperature
Lead-free Sn100C 227°C Silver-free; contains copper, nickel and germanium
SAC305 217-220°C Contains tin, silver and copper; used in wave soldering
SnCu 217-232°C Contains tin and copper; tin-based lead-free solders are
quite often used for reflow and wave soldering
SAC387 217-219°C Contains tin, silver and copper
Flux Rosin NA Helps to facilitate soldering
Non-rosin NA Often contains metal halides such as zinc chloride,
hydrochloric acid or citric acid etc – can be corrosive
Hard solder Silver, copper, brass, >450°C Often used for jewelry and are designed to have a melting
bronze point just below that of the corresponding metal
These movements are what has to Inspect the part closely with a magni- finer pitch, down to about 0.4mm (eg,
be practised. The timing will also fier. If the joint appears dry or unclean, TQFP-144).
depend on things like your iron tem- then apply fresh flux and gently touch In these cases, it’s easier to drag solder
perature and choice of (tin-lead or the clean iron tip against each lead in the ICs. Once the chip has been tacked
lead-free) solder. turn. You’ll find that even this step of in place and flux applied to the pins, a
If you experience a solder bridge, and refreshing each lead will help distrib- small amount of solder is loaded into
as long as the part is correctly aligned, ute solder to where it should be. the iron’s tip and then gently dragged
continue to solder the remaining leads. along a row of pins. Surface tension
Then sort out the bridge. Drag soldering pulls a small amount of solder from the
Use the technique described earlier When SMD components have pins tip and onto the pins. Done correctly, it
to remove solder from bridged leads. that are very close together, it becomes forms perfect joints the first time.
Apply more solder if needed (espe- impractical to solder them individu- It’s generally better to apply too
cially if you can’t easily access the ally. The only component on the SMD much solder than not enough because
bridge). Apply flux, braid (see below) Trainer PCB that we would consider bridges are easier to see than joints
and then the iron. Allow the braid to having such tight pin spacings is IC2, with insufficient solder, and they are
absorb some solder, then carefully slide in an SSOP package with 0.65mm easily cleaned up using braid (see
both away. pin pitch. Some chips have an even below) and more flux.
Medium conical tips are used for general soldering

including through-hole and larger SMD components.
They have the advantage of being usable at virtually
any angle.
Finer conical tips are able to make contact with

smaller leads, so they are more suitable for soldering
large-to-medium SMDs, while still working with
smaller through-hole parts.
The wide contact area of chisel tips makes them

handy for applying solder wick to remove solder, as
well as heating SMD tabs or reflowing the pins on
one side of a device.
Like the chisel, the knife tip can make contact with a
large area of the board at one time. Its angle makes it
more comfortable for running down the sides of ICs.
Bevel tips can contact an even larger area but the

larger tips like this one are generally too large to get
near smaller components.
Smaller bevel tips are not only more manoeuverable

but you can also angle them to make contact on just
one edge, or the whole face when needed.
An SMD flow tip is similar to a bevel tip but it has

a depression in which to hold molten solder. This
makes them ideal for drag soldering many pins at
once.

Using braid
Metric Imperial Solder braid is best for removing
0402 01005 small amounts of solder, while a sol-
0603 0201 der sucker is better for removing large
1005 0402 volumes. So if you have a lot of sol-
1608 0603 der to remove, start with the sucker to
2012 0805 remove the bulk and finish with the
2520 1008 braid to tidy up.
3216 1206 But at the tiny scales involved with
3225 1210 SMD parts, solder suckers become
4516 1806 unwieldy and likely to simply inhale
4532 1812 your parts as well as the solder you’re
5025 2010 trying to remove. The amounts of sol- An example of wave soldering
6332 2512 der you need to remove will be pretty showing the PCB leaving the heater
small too. portion of the machine and being
1 x 1mm 0.1 x 0.1in 1 x 1cm
Before using the braid, it helps to add moved to the solder wave.
flux. The word ‘flux’ comes from the Source: https://youtu.be/VWH58QrprVc
This diagram shows common SMD Latin word ‘fluere’, meaning to flow;
component sizes at actual size. The It can sometimes help to add more
we want to encourage the solder to flow solder where you want to remove it,
metric 0402 component is so small into the braid.
that it is barely visible! especially if it’s a solder bridge tucked
Press a clean part of the braid onto deep between two pins. The extra vol-
You can get special flow soldering the solder with your iron and allow ume can give the braid more surface
iron tips with ‘wells’ (depressions) to everything to heat up enough to melt to contact.
hold the solder for this technique, but the solder; it should start to soak into If there is a dark residue on your PCB
you can get away with a standard tip. the braid. Being made of copper, the after using braid, this is probably the
You just have to add more solder to it braid conducts heat well, so place your byproduct of the flux working. For areas
more often (eg, every 5-10 pins soldered grip with care or use tweezers. like this, a cotton-tipped swab dipped
instead of every 30-40 pins). After the braid takes up the solder, in flux cleaning solvent can be used to
Even larger-pitch ICs like the SOIC carefully move both the iron and braid clean small regions before continuing.
types can be soldered using this sort of together by sliding away across the
technique; it can be quicker (and neater) PCB. You don’t want to remove the Reproduced by arrangement with
than soldering them individually. iron first and have the braid soldered SILICON CHIP magazine 2022.
to your PCB! www.siliconchip.com.au
When drag soldering you’ll typically use a flow or

bevel tip. The easiest way to learn hown to drag
solder is to watch a video, such as the many found on
YouTube; for example: https://bit.ly/pe-dec22-drag
Common soldering iron tips; most are suitable for SMD work.
The basic principles of wave soldering. The PCB is carried ►

along over the solder bath by a conveyor. At one point, the
solder is forced up in a ‘wave’ so that the bottom of the board
passes through it. The components and copper tracks are
soldered and the board then emerges from the bath.
►
Reflow soldering doesn’t use a
soldering iron at all – temperature-
controlled hot air or IR is used to
melt the solder ‘paste’ applied to the
component and copper tracks to be
soldered. The board passes through
the oven, the solder paste melts and –
hey presto! – a soldered joint.

AUDIO AUDIO OUT
L R
OUT By Jake Rothman
Universal single op amp board (optimised for

audio electronics) – Part 1
audio work. The best way to test this is Getting board
to put the offending op amp into a high- RS used to sell a generic op amp board,
gain amplifier and have a listen if you as shown in Fig.1. Maplin also did one.
have good ears, or check with a ‘scope I’ve used lots of the now discontinued
if – like me – your hearing is no longer RS boards over the years, such as in the
top notch. In the end, I decided that EPE Test Amplifier and the Upwards
to test op amps the best I could to do Compressor shown in Fig.2. Since such
was to design a universal circuit board a useful board is no longer available,
where most of the standard op amp it’s obviously time to produce a PE
configurations could be easily built. replacement, and while we’re at it,
Fig.1. The discontinued RS op amp PCB.

Now we have a better replacement,
optimised for audio, but perfectly useable
for general op amp applications.
O
ften the subject of this
column is initiated by a reader’s
request. In this case, Mr Martin
van Doorn from Holland needed an
op amp tester. To create a tester that
covered every op amp parameter would
be very complex – more a job for a team
at say Peak Electronic Design than my Fig.2. Here’s a typical studio application for the RS boards, adding balanced XLR
own ‘sole-trader’ approach. So, having inputs to an upwards compressor (low-level ambience booster).
dodged that job, I did come up with a
viable alternative idea.
Mission creep
In audio equipment, op amps are
surprisingly reliable, with a failure rate
almost as good as single small-signal
transistors. Their most common failure
mode is the inputs getting zapped by
abuse – for example, connecting large,
charged capacitors or 48V phantom
power with no protection. This usually
results in the output permanently stuck
at one of the power rails or a short
between the power pins. In such cases
it’s a straightforward go/no-go test with
a DVM/multimeter or simply sniffing for
smoke. A more subtle failure is input
transistor degradation, resulting in a Fig.3. A problem with the RS board was a lack of provision for the large capacitors
high noise level, a major problem for required for audio work.

R14*
Sum input
C4 R7
+
C7* C8*
*Feedback
components Vb Vb
R10* R11*
Bias R6 R3
–input V+
R3
pad
0V
C1 C3 R4 C11
Output
+
2 7 V+ V–
Input – – 0V R12 C9
6
+
+ R5 IC1
3 4
Input + +
8 Op amp inputs
C2 5 C10
100nF R13
0V V+ R6 +input
R1 R2 pad Power on 3-pin
Vb bias C6 connection
R9 V–
C5
Vb C12
+ 0V
C13 R8 Link pads
Fig.7. There are links provided

Fig.4. The general circuit diagram of the universal op amp board. Not all the components are used for bias and grounding. Note
at once, only a selected few for a specific circuit. the PE boards have an extra
grounding pad. There are
also connection points going
to input pins 2 and 3 on the
op amp near C5. These are
useful when pots have to be
connected for gain control.
There is also a link to R3 for
biasing bipolar capacitors
made up of C1 and C3.
Finally, there are three ground
pads – see Fig.5.
amps, the NE5534, sometimes requires

a compensation capacitor across pins
5 and 8.
Fig.5. The overlay of the general op amp board. Chip multipacks

Some of the best audio op amps, such
as the LM4562, are only available as
dual devices. Generally dual devices are
cheaper than singles, so we’ll be needing
a dual-channel board as well, a design
which will be coming later. Quad op
amps, such as the TL074, are rarely used
Fig.6. The board has provision for experimentation in the form of four ‘blob points’.
Essentially, five pads connected in strips like a bread board.
upgrade the late-1970s single-sided So, accommodation for these larger

unplated-through-hole implementation. components was necessary in my
The RS boards were designed for DC new design. On the other hand, some
instrumentation use, reflecting RS’s instrumentation requirements, such as
mainly industrial clientele. When I the large off-set adjust preset, could be
used them for audio applications there omitted. Also needed was a half-rail
were often large capacitors hanging bias network for single-rail operation. Fig.8. The output resistor outline is extra-
off precariously, as shown in Fig.3. Plus, one of the most popular audio op large to allow a capacitive load isolator
inductor network to be added.

for audio since it’s difficult to get large I’ll do a 2x 8-pin dual to 14-pin quad All the big capacitor positions have
audio capacitors to fit around them on converter PCB. extra pads for different outlines. These
the PCB. Apart from the LM837, there allow radial or axial components to be
are very few low-noise quad devices for Well-padded board design used, and capacitors wired in parallel.
audio anyway, so we won’t be bothering The overall schematic for the board is There are also four interconnected pad
with quads. I do think a plug-in dual- shown in Fig.4. It is optimised for audio groups or ‘blob-points’ for adding extra
to-quad adapter board is a good idea applications, but is certainly not limited components for experiments on the left-
though. I would love to replace some to audio. For any given circuit only some hand side of the board. (Note how the
noisy quads with a couple of NE5532s of the components will be inserted. The blob points have been used to make it
in some of my vintage gear. Has anyone overlay with all the possible components easy to add extra capacitors to make a
designed one? If there is enough demand, is shown in Fig.5. parallel C8, as shown in Fig.6.)
R14
Basic circuit
Component functions
10kΩ Rf
Sum input C4 R7 Normally, for a board like this,
1µF 10kΩ
C7
the components would be
+
47pF C8 Rin
– annotated according to their
Input
IC1
R10 R11 Output
function. On the RS board for
Bias
+
Gain = – Rf/Rin
example, the negative feedback
R3 –input V+ 0V resistor was called Rb. To
pad C11 C9 keep things simple for the
C1 C3 R4 100nF 10µF Output PCB designer and constructor
+
2 7
Input – – 0V 25V
6
+
R5 IC1 I’ve decided to stick with
+
3
Input + +
8
4 R12 conventional numbering.
5 C10 47Ω R13
C2
100nF 100kΩ
H e r e ’s a l i s t o f t h e
0V V+ R6 +input
R1 R2 pad Power on 3-pin components and their possible
Vb bias C6 connection
R9 22pF V– functions. Things will become
C5
C12 clearer when specific circuits
Vb 100nF
are shown where many of the
+ 0V
C13 R8 Link pads board’s component positions
Link Used Not used are left empty.
R1, R2 and R13

