LambdaFox

A voltage divider is a circuit that scales ("divides") an input voltage. A voltage divider can be made of resistors, but can also be made from capacitors and inductors in AC circuits. Voltage dividers are lossy, passive circuits which cannot add gain to a circuit. This means that a voltage divider will never produce a voltage higher than its input. In this article the non-idealities of a voltage divider circuit are discussed along with the mathematical formulas to aid in calculations. Additionally, a python utility for ratio determination is shown to assist in expediting designs. [Read More]

The Wheatstone bridge is a configuration of components, typically but not always resistors, that can be used to minimize disturbances from environmental conditions. These conditions include power supply variation, noise, and component tolerances. Wheatstone bridges are used in many instrumentation systems including force (strain gauge applications), pressure, temperature, and LCR meters to name a few.In this article a mathematical analysis is performed showing the performance improvements of a Wheatstone bridge architecture for resistive elements in comparison to a voltage divider. A Wheatstone bridge is used to convert a changing resistance into a differential voltage. This differential voltage can then be... [Read More]

Schmitt triggers are a circuit building block frequently used to add a level of noise immunity to a circuit. They are used in many applications from hardware button de-bouncing, signal conditioning, to oscillator circuits to name a few. Schmitt triggers work by adding hysteresis to an input signal such that it takes an additional threshold to change states. Hysteresis is added by providing feedback from the output back to the input. Once a state change is triggered the signal causing the state change must drop below the threshold point to trigger a reverse state change.In this article a mathematical analysis... [Read More]

The Ohaus Scout SPX is a portable electronic balance that has a peripheral interface connector. This connection supports many different proprietary peripherals such as printers, displays, ethernet, Bluetooth, and so on. Each of these peripherals use this same 6-position mini DIN connector. This article will discuss how this interface works and how to enable the serial port capability for just a few dollars worth of materials. [Read More]

In this article we explore some high level concept of a series topology linear voltage regulator with some SPICE simulations and mathematical analysis. [Read More]

In this article we explore the fundamentals of the Decibel units and how to derive them using only power and resistance. We then provide an example of how these calculations appear in the time domain such as on an oscilloscope. [Read More]

The Fluke 376FC is a Bluetooth wireless AC/DC clamp meter which communicates over the BLE protocol using a proprietary mobile application interface. As of writing this article there is no known desktop application or API for interfacing to this unit. Therefore the goal is to produce a working interface which connects to the unit and allows a user to interface to the device remotely from a PC. [Read More]

In this article we discuss the design of a Form-A reed relay based multiplexer for test and measurement applications. [Read More]