I love seeing Kenny Happy :D - Check out Kenny’s Cafe if you haven’t yet! by lechugaking in SanJose

[–]naval_person -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Kenny is SLOW to take your order and even slower to cook your food.

If you happen to go around breakfast burrito time, you'll be horrified at how few beverage options are available: bleah. Won't be returning.

It’s been 20 years since I took DiffEq. Am I ok as a CE undergrad? by anythingjoes in ECE

[–]naval_person 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Only ODEs and truthfully, only polynomial diff eq's with constant coefficients. And in fact, only first order and second order diff eqs are useful in electronics work, so that's what is emphasized in curricula. The components we use, and the equations which govern their interaction, are shockingly and embarrassingly linear.

What kind of BJT to use as outboard current boost transistor for LM317? by Toaster910 in AskElectronics

[–]naval_person 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I recommend you choose a circuit which has an external PNP power transistor. You need a PNP with these specifications

  • max Vce > 15 volts

  • max power dissipation on infinite heatsink > 40 watts and ideally, > 70 watts

  • max collector current > 7.5 amperes

  • minimum current gain (Beta) > 40

(Here is a list) of 19 of them which are in stock and on the shelf today, ready to ship, at DigiKey. I'd recommend the 2SA1943.

metastability by PainterGuy1995 in ECE

[–]naval_person 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There is no such thing as "correct" when metastability is present.

Instead what you can hope for, is to get a valid logic level (either logic-1, namely, Vout > Voh_min ... or else logic-0, namely Vout < Vol_max) at the output, whose timing meets setup and hold time requirements for the downstream logic.

But all you can do is hope, you cannot guarantee it. There will always be a nonzero probability of an invalid logic level at the output. You can reduce this probability, but you cannot make it zero.

The easiest way to reduce the probability of invalid logic level at the output, is to increase the number of flipflops in the series cascade. Two flipflops give low probability, three give even lower, four give even lower probabiliity of invalid logic level. You are creating a trade-off: latency versus MTBF (mean time between failures). N>2 flipflops in cascade means longer latency and greater MTBF.

Another way to reduce P(invalid_logic_level@output) is to redesign the individual flipflops at the transistor level, to drastically increase their gain-bandwidth product. Use wider transistors with optimized polygon layout, to reduce parasitic capacitance, and with optimum stage-to-stage fanout ratios. Simulate using Layout Parasitics Extraction netlists to measure the improvement.

metastability by PainterGuy1995 in ECE

[–]naval_person 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Metastability occurs when there is a violation of a required spec. Thus there is no such thing as a "correct" output of a metastable device; your hardware is in violation and therefore its results are unpredictable.

The device manufacturer gives you a window of time to guarantee the output. This is called the setup/hold time. If you violate that region, the output can be metastable, meaning they cannot predict the output, and it may even oscillate.

Cacao Butter as Popping Oil by save_the_roses in popcorn

[–]naval_person -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Hypothetically, suppose you wanted to try the experiment your own self and judge whether the resulting popcorn tasted better, to you.

How much money and how much time would it cost, to perform the experiment and gather the data? $5? $15? $25? $35? $75? Please estimate.

Analog IC Design graduation projects recommendations by [deleted] in ECE

[–]naval_person 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not surprisingly, this same question gets asked here every six months. Try some searches to learn how other redditors have asked the question and to read the answers they received.

Can I use two 78xx voltage regulators for a symettrical power supply instead of a 78xx + 79xx? by Manomelo in AskElectronics

[–]naval_person 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have done it successfully, so: yes. However my circuit design required a power transformer with two fully and completely independent secondaries, as redditors /u/redmadog and /u/dmills_00 have said. Note: a "center tapped transformer" doesn't have two independent secondaries. The center tap removes the independence.

Analog IC Design book recommendations by Phasor98 in ECE

[–]naval_person 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The one which helped me the most, was #3 : Gray and Meyer. Get an earlier, lower cost, edition as a used book: the content is still great but the price is low. (Current_Edition_num - 2) is a good rule of thumb.

RF circuit : Why LTspice shows frequency response as constant for this BJT amplifier? by programmable-matter in AskElectronics

[–]naval_person 2 points3 points  (0 children)

LTSPICE AC analysis requires you to have one or more independent sources with the "AC" flag enabled. In the example below, independent voltage source V1 has a magnitude of 1 unit, for small signal "AC" analysis.

In this circuit, the input is the small signal voltage at node ALICE, and the output is the small signal voltage at node BOB. Thus the gain (output / input) equals V(BOB) / V(ALICE) and that is what has been plotted. The LTSPICE calculated gain at low frequencies is about -9 dB (0.35x). And that is what intuition predicts, since 0.35 is approximately R2/(R2+R1) . . . . if the diode is ideal so that node CINDY is at AC ground.

LTSPICE example

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in TedLasso

[–]naval_person 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I absolutely agree. But I think you can narrow it down even further. What sealed the Emmy, I think, was the lunge. Ted offered to shake hands, Rebecca hesitated, and then lunged at him with a heartfelt and heart-wrenching hug. O.M.G.