Fig.9. Inverting amplifier, a standard op amp configuration. These resistors are an important
audio addition. They are pull-
down resistors which prevent clicks
when input and outputs are connected.
R They hold the outputs of the coupling
R 14
12 capacitors to 0V. Typical values would be
R7 0V a few tens of kΩ when using electrolytic
Input
C4 R13 coupling capacitors and around a few
C
IC1 0V hundred kΩ for film and tantalum types
6 Output (because of their lower leakage).
C
C9 C11
10
0V
C12 V+ C1, C2 and C3
+ V–
These are coupling capacitors on the
op amp inputs. C1 and C3 are for the
inverting input. They can be wired
Fig.10. Component placement for the inverting amplifier.
as a non-polarised capacitor for low
distortion. The capacitor distortion can
be reduced still further by biasing the
mid-point positive terminals of C1 and
C3 at 5V using R3 and Vb. C1 and C3 can
also assume the role of the lower-arm
feedback capacitor for non-inverting
configuration when grounded by putting
a shorting link in R1s position. C2 is
connected to the non-inverting input.
R4
This is the input resistor for an inverting
amplifier configuration, commonly
designated ‘Rin’. It can also be the
negative-phase (‘cold’ in audio parlance)
input resistor on a differential amplifier.
Fig.11. The assembled board – the op amp is a TDA1034, the original NE5534, R6 is usually linked to ground in inverting
designed by Philips. The date code is 1977 and this one was used in Pink Floyd’s amplifiers via a link. A low value, such
touring mixing desk made by Midas for Britannia Row. It’s still working fine, having been as 560Ω, is often used for audio for
installed many times. low noise while providing a degree of

input current limiting in the
event of faults such as power R14*
Basic circuit
supply misconnection. In Sum input
Input1 10kΩ 10kΩ
C4 R7
instrumentation, it is usually
+
C7* C8*
the same value as the feedback –
network giving lowest DC Feedback Input2
R10* R11* 10kΩ IC1
components
Bias Output
offset. For single-supply rail +
use, it is connected to the half- R3 –input V+
0V
rail bias network consisting of C1 C3 R4 pad
22µF 22µF 10kΩ C11
R8 and R9 via another link. Output
+
2 7
Input – – 0V R12 C9
6
+
The link area is shown in Fig.7. R5 IC1
+
3 4
Input + +
8
C2 5 C10
R5 0V V+ R6 +input 100nF R13
R1 R2 pad Power on 3-pin
This can be the positive phase connection
Vb bias C6
input resistor on a differential R9 V–
C5
amplifier. In the non-inverting Vb C12
configuration, it becomes the + 0V
input RF filter in conjunction C13 R8 Link pads
with C5.
C4 and R7 Fig.12. Summing or mixing amplifier with an extra input – the composite bipolar capacitor (C1 and
These provide a second input C3) is optimised for good LF response. Note: red components shown are in addition to those in Fig.9.
to the inverting amplifier’s
input when used as a virtual earth
C1 0V
summer or mixer. –input
R +
R 14
R14 12
R7 R4 0V
This is the all-important negative Input
feedback resistor. There is provision for C4 R13
more complex feedback networks, such C

IC1 C3
0V
6 Output
as RIAA equalisation comprising R10, C +
C11
R11, C7 and R8. 10
0V
C9
Finally some stability components. If +
C12 V+
V–
a phase-lead capacitor is needed across
feedback resistor R14, it can be C7 with
C8 linked out. Typical values are 33
to 100pF. R12 is needed to isolate the Fig.13. Overlay for summing amplifier.
op amp from capacitive loads, such as
screened cables. An inductor can also
be used instead for lower AF output
impedance. This can consist of 40 turns
of wire wrapped around a 1W 39Ω resistor
or a 10µH inductor and resistor wired in
parallel, as shown in Fig.8. There’s the
usual decoupling capacitors C10, C11 and
C13. Capacitor C6 is the compensation
capacitor for NE5534 op amps for gains
below 5.
Component list (and function)
Semiconductors
IC1 Single op amp, such as NE5534.
Can be 8-pin DIP through-hole Fig.14. The completed summing amplifier.
or SOIC surface-mount part.
R6 non-inverting input R13 output capacitance isolation
Resistors grounding / bias resistor, resistor 39Ω to 600Ω
All standard 0.25W case size, usually typically 1kΩ to 100kΩ
metal-film, use the 1% 0.6W MRS25 ( m u c h h i g h e r, 1 M Ω t o Capacitors
series for audio. 4.7MΩ, for FET op amps) C1, C2 input coupling capacitors,
R1, R2, R3 input grounding/pull-down R7 summing input resistor typically 1µF to 22µF
resistors 22kΩ to 100kΩ R8, R9 half-rail bias resistors equal C3 part of bipolar capacitor with
R3 bipolar capacitor bias resistor value, 10kΩ to 100kΩ C1 or big lower arm feedback
or link to ground for using R10, R11 extra feedback resistors for capacitor
big lower-arm feedback filters C4 extra input coupling
capacitor in C3 position. R14 feedback resistor zero to capacitor for summing input
R4, R5 op amp input resistors, 220kΩ (much higher, 1MΩ or small lower arm feedback
typically 1kΩ to 100kΩ to 4.7MΩ, for FET op amps) capacitor

other applications–do let us
Rf know your ideas.
Basic circuit 10kΩ
R14
C4 10kΩ R1
Sum input 100µF R7 100µF 1.1kΩ
16V 1.1kΩ C7 –
Inverting amplifier
+
47pF C8
IC1 Apart from a voltage
Input + follower, this is the simplest
Output
Feedback
components R10 R11 Blocking
Gain = 1 + (Rf/R1) amplifier circuit that can be
Bias capacitor
built on the board. There
R3 –input V+
Bias 1/2 supplyV+
are two ways of feeding
pad C11
C1 C3 R4 100nF
C9 the input. The simplest is
+ 100µF Output
+
Input –
2
– 7
0V 25V to come in via the two-pin
6
+
R5
1kΩ 3
IC1 input Molex connector
Input + + 4
8 C10
R12 shown in the circuit in
C2 5 47nF
0V 220nF R6
V+ 100kΩ +input 100nF Fig.9 and the overlay in
pad Power on 3-pin R13
R1
connection 100kΩ Fig.10. An alternative is to
R9 Vb bias C6
R2 22kΩ C5
V– use the inverting input on
1MΩ
Vb
220pF Link to connect C12 the three-pin connector via
negative rail to 0V
+ 0V
C1. This enables a bipolar
R8 Link pads input coupling capacitor
C13 22kΩ
10µF Link Used Not used composed of C1 and C3
to be used. This network
Fig.15. Non-inverting amplifier with gain of 10x and single-rail biasing. can be biased to give the
lowest distortion. This is
useful for low-impedance applications
R
14
C7
0V
where the input resistor is very small.
R
–input A completed inverting board is shown
C2 +input
R 6 R5 R2 in Fig.11.
12
C5 R7 +
Summing amplifier
R13
C4
This is just an inverting amplifier with
C 0V
10 IC1
Output an extra input resistor. Both inputs on
J1 and J3 are used. The circuit is shown
R R
C13
+
9 8 C9 C11 0V in Fig.12. The bipolar capacitor set
V+
+ up was used for an equaliser where a
low-pass filter output of a state-variable
filter was mixed with the high-pass
Fig.16. Overlay for non-inverting amplifier – note bias links. creating a notch filter. The high value
used (11µF) minimised the LF response
droop. The overlay is shown in Fig.13
and Fig.14 shows the construction.
Non-inverting amplifier
This is probably the most common op
amp circuit, typically giving any gain
from 1 to 1000 (0dB to 60dB) along
with a high input impedance. A circuit
giving a gain of 10x is shown in Fig.15.
This circuit is more complicated
because it is shown designed for
single-rail (rather than the normal
dual-rail powering). This is achieved
by feeding the non-inverting input with
a half-rail bias voltage. The overlay is
given in Fig.16. A useful application
of this configuration is a microphone
Fig.17. Fully stuffed non-inverting amplifier. preamplifier. This consists of a non-
inverting amplifier with variable gain
C5 RF filter, 47pF to 470pF Connectors and a step-up input transformer. Fig.17
C6 NE5534 compensation; not Molex 0.1-inch pitch PCB connectors shows the completed board. To run it off
used for gains over 5: 22pF Molex equivalent 2 off each JYK the dual-rail supply, leave off the half-rail
for unity gain, 4.7pF for RIAA P2500-02 two-pole straight header and bias and link R6 to ground.
stages, 2.5mm pitch three-pole P2500-03 Rapid order codes
C7, C8 feedback, C8 is for extra-large 22-0950 and 22-0955 Next month
polystyrene filter capacitors In Part 2, we will finish describing this
C10 power rail decoupling 0.1µF Classic configurations design with a differential and RIAA
ceramic 5mm Here’s a few of the possible circuits phono amplifier, plus a useful and
C11, C12 0.1µF ceramic 5mm or up to that can be built on the board; I’m sure unusual low-frequency compensated
10µF electrolytic readers will adapt the board for many op amp amplifier.

The home for specialist audio, analogue and historic
AOShop components – provided by Jake Rothman, PE’s

Audio Out columnist. The AOShop is your best bet for
classic analogue ‘NOS’ (new old stock) components,
including all parts for Audio Out projects and designs.
Ge semiconductors Dual transistors Tantalum – metal cased Potentiometers

