of the output lines of a '508A microcontroller can deliver a maximum of 25mA.
What does this mean?
It means any device connected to the line must take 25mA or less.
If it takes more than 25mA a buffer transistor (also called an amplifying transistor) must be used and this will be discussed in a moment.
However, if it operates on less than 5v, and requires less than 25mA, a current-limiting resistor must be included.
A typical device that requires less than 5v and draws less than 25mA is an
A LED must be supplied with an exact voltage for it to operate correctly. Because
it requires LESS than 5v, a dropper resistor (current limiting resistor) must be included in series to "take-up" or
"absorb" or "interface" the LED to the output line. Working out the value of the
current-limiting resistor requires some mathematics but this is very easy when you know how.
VALUE OF THE LOAD RESISTOR
current taken by a device is called the LOAD CURRENT. Twenty-five milli-amp is not very much in electrical terms but in electronic
terms, it is amazing what can be driven. 25mA
is 0.025Amp and this is not sufficient to drive a motor or globe but there are a number of devices that can be driven.
1. LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) require up to about 25mA for full illumination.
diaphragms require very little current and can be driven directly from an output line.
Low-current relays can be driven directly provided they operate at 25mA and 5v. If more than 25mA is required, a driver transistor
(also called a buffer transistor or buffer stage)
will be needed. The
specification for an output line is 25mA @ 5v. In other words the output line has an output voltage of 5v and the maximum current that can be
delivered by it is 25mA.The
output line will, in theory, deliver more than 25mA but the
transistor (in the chip) delivering the current may be damaged (overheated) if a higher current flows. The
current delivered by the output line is determined by the resistance of the device (or devices), connected to the line.
simplest device is a resistor as shown in fig: 1.
the resistance of the resistor is too low, more than 25mA will flow. If the resistance is high, less than 25mA will flow. The
current flow is not determined by the chip but by the value of the resistor. The
resistor is called the LOAD RESISTOR or simply the LOAD.
resistance of the load resistor is worked out using Ohm's Law. We
know the voltage on the output line is 5v. This is V in the
formula. The max current available is 0.025A = I in the formula. Ohms
Law states: I = V/R (Current equals volts divided by
This equation can be
R = V/I
two values into the equation produces:
= 200ohms. A
200 ohm resistor connected to an output line will allow 25mA to flow when the output is HIGH. This
is only a theoretical explanation as a resistor on an output line will not perform any function! It won't
do anything by itself except get slightly hot. But a resistor will perform more than 20 different functions,
depending on where it is placed in a circuit and the value of the components around it. In
our first example below, a resistor is added in series with a LED so that the LED will take a maximum of 25mA. The
purpose of the resistor is two-fold. Firstly it allows the LED to create a characteristic voltage across it of 1.7v
(for a red LED) and secondly it has a value so that 25mA flows through the LED. The
resistor will have 5v on one end and 1.7v on the other. These voltage are provided by the chip and the LED and the resistor has nothing to do with creating them.
The resistor simply allows a
certain amount of current to flow, depending on its value, (25mA) and that's the value worked out above.
point to note: The '508 has 5 output lines and if all the outputs are delivering 25mA, the total output for the chip will be 125mA. This is slightly
above the allowable maximum current of 100mA for the chip but will not be a problem.
go to a practical situation:
CONNECTING A LED
a LED is connected to one of the outputs as shown in fig: 2, a voltage is dropped across it according to the colour of the LED.