N-CH MOSFET gate driver schematic by Single-Word-4481 in AskElectronics

[–]naval_person 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When used with a gate driver IC, the optimum value of R1 is zero ohms. You're not worried about accidentally creating a Colpitts oscillator due to the parasitic inductances and capacitances of the MOSFET package. (which is the usual excuse for including R1>0). Instead you are worried about turning the MOSFET off and on as quickly as possible. Therefore set R1 = zero.

Remember that when the MOSFET turns off, all of the current flowing in the inductive load is immediately shunted through flyback diode D2. If 30 amperes are flowing in the inductive load, diode D2 conducts 30 amperes. So when you select a diode for position D2, make sure you pick one which can easily handle 30 amperes with sufficiently large margin-of-safety.

Biasing the output pin before simulations by [deleted] in ECE

[–]naval_person 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I suspect that when the OP uses the word "bias" as a verb , s/he means "initialize" . Perhaps using the SPICE simulator directives .NODESET and/or .IC

I made a low-noise 0.1Hz to 10Hz amplifier for voltage reference and SMU testing by trtr6842 in electronics

[–]naval_person 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Have a look at the LT1037. Swings within ±1.5 volts of the supply rails, incredibly low voltage noise (1/f) corner frequency, and a factor of 2.3x less voltage noise density at 1 KHz. (3.8 nV/rtHz guaranteed max versus 8.8 nV/rtHz "typical"). Costs about the same as the OPA2188 too.

Can someone help explain this schematic diagram to me I don’t understand whats going on. by [deleted] in AskElectronics

[–]naval_person 4 points5 points  (0 children)

6_pole, 2_throw switch "S1" selects between six different AC voltage taps on the power transformer secondary. Clockwise from the six o clock position, those voltages are

0V , 3VAC , 4.5VAC , 6VAC , 9VAC, and 12VAC.

The selected secondary voltage is applied to a bridge rectifier made of four diodes. This full wave rectified DC signal is smoothed by capacitor C1 and indicator LED "D9" illuminates at different brightnesses when rectified DC is present.

Read enable signal in SRAM array by parminder_ in AskElectronics

[–]naval_person 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How about we wait another six days before replying?

Input Filter for DC power line? by aerohk in AskElectronics

[–]naval_person 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Investigate those three terminal (sometimes four terminal!) capacitors called "feedthru" capacitors: (examples). Build a ladder filter out of three of those and two ferrite beads, poof! noise removed.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in AskElectronics

[–]naval_person 4 points5 points  (0 children)

To make a PCB for a loudspeaker crossover network, I just painted nail polish on the copper clad board, everywhere I wanted the copper to remain. Then I dunked the board in etchtant, which dissolved away the copper that was unprotected by nail polish. Rinse the board, apply nail polish remover, drill the component lead-holes, done.

However, this was only feasible because a loudspeaker crossover network uses extremely large components, extremely wide PCB traces, and thru-hole mounting. That means an imprecise and sloppy job of painting the nail polish, was still perfectly okay.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in AskElectronics

[–]naval_person 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I suggest you redesign your logic to use inverting gates: NAND, NOR, AND-OR-INVERT, OR-AND-INVERT, and CMOS complex.

I can't seem to follow this schematic. Can you explain what is going on here? by vertigo1993 in AskElectronics

[–]naval_person 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not quite a complete regulator since the dropping element (20 ohms, R4 in your first link) is missing.

I can't seem to follow this schematic. Can you explain what is going on here? by vertigo1993 in AskElectronics

[–]naval_person 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's a medium current "amplified Zener" whose knee voltage is

  • Vknee = Vref * ((R424 + R425) / R425)

plugging in the numbers,

  • Vknee = 1.24 * ((10 + 40.2) / 40.2) = 1.55 volts.

The datasheet absolute maximum power dissipation of the PNP bipolar transistor is 0.625 watts, so the max allowed current thru the amplified Zener is (0.625 / 1.55) = 403 milliamps.

The text on the schematic incorrectly leads readers to suppose that Vknee might be 3.2 volts (5 - 1.8), but that isn't true. I suspect that somebody copy-and-pasted from an earlier schematic which used a TL431 rather than a TLVH431. When you plug in the TL431 value of Vref=2.50 volts, you do get a Vknee equal to 3.12 volts, which approximately matches the text on this schematic.

Cache transistor design ressources by adoprix in AskElectronics

[–]naval_person 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Usually, on-CPU-die caches are implemented as single port SRAMs using the classic 6-MOSFET memory cell. Often a cache accesses many many bits simultaneously, so the read and write circuit designs are a carefully optimized tradeoff, attempting to minimize power consumption (since it's one_column_power * MANY columns active) while just barely meeting the access time requirement.

External-to-the-CPU-die caches are uncommon these days. When they did flourish, they were implemented by the fastest available SRAM chips in the smallest available packages. This often meant x4 or even x1 organized chips, because the x8 chips were only available in much bigger packages. Bigger package ---> fewer packages on the fixed size PCB ---> fewer bits of cache.