2N2639, 2N2223, 2N2910 (NPN) £4.00 22/50, 47/35, 68/25, 100/20, 120/10,
Small-signal PNP transistors E401 (JFET) £4.00 150/16, 220/10, 330/6 £2.00 Bourns 81
AC125, NKT214F, OC57 DMMT3904/6 £0.50 22/35, 33/35, 47/20, 68/15, 100/10, 25kΩ lin cermet £2.00
OC59 £1.00 150/6 £1.25 25kΩ lin conductive plastic £3.00
Low-noise PNP transistors Loudspeakers 4.7/50, 6.8/35, 10/25, 10/35, 22/15 £1.00 Plessey moulded-track
GET106 £2.50 PE Mini-Monitor Moulded-case tantalum 5kΩ log with switch £3.00
Volt PE165 6.5-inch woofer (each) £85 Kemet axial 6.8/10 £0.30 50kΩ A/log £3.00
Small power PNP transistors
Morel MDT29 tweeter (each) £25 Kemet radial 33/10 £0.40 Mil 250kΩ lin dual £5.00
AC153, AC153K, AC188 £1.50
Kit pair of PE165/MDT29 plus Volt STC radial 100/20 £1.50 Alpha
High-voltage PNP transistors crossover parts and PCBs £299
Tantalum bead 16mm 4.7kΩ A/log £0.80
OC77, CV7001, ACY20 £1.50 Monacor DT-28N tweeter (each) £45
22/50 £1.00 220kΩ A/log £0.80
TO3 PNP power transistors Vifa 19mm BC20SC15-04 tweeter 10kΩ lin centre-detent dual-gang £1.50
470/3 £2.00
OC22, CV7054 (OC23), OC25, (each) £15
680/6.3 £3.00 Allen Bradley J series/Honeywell
OC35, OC36, AD143, AD149, Volt PE110 5-inch woofer (each) £75
Wet tantalum 10kΩ lin 1 million cycles £5.00
AD161, AD162 £2.00 Volt crossover inductors
220/25 axial £3.20 Blore Edwards AB 45 dual 5kΩ A/log
AD140 £3.50 1.2mH, 1.5mH, 2mH, 2.7mH, 0.5mH
Castanet button 140/30, 470/3 £3.20 with switch £3.50
AD149 matched pair £5.00 (tapped at 0.3mH) (each) £5.85
Hughes 540/10 £3.20 Alps RK9 dual-gang 5kΩ RD law £4.00
RF PNP transistors LS3/5A transformer-core 15Ω BI P260 500kΩ log conductive plastic
OC41, OC42, 2SA12, 2SA53,AF124, assembled crossover board (each) £60 Bipolar 1 million cycles £3.00
AF128, GET872A £1.50 Hermetic bipolar tantalum 16/35 £3.20 Colvern wire-wound 100kΩ or 50kΩ
Fully assembled and tested high-quality
Callins Elcap wet aluminium 10/50 £0.50 dual-gang 3W £8.00
NPN transistors speaker prototypes – ask for details
OC139, OC140, ASY73, AC141K, LS3/5As and other similar speaker Philips solid-aluminium (axial) 121/123 Mil Spec hermetic 10Ω £8.00
AC176K, AC176 £2.00 systems (pair) £200-£350 47/16 £1.00
330/6.3 £2.00 Miscellaneous
Diodes Fully tested reclaimed speakers
100/35 £4.00 Theremin Clearance Sale!
CV7049 (OA10), CG92 (OA91) £0.50 Vifa BC14 5-inch woofer (each) £15
Vifa TC26 1-inch tweeter (each) £15 Philips Pearl 122 series (radial) Elysian Theremin MIDI box £300
Si semiconductors 10/16 £0.30 PCBs
Low-price speakers
10/25 £0.50 Pocket Theremin (EPE, 1996) £4.00
Diodes Celestion elliptical 6x4-inch 5Ω
ZC5800 RF Schottky £0.20 (Robert’s Radio) £3.50 Silvered mica (radial) Elysian Theremin (EPE, 1996) £12
Philips 4-inch 4070 £2.00 4.7nF/500 5% £1.00 Synth VCF, VCO (EPE, 2017) £3.00
Low-noise silicon transistors EMI 10x6-inch, 30Ω Alnico £10 48V PSU (EPE, 2019) £3.00
BFW16A, 2SC3071 £1.50 Trimmer capacitors
64mm 64Ω neodymium £1.20 Vishay plastic-film 4-40pF £0.80 Relays
2SC2204, 2SD655 £0.50 3.5-inch 25Ω £3.50
ZTX651 £0.30 Vishay plastic-film 5.5-45pF £1.00 STC hermetic 4190 24V DPDT £4.00
5x3-inch elliptical 50Ω or 80Ω Vishay plastic-film 5-80pF £1.20
RF transistors (suitable for Theremin) Alnico £3.50 Switches Blore Edwards/Plessey
Vishay plastic-film 10-250pF £2.00 MH1 4-pole 3-way £3.00
BF199 £0.50 1.65x2.75-inch 8Ω £1.50 Mica 1-12pF, 2-40pF £1.00
BF245 £0.60 Elma 01 2-pole 6-way £6.00
3PDT guitar pedal stomp switch £2.50
Audio power MOSFETs Can’t see what you Audio transformers and
Exicon 10N20, 10P20 £6.50 inductors Valves
want? Just ask – we EC88, PCL84 £3.00
Hitachi 2SJ99, 2SK343 £3.50 Eagle transformers
Hitachi 2SJ 50, 2SK135 £7.00 have a huge stock LT44, LT722 driver, LT700, LT723 Robert’s Radio modules
Hitachi 2SJ56, 2SK176 £8.50 of inexpensive 500Ω output £2.50 Tuners LP1169, LP1179 £7.00
JFETs high-quality parts! LT30 500mW output £3.50 IF strip LP1171 £7.00
BFW11, BFW10, TIS73L, J177, J113, Repanco Knobs – large Bakelite
U1994, U1898, 2SJ176 £1.00 T/T3 splitter transformer £4.00 Bulgin 1960s and Sifam 1970s £1.50
Capacitors CH2 5mH RFC £2.00
MOSFETs
ZVP2106A £0.30 Note ‘10/63’ denotes ‘10µF 63V’.
Balanced output transformer Contact
Dual-gate 3SK45, BFS28 £1.50 Polyester Vigortronix 600Ω VTX-101-007 £10 Jake Rothman
Metal-cased transistors 3.3/100, 4.7/250, 4.7/63 £1.00 Vigortronix 600Ω VTX-101-3001 £10 The Old Rectory, Arlais Road,
BC143 £0.35 5.6/63, 8.2/63, 10/63 £2.00 Vigortronix 600Ω VTX-101-3002 £15 Llandrindod Wells, Powys
2N1711 £0.50 Mullard ‘Mustard’ C296 0.22/400 £2.00 Gardners 150Ω £10 LD1 5HE (visit by appointment)
BCY71 £0.30 Reclaimed BBC LL74/MPC nickel +44 (0)1597 829102
Polycarbonate
BC109C £0.60 core 600Ω £12
Axial 2.2/63 1%, 4.7/160, 6.8/63 £1.00 [email protected]
Amplifiers Radial Reclaimed mic input transformer £15
TL082 dual JFET input op amp £0.25 6.8/160V, 10/63 £2.00 Minimum order £5.00 inc post
LM318 high-speed op amp £0.35 Inductors Quantity discounts negotiable
Reclaimed 22/63 £2.00
µA709 metal-cased op amp £2.00 82µH, 4.7mH, 100µH, 270µH £2.00
5534H metal-cased op amp £3.00 Polystyrene 7-inch ferrite rod with MW and LW Payment
LM384, TDA2030A £1.50 Philips 1% 4.7nF/160, 6.2nF/500, windings £3.00 PayPal, cards (via phone), bank
TAA435 (power amp driver) £1.20 12nF/63, 22nF/63, 110nF/63 £1.00 transfer, cheques (payable to ‘J
RIFA 1% 100nF/100 £2.00 Special resistors Rothman’, UK pounds only)
Synthesiser ICs Suflex 2.5% 10nF/63 (rad. or ax.) £0.50 Bourns wire-wound trimmer 5kΩ No VAT payable
3059 JM panel-mount £2.00
That/dbx 2180 VCA/VCF £6.00 Radiation resistant
Thermistor RA53, A13 £4.00 Postage
CA3080 VCA/VCF (vocoder) £2.80 Siemens cellulose acetate MKL
Thermistor CZ1, CZ6 £1.50 Small Jiffy bag £2.99
CA3082 VCA/VCF £4.00 2.2/25 £0.80
Holco H2 2.2MΩ 1W, 1% £1.00 Small package £4.99
LM13600/ LM13700 VCA/VCF £2.00 Electrolytic – Mullard blue 017 series Welwyn 1GΩ 2W £1.00 Big boxes and overseas at cost
CA3086 transistor array £1.00 10/25, 22/25, 100/10 £0.50 Allen Bradley 1.2kΩ 2W C-comp £1.00 – ask for a quote
PT2399 echo/delay £1.50 150/40, 470/40,1000/40 £1.00 Lots of big valve resistors available.

Circuit Surgery
Regular clinic by Ian Bell
Electronically controlled resistance – Part 4

of steps (resistance values or 100/N %. For example, with an 8-bit control
A A
wiper positions, often referred word this is 100/28 = 100/256 = 0.4%.
to as ‘taps’) is usually a power
Control input Control input
(R value) (wiper position) of two related to the number Digipot circuit
R R Wiper of bits in the digital control Before discussing digipot devices or
circuit, with the range of steps parameters further it is useful to look at
B B being typically from 32 (5-bit) a basic digipot circuit, as this provides
Single resistor (rheostat) Potentiometer to 1024 (10-bit) but fewer steps insights to their characteristics. Fig.2 shows
(4 and 16) and 100-step devices a digipot implementation concept diagram
are also available. – it is not intended to represent a specific
Fig.1. Basic digipot types: representing the electro- The stepped nature of digipot device. The potentiometer comprises a set
mechanical rheostat and potentiometer. adjustment is different from of resistors connected in series between A
the theoretically continuous variation and B – this arrangement is often referred
available from a film-based mechanical to as a resistor ladder. The total resistance
F
or the previous three months potentiometer or JFET electronically between A and B is fixed and is referred to
we have been discussing electroni- controlled resistors. Real mechanical as the end-to-end resistance, or simply the
cally controlled resistance, focusing potentiometers are not perfect so do resistance of the digipot. This resistance
mainly on the use of JFETs (junction field- not have an infinite effective number varies widely for available devices – for
effect transistors) as voltage-controlled of steps. Their effective resolution and example, from 1kΩ to 1MΩ – but devices
resistors. This series was instigated by repeatability (the accuracy with which with 5kΩ to 100kΩ resistance are more
a post on the EEWeb forum about elec- the same value can be set after moving common. Often, a given IC will be available
tronically controlling resistance, but not away) may be about 0.5% to 1%. Multi- in a few different resistance values.
specifically about JFETs. Although JFETs turn mechanical potentiometers provide The wiper is implemented using a set of
(and sometimes other FETs) are com- better resolution (finer adjustment) at electronic switches. One of the switches
monly used as electronically controlled higher cost. Wirewound mechanical will be on to determine the wiper position,
resistors, and have significant historical potentiometer have lower resolutions all the other switches are off. The A, B and
significance, they are not the most widely because the wire turns effectively create wiper (W) connections correspond with the
used approach in modern systems. So, this mechanical steps in the resistance value. standard potentiometer symbol shown in
month we will look at ‘digipots’ – digi- The resolution of an N-step digipot is Fig.1. The wiper switches connect to all
tal potentiometers – which are
integrated circuits providing a A
similar function to mechanical SN
potentiometers and trimmers.
Digipots are available
in both rheostat and RN–1
SN–1
potentiometer versions (see Control logic
Fig.1). Potentiometer versions
can usually also be used in RN–2
rheostat mode by using the SN SN–2
Control signals
resistance between the wiper or standard bus
SN-1
and one of the ends (A or B). SN–2
Digital Resistance Switch RN–3
The resistance (rheostat) or interface register logic Wiper (W)
wiper position (potentiometer)

S1
is controlled with a digital
S0
i n t e r f a c e . Ty p i c a l l y , R1
digipots are controlled by a S1
microcontroller, often via a

serial bus such as SPI or I2C,
R0
but simpler interfaces which S0
allow the resistance or position
to be stepped up or down, as B
well as parallel digital inputs
are also available. The number Fig.2. Circuit concept for implementation of a digipot.

the points between the resistors in the ladder, so they are often with a front-panel control knob). The same applies to mechanical
referred to as ‘taps’. The switches are typically implemented trimmers, with less likelihood of inadvertent adjustment as they
using MOSFETs (transmission gates using an N and P transistor are usually less accessible and less easy to knock out of position.
in parallel). A basic digipot will forget its wiper position setting when
Which switch is on is determined by the control logic. In the power is removed. Typically, the circuit might have a power-on
circuit in Fig.2 the resistance register holds a binary number reset which determines a specific initial setting (for example,
controlling the wiper position. This is decoded by the switch resets the resistance register to zero). This may not provide
logic to determine which single switch is on. The register value optimal conditions at start up – for example, a volume control
is set to the required wiper position value by the user via the which is always set to zero at power on may not provide the
interface logic. The interface can take a number of forms, as best user experience.
already noted, and standard serial buses and up/down controls For systems where the digipots wiper settings are controlled
are common. Digipot ICs may have multiple potentiometers on using a microcontroller (a common scenario) the wiper positions
a chip (typically 2, 4 or 6). could be stored by the processor in non-volatile memory
(memory that retains data when power is removed) and restored
Resolution and variations at system power-up. The problem with this approach is that it
The number of resistors between A and B (Fig.2) determines takes time for the software to configure the system, particularly
the resolution of the potentiometer and hence the number if there are several digipots and other initialisation routines
of bits required in the resistance register. If all the resistors to deal with. This means that the digipots will be temporarily
have the same value, called the step resistance (RS), then the in a default setting before being adjusted to the required
resistance from the A or B to the wiper (RAW or RBW) will have value. The default values may be inappropriate, particularly
a linear relationship with the resistance register value – this where the digipots are used as trimmers to set adjustments,
is called a ‘linear taper’. such as bias voltage, offsets and gain settings. In some cases,
It is also possible to scale the resistor values so that the the inappropriate initial values, or dramatic changes during
resistance from the A or B terminals to the wiper varies initialisation, may cause instability, glitches or even system
logarithmically with the resistance register value (called a ‘log malfunction. The problem does not occur with mechanical
taper’). The linear and log taper options directly correspond with trimmers because they will have the correct value at power-up.
linear and logarithmic mechanical potentiometers. Logarithmic The solution to the problem of a digipot having the wrong value
potentiometers are frequently used in audio equipment as at power up it to use non-volatile memory on the IC itself and a
volume controls because of the logarithmic response of the number of devices provide this facility. The digipot retains the
human ear to the loudness of sound. Using a volume / gain wiper setting it had at power-off and restores this immediately at
control with a logarithmic taper digital pot will change the power-on. Some devices provide a one-time programmable (OTP)
signal level in constant decibel steps (eg, 1 dB per step). memory so that a specific wiper position can be set during initial
There are variations possible in the number of resistors and system configuration. The OTP value may set the wiper position
wiper taps for digipots with a similar resolution. If we have a always used at power-up, or it may provide a permanent setting
7-bit resistance register then there are 27 = 128 possible values, so that the wiper position cannot be changed. This is typically
which means that 128 switches can be controlled. Fig.2 shows used for circuits requiring a one-off calibration.
N+1 switches (labelled S0 to SN) for N resistors (labelled R0
to RN–1) in order allow the wiper to be connected directly to The AD5243 digipot
both the A and B terminals – this corresponds to what would As mentioned above there are various control interfaces available
usually be the case for a mechanical potentiometer where the for digipots. We will look at three example devices to provide
wiper is connected directly to the terminals which are at the some idea of the various options. Fig.3 shows a block diagram of
extremes of the shaft movement. Thus, a 7-bit register would the AD5243 series of I2C digipots from Analogue Devices (typical
control a ladder of 127 resistors. price is around £3.25 from Mouser or DigiKey). The AD5243 is a
Taking terminal B as a reference, if S0 is on we have a nominally 10-pin device that contains two 256-position potentiometers and
zero resistance from B to the wiper (RBW) – this is referred to as is available with end-to-end resistance values of 2.5kΩ, 10kΩ,
the zero-scale setting. With SN on we have the maximum RBW 50kΩ, and 100kΩ. it is aimed at replacing mechanical trimmers
equal to N × RS for a linear taper. This is the full-scale setting. for functions such as level setting, bias and offset adjustment,
Designers may prefer to have a ladder with 128 rather than sensor adjustment and gain control. The control interface is
127 resistors. This can be achieved either by using an 8-bit an I2C serial bus, which only requires two wires – clock (SCL)
register (the digital wiper position binary value ranges from
00000000 to 10000000), or by still using 7 bits and removing A1 W1 B1 A2 W2 B2
one of the switches (to terminal A or B) shown in Fig.2. The
latter option means that the wiper cannot connect directly to
one of the terminals – the wiper-to-terminal resistance (RAW or
RBW) at that end cannot be set to a nominal zero value. These
general arguments apply to other resolutions, for example 8 or
9 bit register and 255 or 256 resistors. Which of these options
VDD
applies will depend on the digipot device and designers should
be aware of this and the implications for their design in terms Wiper register 1 Wiper register 2
of resistance/wiper control range, step value and software GND