This is called the CHARACTERISTIC voltage or the characteristic voltage
drop of the LED. This voltage is content, no matter how bright the LED is illuminated. This is completely different to the
characteristics of a globe and that's why LEDs and globes must be treated
differently when working out their operating requirements.
a red LED the "characteristic voltage" is 1.7v.
an orange LED the "characteristic voltage" is 1.9v.
a green LED the "characteristic voltage" is 2.1v.
cannot be connected directly to the output of a drive-line without a voltage-dropping resistor. The reason is very technical but
basically a red LED, for example, does not turn on at all until exactly 1.7v
is placed across it and if the voltage tries to rise above 1.7v, the LED will glow brighter, allow a very high current to flow and will be damaged when the current
flow is greater than
is virtually impossible to provide a constant 1.7v and the simplest way to prevent damaging the LED is to connect a resistor in series. If the value of the resistance
is worked out
via a formula (we will
give in a moment), an accurate current can be delivered to the LED and everything will be ok. The LED will last 100 years or more!
we want to deliver 25mA to a LED.
we take a red LED, the value of resistance can be worked out by Ohms law. The voltage across the resistor is determined by:
- 1.7v = 3.3v (The voltage across the LED is the 5v supply
voltage minus the 1.7v dropped across the LED due to the characteristic
voltage drop mentioned above).<N>This is the value for V.
0.025 = 3.3/R
= 132 Use 130 ohm resistor.
orange LED has a higher characteristic voltage of 1.9v and thus a lower value dropper-resistor will be required for 25mA. Use 120R.
a green LED, use 100R. High-bright
LEDs are available in all colours and although they are rated at 25mA, they will produce very good brightness at 5mA to
For battery operated projects, LED
current can be reduced to as low as 1mA, and this will increase the life of the battery enormously.
Table 1 gives the value for the
dropper resistor for a red LED at different currents. Check the brightness of the LED you are using before selecting a dropper resistor as some LEDs are much better
than others and give a higher brightness at very low current.
|Dropper resistor for a red LED:
Dropper resistor values
CONNECTING A PIEZO DIAPHRAGM
A piezo diaphragm is
essentially very similar to a capacitor (approx22n) as far as the micro is concerned. It requires very little current
to operate the device.
diaphragm is a passive device. It does not contain any active components to create the tone.
buzzers, piezo sounders and piezo sirens have active components inside the housing (transistors, choke, etc) to create a very loud
sound. These devices operate from a DC supply (6v to 12v).
piezo diaphragm requires a sine wave or square wave - in other words
a "pulsing" waveform to cause the diaphragm to "dish"
(bend) and thus produce the characteristic annoying sound. The amplitude of the waveform
determines the loudness of the sound and the frequency of the waveform
determines the tone.
"10 Tricks for the '508A" for more details on driving a piezo.
HIGH CURRENT LOADS
Loads requiring more than
25mA must be connected to an output of the '508A via a buffer (driver) transistor. A buffer transistor is actually
a current amplifier. You will see what we mean in a moment.
a load requires say 100mA, a low-current buffer transistor will be required.
If a load requires
500mA to 1A, a medium-current transistor will be required. For currents above 1A, a high-current transistor will be
be grouped into low, medium and high current devices. For 100mA, a low-current type such as BC 547 or BC 338 will be suitable.
If we assume the transistor has a
current-gain of 100, 1mA will be needed by the base for the transistor to deliver 100mA.
don't get something for nothing. For a transistor to be able to DELIVER a current to a LOAD, it requires a current to be DELIVERED
to it - to the base. That's why a transistor is called a current
transistor is driving a globe, the start-up current for the filament of the globe is about 6 times the illuminating current and
thus the transistor should be capable of delivering 600mA.
deliver 600mA, the base must be supplied with at least 6mA. To deliver this current into the base, the value of the base-resistor
can be worked out as follows:
voltage across the base resistor will be: 5v (the output of the '508) minus the base-emitter voltage of the driver transistor (0.7v)
= 5 - 0.7 = 4.3v
= 700 ohms.