requirements related to the number of bits used.
AD5243
Memory SDA
PC interface
If a mechanical potentiometer is set to a particular value and the SCL
circuit is switched off, then its setting will be the same when
the circuit is next switched on. The mechanical potentiometer
‘remembers’ its setting, unless of course someone moves it Fig.3. AD5243 block diagram, an I2C-controlled dual
deliberately or inadvertently while the circuit is off (easily done 256-position potentiometer.

H the digipot (between the L and H pins) after receiving an input
to change the wiper position. The wiper is changed when zero
crossing is detected or after 50ms if one does not occur in that time.
Maxim The wiper position of the MAX5407 is controlled by an up-
MAX5407 down counter. The value in the counter is changed via the U/D
VDD
and CS pins. The direction of counting (up or down) is set by the
GND
value on U/D (one for up, zero for down) when the CS pin changes
from zero to one (positive edge on CS). After this, while the CS
pin remains high, the counter can be incremented or decremented
using the U/D pin. Each zero-to-one transition (positive edge) on
U/D will change the count value and hence wiper position by
one step up or down depending on the direction set by the CS
transition. When CS is low, changing the wiper is disabled and
it maintains its position.
W
CS The DS1809 digipot
Up/down 32-position Fig.5 shows a block diagram of the DS1809 ‘Dallastat’ digital
U/D
counter decoder
ZCEN potentiometer, also from Maxim/Analogue Devices, typical price
is around £10 from Mouser or DigiKey. Note that despite being
costlier, unlike the other two devices mentioned above, which
are strictly surface-mound devices, the DS109 is available in
an 8-pin through-hole package. The DS1809 is a 64-position
linear digipot, available with end-to-end resistance values of
10kΩ, 50kΩ, and 100kΩ. It is aimed at replacing mechanical
potentiometers in general applications. The DS1809 has an on-
L chip non-volatile memory for the wiper position.
The control interface to the DS1809 is designed to facilitate
Fig.4. MAX5407 block diagram, a 32-tap logarithmic taper
simple pushbutton control of wiper position – so it does not
digipot with 1dB steps.
require a microcontroller or any software development. However,
and data (SDA). A similar device, the AD5248 (similar price) the interface can be easily controlled by a processor if desired.
provides two rheostats and has address pins allowing multiple For pushbutton operation the input pins UC (up control) and DC
devices to share the same I2C bus. Usually, the I2C bus would (down control) are connected to the switches, as shown in Fig.5.
be connected to a microcontroller and software running on External switch debounce circuitry is not required for correct
that device would control the potentiometer wiper positions. operation. The DC and UC pins are pulled up (by resistors in the
The wiper positions for the AD5243 are set by writing an 8-bit device), so pushing the switches creates a low pulse on the input.
value via the I2C along with a single address bit indicating which A pulse on one of the inputs (DC or UC) which is longer than
potentiometer is being controlled. The current wiper position 1ms but less than 0.5s will cause the wiper position to increment
can also be read from the device via the bus. The potentiometer (UC) or decrement (DC) by one position. Repetitive pulses (to zero)
can be put into a shutdown mode via a control bit. This sets an must be separated by 1ms (high input) or they will be ignored.
open circuit at terminal A and shorts the wiper to terminal B. A low input longer than 0.5s is interpreted as a ‘push and hold’
The AD5243 does not have a non-volatile memory but has very and will cause the wiper to change position by one step every
low power consumption (1.3µA supply current) so could be kept 100ms to facilitate quick adjustment over a larger range. Once
powered up when the rest of the system is off in order to retain the the wiper has been moved to one end it will stay there if further
wiper setting (this approach is discussed in the device datasheet). inputs for the same direction are received.
For the DS1809 to store the wiper position in its non-volatile
The MAX5407 digipot memory at power-down an external capacitor and Schottky diode
Fig.3 shows a block diagram of the MAX5407 from Maxim are required, wired as shown in Fig.6. If the DS1809 is controlled by
Integrated (now a subsidiary of Analog Devices, typical price a processor, then wiper
is around £2.50 from Mouser or DigiKey). The MAX5407 is a position storage can be
logarithmic taper single digipot potentiometer with 32 tap points instigated via the STR Schottky diode
configured to have 1dB steps between taps. It has an end-to-end pin without the external
resistance of 20kΩ. The MAX5407 is aimed at replacing mechanical diode and capacitor.
potentiometers in audio applications, for 1
Vcc
8
controls such as volume and balancing. At

2 7
power on the device resets to the lowest tap RH
position (wiper switch closest to L pin on), 3 6
STR
it does not store its previous setting in non- RW
volatile memory. + 4 5
RL 10µF
A problem that can occur with digipots in
audio applications is an audible click when
STR NV memory
the wiper position is changed. To address this UC
issue the MAX5407 features a zero-crossing Control logic
UD
detector. Changing the wiper at the point
the audio waveform is crossing through 0V Fig.6. DS1809 block diagram
prevents sudden signal level changes which showing the addition of an external
can be heard as clicks. When this is enabled capacitor and Schottky diode to store
by taking the ZCEN pin low the MAX5407 Fig.5. Block diagram of the 64-position linear the wiper position in its non-volatile
waits for up to 50ms for zero voltage across digipot DS1809. memory at power-down.

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Telephone: 0118 933 1111 Fax: 0118 933 2375
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Fluke/Philips PM3092 Oscilloscope HP 54600B Oscilloscope
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LAMBDA GENESYS PSU GEN100-15 100V 15A Boxed As New £400 Marconi 2305 Modulation Meter £250
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Phil Boyce – hands on with the mighty PIC-powered, BASIC microcontroller
Part 42: PicoMite Fingerprint Reader – Part 1
Fig.1. Various fingerprint modules are readily available online, priced from £15 upwards. We are using the R503 model (top left) in
this article, which costs around £22.
B
eing able to recognise So, how could we have fun with a readily available – see Fig.1 for some
different fingerprints is a useful fingerprint reader in a project closer to examples. They start from around £15
biometric feature to add to an home? Perhaps the classic Electronic for something basic that a hobbyist
electronics project, especially one that Combination Lock project (PE, December might use, to units costing many
involves an element of security. By 2019) could be updated, or maybe you hundreds of pounds which are designed
identifying different people from their could switch your home-security system for commercial use. Even the cheaper
unique fingerprint, it becomes possible on and off. Whatever the application, fingerprint modules pack an impressive
to distinguish between authorised and a fingerprint reader must primarily be number of features and capabilities.
unauthorised users, thus allowing a capable of reading a fingerprint, and For example, they typically contain
specific action to be performed (or not). then determining who it belongs to, either an optical or capacitive sensor,
Real-life examples of how fingerprint and hence if it belongs to an authorised which feeds image data to an onboard
readers are used include: controlling user, or not. microcontroller for converting any
access to a locked door (via a solenoid detected finger into a ‘template’ pattern.
or electromagnet), turning on a device Fingerprint modules Some fingerprint modules include other
such as a computer, or even triggering If you search online, you will see that elements such as LEDs, a sounder, or
a cashless payment. there are many fingerprint modules a vibration-motor for tactile feedback.

It must be stressed that the main microcontroller, the module can be by the intelligent controller results in
element of a fingerprint module is the made to perform a specific task. Two enrolment being performed.
sensor that can detect a finger, and main tasks that the module can perform ‘Searching’ is simply the action of
subsequently generate ‘image data’ are detecting a finger placed on the comparing a fingerprint with stored
from the fingerprint placed on the sensor and extracting image data from templates. A response back to the
sensor. Typically, a fingerprint module a fingerprint placed on the sensor. intelligent controller will confirm
needs to be connected to some form Another capability (for the module whether a match was found (or not).
of intelligence to create a complete we’ll be using) includes controlling a If a match is found, then the user is
fingerprint reader unit that can decide built-in ring LED located around the identified, and the intelligent controller
what to do with captured image data. sensor. Note that the module needs can decide if the user is authorised (or
Generally, the cheaper fingerprint to be told what task to perform by an not), followed by appropriate action.
modules are connected to something external intelligent controller.
like an Arduino, or Raspberry Pi, for When a fingerprint module is The R503 module
which some basic example software connected to an intelligent controller, We will now look at the specific
(or experimental code) is available for the result is a complete fingerprint fingerprint module that we will be
download. However, the datasheets reader unit that can do something using, the R503. The choice was a simple
for these cheaper fingerprint modules useful. The controller sends commands one – it was the model sent to me in
tend to contain errors, and hence to the module and the module performs error when ordering a GPS module!
any downloadable software is often the necessary task. On completion of Checking the datasheet (available for
incomplete, or simply won’t work at the task, a response is sent back to download from the December 2022
all; but occasionally you might come the controller. By sending a precise page of the PE website), it appeared to
across some application software with sequence of tasks to the module, be an excellent module, offering some
functionality that actually does what specific actions can be performed, nice features, with the bonus of a low
it is meant to do! resulting in a functional reader. price – around £22.
I was recently sent a low-cost The R503 is built into a rugged metal
fingerprint module in error(!), so I Image data vs template pattern body which makes it very easy to panel
set myself the challenge of hooking it Once a finger has been detected, mount; something a lot of modules
up to a PicoMite (instead of the usual the intelligent controller sends a overlook. It inserts into a 24mm-diameter
Arduino or RPi). Armed with a couple command to the module (ie, a task hole, affixed with an included nut. It is
of different (contradictory) versions of request) to generate image data of based on a capacitive sensor, which is
the datasheet, I was determined to get it the fingerprint located on the sensor. generally regarded as performing better
working. After connecting it up, I started Generally, two images are taken and than an optical sensor. There is a built-
writing some simple MMBASIC code to these are ‘averaged’ to create a template in digital signal processor (DSP) chip
see if I could get a response. Remember pattern. This new template pattern which simplifies overall use since it
that a fingerprint module contains is compared with stored template performs all the algorithms normally
an onboard microcontroller, so the patterns when determining a user’s associated with fingerprint processing.
PicoMite needs to send valid commands identity. Each template pattern is This mean that we won’t get involved
that the fingerprint module recognises stored alongside a unique ID number, with any of the ‘complex stuff’.
for it to do anything. After a short and any matched template pattern The R503 module is a serial device
while I had successful communication, returns the corresponding unique ID that communicates with an external
and from that point on, all I had to do number in the response back to the controller, in our case, the PicoMite.
was work through the steps outlined intelligent controller (more on this Serial data is sent at a default baud
(very poorly) in the datasheet with the next month). Note that we will often rate of 57,600 (which can be changed if
aim of creating a standalone PicoMite refer to a template pattern simply as a needed). It can operate at 3.3V, which
fingerprint reader; and there – thanks ‘template’. Templates are essential for is perfect for us since the PicoMite
to the poor documentation – is where successful operation of a fingerprint has a maximum input voltage on any
the real fun started! reader; without stored templates it I/O pin of 3.6V. Operational current
With patience, I made progress, and is not possible to determine who the consumption is low at 20mA, and it has
this month we will show you how to user is, and hence whether they are an average sleep current of 2µA should
connect a low-cost fingerprint module authorised. The template pattern it need to be powered from a battery. It
to the PicoMite. We will then look at generated is either stored internally in can store up to 200 fingerprint templates
the structure of any message that is the module’s memory (along with any in its own Flash memory, and it also
either sent to, or returned from, the other templates) or it can be uploaded has a built in bi-colour LED which
fingerprint module. And by using a to the attached intelligent controller provides a nice ring effect around the
simple program we have written, you to be stored elsewhere. Note that we sensor. On the module sent to me, there
will be able to send any valid command don’t need to upload templates to the is a red/blue bi-colour LED, so purple
that the fingerprint module recognises, PicoMite as the fingerprint module we can also be generated. However, while
and also know how to interpret the are using has enough memory to store researching this project, I read that other
response it sends back. up to 200 templates. colour LEDs may be supplied instead.
B e f o r e w e s t a r t , h e r e ’s s o m e Note that most operational features
terminology which will help clarify Enrolment vs Searching of this fingerprint module (including
how to use a fingerprint module. To register a new user (ie, store a look- the bi-colour LED) are controlled by
up template for them), a process called commands that are sent to it from the
Fingerprint module vs fingerprint ‘enrolment’ is performed. Enrolment attached intelligent controller (ie, the
reader means that their template is generated PicoMite). For testing purposes, we will
A fingerprint module comprises a (from two sets of image data) and then use the LED as a visual confirmation to
sensor, and an onboard microcontroller. stored against a unique ID number. A ensure we are communicating correctly
By sending any valid command to its precise sequence of specific tasks sent with the module – see later.

02 means the message is ‘Data’: this message could be in
Red 3V3 either direction and always follows a 01 or 07 message.
3V3
Black GND
0V
07 means the message is an ‘Acknowledge’, meaning it’s a
Yellow Tx
GP1
response message from the module to the PicoMite.
Green Rx 08 means the message is the ‘End of Data’. It can follow any
GP0
Bue Finger detect of the above messages whenever sending the last chunk of
GP2
White Induction power data that in total is more than 255 bytes in length.
3V3
4. LENGTH – The next two bytes (byte 8 and 9) indicate the

Fig.2. There are six wires coming from the back of the R503 number of bytes remaining in the message; ie, the number
fingerprint module. All six connections need to be made. of bytes in the next two sections (‘PACKAGE DATA’ and
‘CHECKSUM’)
Connecting the module
There are six cables from the module that are terminated in 5. PACKAGE DATA – This will always be at least one byte long,
a 6-pin, 1mm-pitch connector. To make it easy to connect and can be up to a maximum of 254 bytes long (depending
to the PicoMite, I recommend this connector is cut off, and on which data sheet you believe!). For a Command message,
six short female DuPont leads are soldered in its place. All it contains the specific command number (referred to as the
six cables need to be connected to the PicoMite, as shown ‘instruction code’ in the datasheet). It also contains any
in Fig.2. parameters relevant to the specific command.
The red and white cable are both connected to 3.3V, and For an Acknowledge message, it contains a response
the black cable to 0V. The serial connection is on the yellow result (referred to as a ‘confirmation code’ in the datasheet)
and green cables. Yellow is the transmit (Tx) output from along with any response data. It should be under 253 bytes
the module that needs to connect to a receive (Rx) COM in length (but if there is more response data, then that is
pin on the PicoMite – here we will use GP1. Green is the wrapped into either a ‘Data’ message or an ‘End of Data’
receive (Rx) pin on the module that connects to a transmit message). For either a ‘Data’ or an ‘End of Data’ message, it
(Tx) COM pin on the PicoMite (GP0 in this case). simply contains the data required to be sent.
This leaves one more connection, which is referred to
in the datasheet as the ‘WAKEUP’ pin. However, I like to 6. CHECKSUM – These are always the last two bytes in
refer to it as the ‘Finger Detect’ pin. It is an output pin from a message and can be used for error checking. The value
the module that connects to an input on the PicoMite (in contained in these two bytes is the arithmetic sum of all
this case we will use GP2). When no finger is present on byte values in the IDENTIFIER, LENGTH and PACKAGE
the sensor, the output will be at 3.3V, but when a finger is DATA. Any overflow is simply ignored.
detected the output goes low. We could use this output signal
from the fingerprint module to either wakeup the PicoMite Puting the structure to work
via an interrupt (useful if we were to put the module and To help make the above a little clearer, we will now work
PicoMite to sleep), or we could simply monitor the state of through the construction of a simple command message
GP2 to determine if a finger is currently on the sensor, or that is sent from the PicoMite to the fingerprint module.
not (this latter method is what we will be using). This example message will use the command to turn on
Now carefully make the six connections. Once completed, the blue ring-LED. For completeness, we will also look at
we will need to test things out. But first, let’s understand how to interpret the response (the ‘Acknowledge’ message)
the format of any message sent between the PicoMite and that is sent back to the PicoMite. Note that an Acknowledge
the R503. message from the fingerprint module will only be sent after
receiving a correct Command message. If the Command
Message structure message contains an incorrect Checksum value, then no
The structure of any message (to or from the fingerprint Acknowledge will be sent.
module) is best shown diagrammatically. Fig.3 shows there
are always six parts to any message, as explained below. Constructing a Command message
Referring to Fig.3, we will now look at the six sections of
1. HEADER – These are the first two bytes, and they need to the command message to turn on the blue ring-LED. The
contain the hexadecimal (hex) values of EF and 01 respectively. critical section is the PACKAGE DATA, which contains the
These are fixed in value and represent ‘start-of-message’. actual command number, plus any associated parameters.
According to the datasheet, the command to control
2. ADDRESS – These are the next four bytes, and by default the ring-LED is ‘Aura Control’, or more specifically
all contain the hex value FF. Note that these bytes can be ‘AuraLedConfig’. The command number (ie, instruction
changed to contain a new address value, but we won’t be code) is the hex value 35. It has four parameters that are
altering this value in our application. associated with this command; these are as follows (taken
from the datasheet):
3. IDENTIFIER – This seventh message byte is just a single 1. Control Code – the LED mode: Breath (01), Flash (02),
byte which identifies the type of message being sent. Four On (03), Off (04), Fade-On (05), Fade-Off (06)
values are valid: 2. Speed (00-FF) – the speed applied to either the Breath,
01 means the message is a ‘Command’. A command message Flash, Fade-On, or Fade-Off function
is sent from the PicoMite to the module. 3. Colour Index – the colour of the ring-LED: Red (01 ),
Blue (02), Purple (03)
4. Times – the number of cycles: 00 = infinite, otherwise
Micromite code 01-FF. Applies only to Breath or Flash modes
There is no project code this month, but where applicable,
Now that we know the above values, let’s construct the
code is available for download from the PE website.
Command message:

different colour, and then change the
Length = Quantity of bytes in PACKAGE DATA and CHECKSUM
speed of the flashing. Also, try other
HEADER [2] ADDRESS [4] IDENTIFIER [1] LENGTH [2] PACKAGE DATA [PD_Qty] CHECKSUM [2]
parameter settings.
MFB(x) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 PD(1) PD(PD_Qty) 10 11 Note that you do not need to calculate
the two-byte CHECKSUM values as
these are calculated automatically by
EF 01 FF FF FF FF 01 Command
the program. All you need to do is set
(Fixed) (Default) 02 Data the value for PD_Qty to the number
07 Acknowledge of bytes being sent in the PACKAGE
08 End of data DATA, and then set these values in
the TxPD() array, starting with the
Sum of byte values = Checksum value
first byte in TxPD(1). The two-byte
LENGTH values are also calculated
Fig.3. The structure of the message contains six elements as shown here. See text for full for you, making this program very
details of how the contents are calculated and interpreted. Note that all byte values are easy to use.
shown as a hexadecimal number. Once you have mastered controlling
the LED, have a look at some other
HEADER = EF 01 (fixed value) commands from the datasheet. There is even a random
ADDRESS = FF FF FF FF (default value) number generator (GetRandomCode which is instruction
IDENTIFIER = 01 (a Command message) code 14 (hex))
LENGTH = 07 (5-bytes in Package-Data plus
2-bytes in Checksum) Next time
PACKAGE DATA = 35 03 00 02 00 (from the above Now that we have a working fingerprint module that we
explanation where values are know how to control, in Part 2 we will look at the commands
highlighted in bold) that are used to perform a fingerprint enrolment, and also
CHECKSUM = 00 42 (sum of byte values 01 + 07 + 35 the commands to perform a search of stored fingerprint
+ 03 + 00 + 02 + 00 (in hex)) templates. We will conclude with software for a standalone
PicoMite fingerprint reader that brings everything together.
Interpreting the Acknowledge response Until then, stay safe, and have FUN!
Referring to the datasheet, you will see that the PACKAGE
DATA in the Acknowledge response simply contains a single
Questions? Please email Phil at:
byte which is the confirmation-code. The value of this is
[email protected]
either 00 (for success), or 01 (for failure). So, the response
message we expect to see back is as follows:
HEADER = EF 01 (fixed value)

ADDRESS = FF FF FF FF (default value)
IDENTIFIER = 07 (an Acknowledge message)
LENGTH = 03 (1 byte in Package Data plus 2
bytes in Checksum)
PACKAGE DATA = 00 (if successful)
CHECKSUM = 00 0A (sum of byte values 07 + 03 + 00
(in hex))
Note that if an error occurred, the Package Data would contain

the value 01, and the Checksum would contain 00 0B.
Message demo
Now that we have seen how to construct the bytes for a message
that is sent to the fingerprint module, and also understood what
JTAG Connector Plugs Directly into PCB!!
the response should look like, let’s now send the actual Command No Header! No Brainer!
message to see if it does indeed turn on the blue ring-LED as we
expect. We will also check the values returned in the Acknowledge
response message. Performing this simple test will also check
that we have connected the fingerprint module correctly.
Download the file FP_MessageDemo1.txt from the December
2022 page of the PE website and install the program into the
PicoMite. When you RUN the program you should see the
blue ring-LED turn on. If not, check the six connections. A
common error with serial devices is getting the Tx and Rx Our patented range of Plug-of-Nails™ spring-pin cables plug directly
connections reversed – remember, Tx from the fingerprint into a tiny footprint of pads and locating holes in your PCB, eliminating
reader goes to Rx on the PicoMite, and Tx from the PicoMite the need for a mating header. Save Cost & Space on Every PCB!!
goes to Rx on the fingerprint module. Solutions for: PIC . dsPIC . ARM . MSP430 . Atmel . Generic JTAG . Altera
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If you examine the program code, you will see that it is well
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commented, allowing you to try other parameter values to Tag-Connector footprints as small as 0.02 sq. inch (0.13 sq cm)
make the LED behave differently. Why not make it flash a