Use 680 ohms.
is the maximum value of resistance you should use. (Remember: as the value of a resistor gets higher, LESS current will flow through
it.)scenario, the current required by the
base to fully saturate (turn-on) the transistor will be 5,000/20 =
In theory a 680R resistor
will fully saturate the transistor and provide 600mA to turn on the globe. But suppose the transistor does not have
a gain of 100. It may only have a gain of 80 when delivering a high current. In this case the full 600mA will not flow and under the worst
conditions the lamp will not illuminate.
account for this possibility, the base resistor can be reduced so that a slightly higher current will flow into the transistor. In
this way you are guaranteeing the transistor will be saturated, just
in case the gain is not 100. It's nice to add a margin of guarantee and thus a resistor as low as 470R can be used.
resistor as low as 470 ohm will not damage the transistor and will not make the globe glow "too bright." It's simply a value to
make sure the transistor turns on fully under the worst conditions. If
the transistor does not turn on fully, it will get hotter than normal and the globe will be dull. This can overheat the transistor and cause
damage - that's why it's important to fully turn it on.
high start-up current is one of the hidden problems with driving globes and is generally not encountered until a high current globe
is employed or a number of globes are driven at the same time. As
you can see, current is required from the output of the '508A to drive the transistor and if high current loads are driven, very soon
the 25mA from the '508A will be used up!
you require to drive a 12v 1amp car lamp. A high-power driver transistor will be required as the start-up current will be about
have a current-gain of only about 20 to 50 and if you use the worst-case
Obviously this is above
the output capability of the '508. So you have to carry out some calculations before connecting high-current
The answer is to add an
extra amplifying transistor between the chip and the power transistor as shown in fig: 3. This transistor is
called a buffer transistor and effectively amplifies the capability of the
chip by a factor of about 100. If the output transistor (the power transistor) requires a current of 250mA into its base, the buffer
transistor will deliver this current and require 250/100 = 2.5mA from
the microprocessor. The 2.5mA can easily be supplied by the micro and we are back in business.
driver and output transistor can come in two different arrangements.
Fig: 3 shows two individual transistors or a single Darlington transistor
as shown in fig: 4.
end-result is exactly the same. The only difference is the number of components required and board space needed.
fig: 3, when the output of the micro is LOW, the PNP buffer transistor is turned on. This delivers current to the base of the output transistor
via a 22R resistor. We have determined the base current must be 250mA to reliably turn on the 12v 1amp lamp. This current must flow through
the 18R resistor and the wattage dissipated by this resistor will be surprising! It needs to be 1watt! This is wasted current as it
does not perform any function and the 250mA will put a heavy load on the 5v supply. The solution is to put a Darlington transistor in
the output as shown in fig: 4.
Darlington transistor is two transistors in the one case and it looks like a normal transistor with three leads. A typical Darlington
transistor can have a gain of 2,500 and if the lamp requires 6 amp at turn-on, the current required into the base will be 2.5mA. The
1k separating resistor will deliver about 3.5mA, remembering there is a 1.2v volt drop between base and negative rail for the Darlington
But the biggest
advantage of the Darlington design is the absence of the 18 ohm resistor. This will remove the heavy demand on the 5v
supply. A suitable Darlington transistor for up to 4 Amp load
BD 679. The pin-out for a BD 679 is shown in fig: 5.
loads are required to be driven, a TRIAC can be used as shown in fig: 6.
TRIAC is especially suited to driving AC loads as it will conduct in either direction and can be turned on part-way through a cycle
(each half-cycle) to provide dimming for lamps or speed control for
TRIACs are available in
"sensitive gate" versions requiring low current on the gate. This is ideal for the '508 micro.
require the least GATE TRIGGER CURRENT when the gate current is negative.
the chapter "DRIVING TRIACS" for more details.
No. This circuit will not work
because the PNP transistor is connected to the 12v rail
and the '508A micro operates on a 5v rail.
When the output of the '508A is HIGH, it will be at 5v.
The emitter of the buffer transistor is at 12v and thus
the base-emitter voltage will always keep the transistor
turned ON. This is one of the traps when designing a
Prepared by Colin Mitchell 1 - 1 - 2001