Max’s Cool Beans
By Max the Magnificent
Flashing LEDs and other engineering temptations – Part 34

n my previous column (PE, signal. In fact, if you don’t need to read doctor who tells me I tested positive for
I November 2022), I waxed eloquently

on the topic of rotary encoders. Fol-
lowing this, I received an email from
the encoder at full resolution you can
make things even simpler. I suspect this
is why some of the encoders you looked
Covid. I can’t believe it, I had it only
three months ago, I’m too young for all
this excitement. They’ve put me on anti-
PE community member Iain Sharp who at give two or four transitions per click. If virals (Q: ‘Do you have the antivirals?’ A:
hails from Nottingham, which is where you only need quarter resolution for ex- ‘No, I always walk this way!’) so I hope
my dad was raised. Iain tells me that ample, you can just look for Low->High to return to full cognitive capacity in a
his day-job involves supporting the transitions of signal A and use signal B to few days’ time, which is when I’ll peruse
development of some very cutting-edge tell you the rotation direction. This type and ponder Iain’s proposal in more depth
technology, but that his role these days of approach is simple to implement and and give it the consideration it deserves.
is mostly focused on project manage- doesn’t need any information about the Having said this, my brain is still tick-
ment and budget issues, so he spends previous state of the encoder or where tocking away in the background (albeit
his spare time doing interesting (and the ‘click’ points are. I use this approach skipping the occasional tick or tock),
diverse) hands-on projects that remind in Cyclepong.’ and it’s trying to decide if Iain’s simpli-
him why he got into engineering in Unfortunately, as I pen these words, fied scheme works while still addressing
the first place. everything feels a little ‘fluffy around the problem of noisy signals caused by
the edges’ on the cognitive processing switch bounce. Another issue Joe and I
Rotate that! front. I just got back from a visit to my wish to address is preventing the system
One such example is Cyclepong (do see
this: https://bit.ly/3RYRQG8), which is an
update of the classic arcade game Pong
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pong)
using bikes as the controllers. Billed
as ‘Bringing two of humanities greatest
inventions together,’ Cyclepong (Fig.1)
also promises to ‘Build thighs of steel
(weather permitting).’ At the time of this
writing, Cyclepong is on show at Nov-
elty Automation in London (https://bit.
ly/3Vo8Vfw). Iain’s current project is an
electromechanical version of the classic
Lunar Lander computer game (https://bit.
ly/3ESSnX4), but we digress...
In his email, Iain spake as follows: ‘Hi
Max, Re your piece in PE Nov 22 on the
work you and Joe Farr are doing with
quadrature encoders. There is a ‘trick’
to decoding them that used to be well
known but seems to have been largely
forgotten more recently. Instead of track-
ing the state of the encoder and deter-
mining which signal is ‘leading’ to work
out the direction of rotation, you can find
the direction from the signal state when
a signal transition takes place. For ex-
ample, looking at Fig.4 in your piece. If
A goes from Low->High when B is low
then this is always a CW step. If A goes
from Low->High when B is high this is
always an ACW step. You can build a
truth table for all the possible combina-
tions (as you would expect it’s very sym-
metrical) and immediately know the di-
rection of rotation from the direction of
the transition and the state of the other Fig.1. Cyclepong: experience man and machine in perfect harmony.

from getting confused when you are ro-
VDD
1
Make Break tating the knob quickly and you turn it
NO halfway past the final ‘click’ and then
0 return it to the final ‘click’ location. This
NO
1
Break Make will also require some pondering in the
COM
NC NC context of Iain’s suggestions.
0
SPDT Switch
First 0 on NO First 0 on NC A tight squeeze
Speaking of switch bounce... were you by
any chance wondering how I spent last
Fig.2. Switch bounce on an SPDT switch. Saturday? You were! Well, this is your
lucky day because I’m in the mood to
share. In previous columns, we’ve talked
about the problem with switch bounce for
single-pole, single-throw (SPST) switches
(PE, March 2022) and single-pole, double-
throw (SPDT) switches (PE, April 2022).
It’s the bounce on the latter type which
interests us here (Fig.2). Remember that
NO stands for ‘normally open’ and NC
stands for ‘normally closed.’
The last time we talked about this, we
looked at how to remove this bounce
using two back-to-back NAND gates.
For the purpose of these discussions, we
are focused on the small breakout board
(BOB) that LogiSwitch uses to debounce
SPDT microswitches and small push-
button switches (Fig.3a). This board is
0.45-inch wide and 0.5-inch tall. On the
a) top side, there’s a small LogiSwitch IC,
a capacitor, and (in the lower middle of
the board) a field-effect transistor (FET),
which protects you if you apply the volt-
age the wrong way round. On the bottom
of the board are three large pads. From
top to bottom (in this image) they are
GND, NO (fed from the switch’s nor-
mally open terminal), and NC (fed from
the switch’s normally closed terminal).
The five small pads on the edge of the
BOB are V+, NH (normally high), NL/
b) HS (normally low with handshake), TG
(toggle) and GND. When the switch is in
its inactive state, the NH output from the
c) BOB is high (logic 1). When the switch is
activated (which we take to be the first 0
on NO), the NH signal goes low (logic 0).
When the switch is deactivated (which
we take to be the first 0 on NC), the NH
signal returns to its high state.
The NL/HS signal presents the opposite
values to the NH signal with an added
twist. When the switch is activated and
Fig.3. Inserting a BOB into a very small

space. Top to bottom: a) LogiSwitch
breakout boards (BOBs) used to
debounce SPDT microswitches and small
pushbutton switches; b) 8108 lever-arm
limit switch with adjustable roller – my
target for the LogiSwitch BOB; c) There’s
not a lot of spare space inside the limit
d) switch. I had to file down some plastic to
make everything fit (the surfaces marked
red); and d) connecting it all up.

Next, I connected the NC and NO
terminals on the far side of the switch
together to give me a common (COM)
signal and connected this to the GND
pad on the BOB. I also connected the
NC and NO terminals on the nearside
of the switch to the corresponding pads
on the BOB (Fig.3d).
Finally, I ran a little program on an
Arduino Uno to make sure everything
worked as expected before sealing the
switch up again (Fig.4). Oh, did I forget
to mention that I then had to do all of
this for another 14 switches (sob).
Eek! Zeke!
One of the things I’ve been meaning to
talk to you about is an amazing 11-year-
old kid called Zeke. I was first intro-
duced to Zeke and his dad Eric a couple
Fig.4 Checking the LogiSwitch BOB works in the limit switch. of months ago (Fig.5). In this image we
see them holding a circuit board Zeke
the NL/HS signal goes high, the program while the two on the right are marked designed using AWR Microwave Office
in the microcontroller that’s monitor- ‘NC’. When the switch is in its deacti- software from Cadence Design Systems
ing and using this signal can change its vated state, a small bar connects the two (Zeke is the one on the left).
input to an output, pull the signal low NC terminals. When the switch is acti- There’s so much to tell here but (as
for 5µs, and then return it to being an vated, this bar moves, disconnecting the always) so little time to tell it. In a
input again. The LogiSwitch IC will un- two NC terminals and connecting the crunchy nutshell, Zeke has been inter-
derstand this to be an acknowledgement two NO terminals. ested in science and technology since
that the switch event has been seen and Observe the clear plastic piece that he was about one and a half years old
it will take over pulling this signal low. holds everything in place. The blue when Eric took a piece of wood and at-
This saves you having to set a flag in your outer shell sits on top of this without tached a small incandescent light bulb,
code to say when you are waiting for the any gap whatsoever. I started by cover- a battery holder, and a knife switch of
switch to go inactive. Last, but not least, ing the internals with painter’s mask- the type favored by Igor and Franken-
the TG signal starts off in a high state. ing tape to stop dust getting anywhere stein (‘It’s alive! It’s alive!’). Zeke car-
Every time the switch is activated, the it shouldn’t. I then used a small file to ried that little creation around with him
TG signal toggles to its opposite state. make a wire-sized groove between the two everywhere, turning it on and off and
My mission was to insert this BOB into halves of the clear plastic (the red lines chanting ‘switch, battery, light bulb…
an 8108 lever-arm limit switch with ad- shown on the left). There are ‘steps’ in switch, battery, light bulb…’
justable roller (Fig.3b). These are won- the clear plastic on the right (on the far When he was eight, Zeke informed his
derful devices, but it has to be acknowl- side, middle, and nearside pieces stick- parents that he wanted to communicate
edged that there’s not a lot of spare space ing out). I also filed half of the middle with the astronauts and cosmonauts on
inside (Fig.3c). What is inside is four in- step down further to make room for the the international space station (ISS). If
dividual terminals. The two on the left- FET on that side of the BOB (the red I’d said this to my dad, he would have
hand side of this image are marked ‘NO’, lines shown on the right). patted me on the head and wished me
Left-right: Fig.5. Budding electronic engineer Zeke, with his dad Eric, showing a PCB he designed; Fig.6. Zeke with his first ham radio;
and Fig.7. Zeke working on his 10-foot helical antenna.

luck. By comparison, Eric told Zeke that have the first line of the lyrics ‘What’s lower atmospheric pressure caused the
in order to do this he would have to a) it all about, Alfie?’ rattling around my silicone gel to leak out).
get his ham radio license and b) have a poor old noggin. Suffice it to say that hearing about
suitable radio system. ‘Why is that?’ You ask. I shall elu- these two offerings made Alfie’s long-
Just to make sure we’re all tap-danc- cidate and explicate (don’t worry, I’m suffering mother very happy indeed.
ing to the same skirl of the bagpipes, the a professional). I recently received a
term ‘ham radio’ (a.k.a. amateur radio) letter from a distraught mother saying Open circuits
refers to the use of the radio frequency that her 6-year-old son, Alfie, told her I’m really bad when it comes to remem-
spectrum for the purposes of non-com- that he wanted a pack of nanobots for bering names and faces. This problem
mercial exchange of messages, wireless Christmas. After explaining what nano- is only exacerbated by the fact that I’ve
experimentation, self-training, private bots are, he told her that he could put spoken at so many conferences. You’d
recreation, radio sport, contesting and them in a barrel, add some chemicals, be amazed how many people email me
emergency communications. stir things up, and then sit back and wait to say something like, ‘I saw your pre-
Thus, a few weeks later, Zeke, Eric, for them to build him a supercomputer. sentation at the XYZ conference in the
and Zeke’s grandfather Mark attended When his mom told Alfie that this was year of the fruit bat – I was the one who
a ham radio class together, following beyond the bounds of today’s technolo- asked the question about reverberating
which they took their ham Technician gy, he pointed to the relevant portion of foodle valves’ (or words to that effect),
exam. Eric and Mark passed first time, my book, Bebop to the Boolean Boogie: to which I usually reply, ‘That was you?’
but Zeke failed. It took Zeke a couple An unconventional Guide to Electron- The reason I mention this is that I
of months studying and two more tries ics (https://amzn.to/3s15Nc6), which just received an email from Philip Fre-
before he also got his Technician license she had bought for him a few weeks idin, who hails from Silicon Valley and
(he now has his General license) and his earlier. Unfortunately, young Alfie had who started off by saying, ‘You probably
own KJ7NLL call sign, at which point missed the part where I said this type don’t remember me, but we met a few
his grandmother, ‘Bobbi,’ presented him of technology was something we might years ago at an Embedded Systems Con-
with his first ham radio (Fig.6). expect to be talking about in the 2050 ference (ESC) – in 2015, I think – and
Eric told me that the very first time edition of the book. chatted for about an hour. I showed you
Zeke used his radio, someone imme- Alfie’s mom asked if I had any sug- OSHChip, a 32-bit ARM CPU + Blue-
diately responded to his young voice gestions to keep his mind occupied. I tooth radio packaged as a 16 pin DIP.’
saying, ‘Who is this and whose radio suggested that he read The Chronicles of The funny thing is that I do remember
and call sign are you using?’ Eric says Narnia and the Magic Treehouse books, this meeting.
that Zeke firmly responded, ‘This is my both of which I think are great for kids of Philip went on to say, ‘This email has
radio and my call sign!’ all ages. She replied that Alfie’s 4-year- nothing to do with any of that.’ (This
The funny things is that when Zeke is old brother Eddie loved reading those brought a smile to my face because it’s
talking to me, it’s obvious that he’s wor- books, but that Alfie himself would rather the sort of thing I might say myself.)
ried about leaving me behind, so every be reading about things like logic gates, It turned out that the reason for Phil-
time he drops an engineering acronym p-type and n-type silicon and field-ef- ip’s email was that two of his friends,
like SSB into the conversation, he will fect transistors. She also said, ‘I told Windell Oskay and Eric Schlaepfer, are
pause and then say, ‘that stands for sin- him once that most grownups prefer to poised to publish a book called Open
gle-sideband’ (I feel so old). read stories for fun, not textbooks, and Circuits (https://amzn.to/3CzWZ1P),
After looking into several different tech- he looked at me with incredible skepti- which should hit the streets around the
niques (one of his back-burner projects is cism, bordering on full disbelief.’ beginning of November 2022 (which is
to create his own phased array antenna), Fortunately, I still had a couple of now as you read these words).
Zeke opted to build a 10-foot-long helical tricks up my sleeves. A couple of years This book does not require any in-
antenna (Fig.7). Not shown here is the ago, two former teachers, Paul and Alyssa depth electronics knowledge and I think
chicken wire reflector Zeke has attached Boswell, created an awesome marble- it will be of interest to both engineers
to one end of the antenna. This results powered computer called the Turing and non-engineers alike. Basically, it
in the bulk of the radiation coming out Tumble (https://bit.ly/3TdIPKY). They contains a lot of gorgeous photographs
of the other end, thereby significantly launched it as a Kickstarter project, showing the insides of electronic com-
boosting the range of the antenna. and it went gangbusters. This comes ponents. You can download a free PDF
Via the ham network, Zeke acquired with lots of puzzles that I’m sure will of Chapter 1: Passive Components from
two large rotors to control the azimuth keep Alfie busy (I have one here in my the publisher, No Starch Press (https://
and elevation of his antenna (azimuth office and it certainly keeps me occu- bit.ly/3VyHS1i).
defines the direction to face; elevation pied). The second, even more awesome, I LOVE this book. My wife (Gina the
tells you how high up in the sky to look). thing is the latest and greatest offering Gorgeous) tells me that she never knows
Zeke is currently working with some soft- from Paul and Alyssa – a mechanical what to get me for Christmas. Well, safe
ware he picked up from someone on the implementation of electronic compo- to say that Open Circuits is now at the
internet. This software runs on his PC. nents and systems called Spintronics top of my wish list.
You tell it what satellite (including the (https://bit.ly/3s0IoHW). The first pro- I’m afraid that’s all we have time for
ISS) you want to track and if feeds you duction run is currently on the high in this column. As always, I look for-
a constant stream of azimuth and eleva- seas heading our way (they discovered a ward to receiving your captivating com-
tion values. I will keep you updated as problem with the mechanical resistors if ments and insightful questions. Until
to Zeke’s progress in future columns. they were transported via airplane (the next time, have a good one!
What’s it all about?

I’m currently thinking about the 1966 Cool bean Max Maxfield (Hawaiian shirt, on the right) is emperor
British comedy-drama Alfie starring of all he surveys at CliveMaxfield.com – the go-to site for the
Michael Caine as handsome Cockney latest and greatest in technological geekdom.
Alfred Elkins. The title song Alfie was
Comments or questions? Email Max at: [email protected]
sung over the film’s closing credits. I now

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A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO RASPBERRY Pi DISCRETE LINEAR CIRCUIT DESIGN INTRODUCING THE ARDUINO
Mike & Richard Tooley Mike & Richard Tooley Mike & Richard Tooley
Teach-In 6 contains an exciting series of articles that Teach-In 7 is a complete introduction to the design of Hardware: learn about components and circuits
provides a complete introduction to the Raspberry analogue electronic circuits. It is ideal for everyone Programming: powerful integrated development system
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This latest book in our Teach-In series will appeal CD-ROM also contains all the circuit software for Teach-In 8 is an exciting series designed for
to electronics enthusiasts and computer buffs who the course, plus demo CAD software for use with the electronics enthusiasts who want to get to grips with
want to get to grips with the Raspberry Pi. Teach-In series. the inexpensive, popular Arduino microcontroller, as
n Discrete Linear Circuit Design well as coding enthusiasts who want to explore
Teach-In 6 is for anyone searching for ideas to use n Understand linear circuit design
their Pi, or who has an idea for a project but doesn’t n Learn with ‘TINA’ – modern CAD software
hardware and interfacing. It will provide a one-stop
know how to turn it into reality. This book will prove source of ideas and practical information.
n Design simple, but elegant circuits
invaluable for anyone fascinated by the revolutionary n Five projects to build: The Arduino offers a truly effective platform for
Pi. It covers: i) Pre-amp developing a huge variety of projects; from operating
n Pi programming ii) Headphone Amp a set of Christmas tree lights to remotely controlling a
n Pi hardware iii) Tone Control robotic vehicle through wireless or the Internet.
n Pi communications iv) VU-meter Teach-In 8 is based around a series of practical
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n Pi Class
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Level Crossing Controller .................................................. 09108211 6.95 JULY 2021
ATtiny816 Breakout / Dev Board with Capacitive Touch ... 24110181 £9.75
JUNE 2022 IR Remote Control Assistant (Jaycar version) ................... 15005201 £8.95
Full-wave Motor Speed Controller ..................................... 1010221 8.95 IR Remote Control Assistant (Altronics version)................ 15005202 £8.95
PIC Programming Helper for 8-pin PICs only .................... 24106211 7.95 PIC18F Development Board.............................................. PNM-JUL21 £12.95
PIC Programming Helper for 8, 14 or 20-pin PICs ........... 24106212 10.95 Microphone Preamplifier.................................................... AO-JUL21
Advanced GPS Computer ................................................. 05102211 9.95 £11.95
MAY 2022 JUNE 2021

Bus board PCB for Analogue Vocoder .............................. AO1-MAY22 10.95 Roadies’ Test Signal Generator (surface-mount version) .. 01005201 £8.95
Complete set of 14 PCBs for Analogue Vocoder ............... AO2-MAY22 97.95 Roadies’ Test Signal Generator (through-hole version) ..... 01005202 £9.95
Programmed EEPROM for Digital FX Unit ........................ FX1-MAY22 10.95 Touchscreen Wide-range RCL Box (Resistor module) ...... 04104201
£18.95
Programmed PIC for Digital FX Unit using potentiometer....FX2-MAY22 8.95 Touchscreen Wide-range RCL Box (Ind/Cap module) ...... 04104202
KickStart Part 3 – Gyrator-based Audio Filter.................... KS3-2021 £7.95
APRIL 2022
64-key MIDI Matrix shield .................................................. 23101211 8.95 MAY 2021
64-key MIDI Matrix switch board ....................................... 23101212 11.95 7-Band Equaliser (Mono)................................................... 01104201 £8.95
High-current Battery Balancer .......................................... 14102211 10.95 7-Band Equaliser (Stereo) ................................................. 01104202 £10.95
Digital FX Unit – using potentiometer ................................ 01102211 9.95 Car Altimeter ...................................................................... 05105201 £7.95
Digital FX Unit – using BCD switch ................................... 01102212 9.95
Universal Audio PSU ......................................................... AO1-APR22 11.95 APRIL 2021
Reflow Oven – DSP Active Crossover (CPU).................... 01106193
MARCH 2022 Reflow Oven – DSP Active Crossover (Front panel) ......... 01106195 £19.95
Mini Isolated Serial Link..................................................... 24102211 £5.95 Reflow Oven – DSP Active Crossover (LCD) .................... 01106196
Busy Loo Indicator ............................................................. 16112201 £5.95 Frequency Reference Signal Distributor.................................... CSE200103 £8.95
Analogue Vocoder – Band-pass filter board ...................... AO1-MAR22 9.95
Analogue Vocoder – HP/LP filter board ............................. AO2-MAR22 9.95 MARCH 2021
Nutube Guitar Effects Pedal .............................................. 01102201 £12.95
FEBRUARY 2022 Programmable Thermal Regulator (Peltier Interface)........ 21109181
£18.95
Arduino-based Power Supply ............................................ 18106201 9.95 Programmable Thermal Regulator (Peltier Driver) ............ 21109182
Battery Monitor Logger ...................................................... 11106201 10.95 Tunable HF Preamp .......................................................... CSE190502 £8.95
Electronic Wind Chimes .................................................... 23011201 10.95
Analogue Vocoder – Driver Amplifier ................................. AO-FEB22 8.95 FEBRUARY 2021
4G Remote Monitoring ...................................................... 27111191 £9.95
PCBs for most recent PE/EPE constructional projects are available. From the July 2013 issue onwards, PCBs with eight-digit codes
have silk screen overlays and, where applicable, are double-sided, have plated-through holes, and solder mask. They are similar to
photos in the project articles. Earlier PCBs are likely to be more basic and may not include silk screen overlay, be single-sided, lack
plated-through holes and solder mask.
Always check price and availability in the latest issue or online. A large number of older boards are listed for ordering on our website.
In most cases we do not supply kits or components for our projects. For older projects it is important to check the availability
of all components before purchasing PCBs.
Back issues of articles are available – see Back Issues page for details.

Double-sided | plated-through holes | solder mask

JANUARY 2021 FEBRUARY 2020
Nutube Valve Preamplifier ................................................. 01112191 £12.95 Motion-Sensing 12V Power Switch ................................... 05102191 £5.95
Arduino DCC Controller ..................................................... 09207181 £10.95 USB Keyboard / Mouse Adaptor........................................ 24311181 £8.50
DSP Active Crossover (ADC) ............................................ 01106191
DECEMBER 2020 DSP Active Crossover (DAC) ×2 ...................................... 01106192
Pseudo-Random Sequence Generator ............................. 16106191 £7.95 DSP Active Crossover (CPU) ............................................ 01106193 £29.95
Clever Charger .................................................................. 14107191 £11.95 DSP Active Crossover (Power/routing).............................. 01106194
PE Theremin Amplifier ....................................................... AO-1220-01 £8.95 DSP Active Crossover (Front panel).................................. 01106195
NOVEMBER 2020 DSP Active Crossover (LCD)............................................. 01106196
LED Christmas Tree (1 off) ................................................ 16107181-1 £6.95 JANUARY 2020
LED Christmas Tree (4 off) ................................................ 16107181-2 £14.95 Isolated Serial Link ............................................................ 24107181 £8.50
LED Christmas Tree (12 off) .............................................. 16107181-3 £24.95
LED Christmas Tree (20 off) .............................................. 16107181-4 £34.95 DECEMBER 2019
USB/SPI Interface Board ................................................... 16107182 £5.95 Extremely Sensitive Magnetometer ................................... 04101011 £16.75
45V/8A Power Supply PCB plus acrylic spacer ................. 18111181 £14.95 Four-channel High-current DC Fan and Pump Controller ... 05108181 £8.75
45V/8A Power Supply front panel five-way display bezel .. 18111181-BZ £3.95 Useless Box ....................................................................... 08111181 £11.50
Five-way LCD Panel Meter/Display ................................... 18111182 £7.95
NOVEMBER 2019
OCTOBER 2020 Tinnitus & Insomnia Killer (Jaycar case – see text) ........... 01110181 £9.95
Digital Audio Millivoltmeter................................................. 04108191 £9.95 Tinnitus & Insomnia Killer (Altronics case – see text) ........ 01110182 £9.95
Precision Signal Amplifier .................................................. 04107191 £7.95
SEPTEMBER 2020
PE Theremin PSU ............................................................. AO-0920-01 £5.95
PE Theremin PSU transformer .......................................... AO-0920-02 £7.95
Micromite Explore-28......................................................... 07108191 £6.95 For the many pre-2016 PCBs that we stock please see the
Ultrabrite LED Driver ......................................................... 16109191 £6.95
PE website: www.electronpublishing.com
AUGUST 2020
Micromite LCD BackPack V3 ............................................ 07106191
Steering Wheel Audio Button to Infrared Adaptor .............. 05105191
£9.95
£7.95
PE/EPE PCB SERVICE
Order Code Project Quantity Price
JULY 2020
AM/FM/CW Scanning HF/VHF RF Signal Generator ........ 04106191 £13.95 .........................................................
Speech Synthesiser with the Raspberry Pi Zero ............... 01106191 £5.95
PE Mini-organ PCB ........................................................... AO-0720-01 £14.95 .........................................................
PE Mini-organ selected parts ............................................ AO-0720-02 £8.95
High-current Solid-state 12V Battery Isolator – control ..... 05106191 £6.95 .........................................................
High-current Solid-state 12V Battery Isolator FET (2oz) ... 05106192 £9.95
.........................................................
JUNE 2020
Arduino breakout board – 3.5-inch LCD Display ............... 24111181 £6.95 .........................................................
Six-input Audio Selector main board ................................. 01110191
£10.95
Six-input Audio Selector switch panel board ..................... 01110192
Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
MAY 2020 Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Ultra-low-distortion Preamplifier Input Selector ......................... 01111112
£11.25
Ultra-low-distortion Preamplifier pushbutton Input Selector ..... 01111113 .........................................................
Universal Regulator .................................................................... 18103111 £7.95
433MHz Wireless Data Repeater .............................................. 15004191 £8.50 Tel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Bridge-mode Adaptor for Amplifier ............................................. 01105191 £7.95
iCEstick VGA Terminal ................................................................ 02103191 £5.95
Email . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Analogue noise with tilt control ................................................... AO-0520-01 £7.95 I enclose payment of £ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (cheque/PO in £ sterling only)
Audio Spectrum Analyser ........................................................... PM-0520-01 £8.95
payable to: Practical Electronics
APRIL 2020
Flip-dot Display black coil board................................................. 19111181 Card No . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Flip-dot Display black pixels ....................................................... 19111182
£14.95
Flip-dot Display black frame ....................................................... 19111183 Valid From . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Expiry Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Flip-dot Display green driver board ............................................ 19111184
Card Security No . . . . . . . . . .
MARCH 2020
Diode Curve Plotter ........................................................... 04112181 £10.95 You can also order PCBs by phone, email or via the shop
Steam Train Whistle / Diesel Horn Sound Generator ............... 09106181 £8.50 on our website: www.electronpublishing.com
Universal Passive Crossover (one off) ...................................... UPC0320 £12.50
No need to cut your issue – a copy of this form is just as good!
All prices include VAT and UK p&p. Add £4 per project for post to Europe; £5 per project outside Europe.
Orders and payment should be sent to:
Practical Electronics, Electron Publishing Ltd
113 Lynwood Drive, Merley, Wimborne, Dorset BH21 1UU
Tel 01202 880299 Email: [email protected]
On-line Shop: www.epemag.com
Cheques should be made payable to ‘Practical Electronics’ (Payment in £ sterling only).
NOTE: Most boards are in stock and sent within seven days of receipt of order, please allow up to 28 days delivery if we need to restock.

Practical Electronics PCB SERVICE
OCTOBER 2019 APRIL 2018
Programmable GPS-synced Frequency Reference .......... 04107181 £11.50 Spring Reverberation Unit ................................................. 01104171 £13.95
Digital Command Control Programmer for Decoders ........ 09107181 £9.95 DDS Sig Gen Lid ............................................................... Black £5.95
Opto-isolated Mains Relay (main board) ........................... 10107181 DDS Sig Gen Lid ............................................................... Blue £5.95
£11.50
Opto-isolated Mains Relay (2 × terminal extension board)...10107182 DDS Sig Gen Lid ............................................................... Clear £5.95
AUGUST 2019 MARCH 2018

Brainwave Monitor ............................................................. 25108181 £12.90 Stationmaster Main Board ................................................. 09103171 £17.75
Super Digital Sound Effects Module .................................. 01107181 £6.95 + Controller Board .............................................. 09103172
Watchdog Alarm ................................................................ 03107181 £8.00 SC200 Amplifier Module – Power Supply .......................... 01109111 £16.45
PE Theremin (three boards: pitch, volume, VCA) ............. PETX0819 £19.50
PE Theremin component pack (see p.56, August 2019) ... PETY0819 £15.00
JULY 2019 FEBRUARY 2018
Full-wave 10A Universal Motor Speed Controller .............. 10102181 £12.90 GPS-Synchronised Analogue Clock Driver ....................... 04202171 £11.95
Recurring Event Reminder ................................................ 19107181 £8.00 High-Power DC Motor Speed Controller – Part 2
Temperature Switch Mk2 ................................................... 05105181 £10.45 + Control Board ................................................... 11112161 £11.95
+ Power Board .................................................... 11112162 £15.30
JUNE 2019
Arduino-based LC Meter ................................................... 04106181 £8.00 JANUARY 2018
USB Flexitimer................................................................... 19106181 £10.45 High-Power DC Motor Speed Controller – Part 1 .............. 11112161 £15.30
Build the SC200 Amplifier Module ..................................... 01108161 £13.95
MAY 2019
2× 12V Battery Balancer ................................................... 14106181 £5.95 DECEMBER 2017
Deluxe Frequency Switch .................................................. 05104181 £10.45 Precision Voltage and Current Reference – Part 2............ 04110161 £14.95
USB Port Protector ............................................................ 07105181 £5.95
NOVEMBER 2017
APRIL 2019 50A Battery Charger Controller ......................................... 11111161 £12.95
Heater Controller ............................................................... 10104181 £14.00 Micropower LED Flasher (45 × 47mm) ......................... 16109161 £7.95
(36 × 13mm) ......................... 16109162 £5.95
Phono Input Converter ...................................................... 01111161 £7.9
MARCH 2019
10-LED Bargraph Main Board ........................................... 04101181 £11.25 SEPTEMBER 2017
+Processing Board ............................................. 04101182 £8.60 Compact 8-Digit Frequency Meter..................................... 04105161 £12.95
FEBRUARY 2019 AUGUST 2017

1.5kW Induction Motor Speed Controller........................... 10105122 £24.95 Micromite-Based Touch-screen Boat Computer GPS ....... 07102122 £10.45
Fridge/Freezer Alarm ......................................................... 03104161 £7.95
NOVEMBER 2018
Super-7 AM Radio Receiver .............................................. 06111171 £15.95 JULY 2017
Micromite-Based Super Clock ........................................... 07102122 £10.45
Brownout Protector for Induction Motors ........................... 10107161 £12.90
OCTOBER 2018
6GHz+ Touchscreen Frequency Counter .......................... 04110171 £12.95 JUNE 2017
Two 230VAC MainsTimers ................................................ 10108161 Ultrasonic Garage Parking Assistant ................................. 07102122 £10.45
£11.95
10108162 Hotel Safe Alarm................................................................ 03106161 £7.95
SEPTEMBER 2018 100dB Stereo LED Audio Level/VU Meter ......................... 01104161 £17.75
3-Way Active Crossover .................................................... 01108171 £17.95
Ultra-low-voltage Mini LED Flasher ................................... 16110161 £5.95 MAY 2017
The Micromite LCD BackPack........................................... 07102122 £7.95
AUGUST 2018 Precision 230V/115V 50/60Hz Turntable Driver ................ 04104161 £13.95
Universal Temperature Alarm ............................................ 03105161 £7.95
Power Supply For Battery-Operated Valve Radios ........... 18108171 APRIL 2017
18108172 £24.95 Microwave Leakage Detector ............................................ 04103161 £7.95
18108173 Arduino Multifunctional 24-bit Measuring Shield ............... 04116011 £12.95
18108174 + RF Head Board ................................................ 04116012
JULY 2018 Battery Pack Cell Balancer ................................................ 11111151 £8.95
Touchscreen Appliance Energy Meter – Part 1 ................. 04116061 £14.95
Automotive Sensor Modifier .............................................. 05111161 £12.95 MARCH 2017
Speech Timer for Contests & Debates .............................. 19111151 £13.45
JUNE 2018
High Performance 10-Octave Stereo Graphic Equaliser ... 01105171 £14.95 FEBRUARY 2017
Solar MPPT Charger/Lighting Controller ........................... 16101161 £14.95
MAY 2018 Turntable LED Strobe ........................................................ 04101161 £7.95
High Performance RF Prescaler........................................ 04112162 £10.45
Micromite BackPack V2..................................................... 07104171 £8.45 JANUARY 2017
Microbridge ........................................................................ 24104171 £5.95 High-performance Stereo Valve Preamplifier .................... 01101161 £17.75
High Visibility 6-Digit LED Clock ........................................ 19110151 £13.95

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Suppliers of Electronic Components We help people working in the
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Circuits Electric Machinery Mechatronics
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contact me: [email protected] Email: [email protected]
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PIC DEVELOPMENT KITS, DTMF kits

and modules, CTCSS Encoder and
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Visit www.cstech.co.uk
ADVERTISING INDEX
CRICKLEWOOD ELECTRONICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Advertisement offices
ESR ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Matt Pulzer
HAMMOND ELECTRONICS Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
iTP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover (iv)
Electron Publishing Ltd
JPG ELECTRONICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
1 Buckingham Road
MICROCHIP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover (ii)
Brighton
PEAK ELECTRONIC DESIGN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 East Sussex BN1 3RA
QUASAR ELECTRONICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Tel 07973 518682
SILICON CHIP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Email [email protected]
STEWART OF READING. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
TAG-CONNECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Web www.electronpublishing.com
TERRINGTON COMPONENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
For editorial contact details see page 7.

Next Month – in the January issue
Multi-Channel Speaker Protector
If you’re driving a lot of speakers, you will need a matching compact speaker
protector to prevent driver destruction, should something go wrong! Our
Speaker Protector, when combined with our Hummingbird Amplifier module,
is excellent when driving stereo loudspeakers with an active crossover or for
surround sound systems.
Geekcreit’s 35MHz-4.4GHz Signal Generator
This self-contained module is based on the Analog Devices ADF4351
wideband digital synthesiser chip. It has an onboard microcontroller
unit, OLED display and pushbuttons to set the desired frequency
and adjust the output level. All it needs is a 5V DC power supply.
Classic LED Metronomes
Next month, we have two Metronome designs that simulate
the classic mechanical, inverted-pendulum metronome with its
baton-like pointer swinging left-and-right, producing a click at
each extreme. Both designs use only discrete components and
simple logic chips, making them easy to understand and build.
Remote Control Range Extender
Convert an IR remote to use UHF instead, and it will work at much
longer ranges. It will even work when something is between the remote
and the device, regardless of where the remote is pointed!
PLUS!
All your favourite regular columns from Audio Out, Cool Beans and Circuit
Surgery, to Make it with Micromite, Techno Talk and Net Work. On sale 1 December 2022
Content may be subject to change
Welcome to JPG Electronics NEW subscriptions hotline!

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innovative Technology Projects
OSCILLOSCOPES
Handyscope HS5 Key specifications
8, 12, 14, 16 bit resolution, 0.25 % DC
vertical accuracy, 0.1 % typical
Up to 500 MSa/s sampling, up to 250
MHz bandwidth
Up to 32 Mpts memory per channel
20 MSa/s, 14 bit continuous streaming
1 ppm time base accuracy
Arbitrary Waveform Generator
Handyscope HS5*
The 500 MSa/s 14 bit dual channel High
Resolution Oscilloscope with function generator.
Using a computer based oscilloscope was

never easier than with the WiFiScope WS6
DIFF: simply switch it on and start the
software on the computer:
no power cables required as it is battery
powered and can operate hours on a
fully charged battery
no interface cables required as it uses
WiFiScope WS6 DIFF*
WiFi to connect to the computer
The 1 GSa/s 14 bit quad differential channel
High Resolution WiFi Oscilloscope.
Automotive Test Scope ATS605004D-XMS

Key specifications
14 bit (0.006 %) resolution (16 bit
enhanced resolution)
Up to 500 MSa/s sampling
250 MHz bandwidth
Up to 100 MSa/s continuous streaming
Up to 256 Mpoints memory per channel
0.25 % DC vertical accuracy, 0.1 % Automotive Test Scope
typical
1 ppm time base accuracy ATS605004D-XMS*
This is just a small selection of Oscilloscopes, see www.itp101.com

for more details and products
*Prices vary depending on model and specification
27 Stephenson Road, St. Ives, Cambridgeshire, PE27 3WJ, UK

www.itp101.com [email protected] +44 (0)1480 700158

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Practical

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Practical Electronics | December | 2022 1

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From virtual reality to virtue signalling

10 Practical Electronics | December | 2022

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16 Practical Electronics | December | 2022

Image Source: https://pixabay.com/photos/hummingbird-bird-flight-wings-2139279/ By Phil Prosser

Practical Electronics | December | 2022 17

18 Practical Electronics | December | 2022

Practical Electronics | December | 2022 19

Between Q2 and Q14, we have

Output Device Conduction

be about 130W. Q9’s base-emitter volt- N PN NPN

Fig.8: four common amplifier classes;

Output Device Conduction

three classes use complementary NPN NPN

20 Practical Electronics | December | 2022

Practical Electronics | December | 2022 21

Table 1 – alternative output transistors

22 Practical Electronics | December | 2022

Fig.12: we deliberately overdrove the amplifier by ►

Table 2 – alternative driver transistors

Practical Electronics | December | 2022 23

24 Practical Electronics | December | 2022