Author Archives: R-B

nrf24l01+ RF module and ATtiny85

Ralph Doncaster writes,

Nrf24l01+ modules are a cheap and low-power option for MCU wireless communication. Libraries are available for Arduino, and for arduino compatible MCUs like the ATTiny85. Controlling the nrf modules usually requires power plus 5 pins – CE, CSN, SCK, MOSI, & MISO. With pin-limited MCUs like the ATtiny85, 5 pins is a lot to tie up. On something like the Digispark, with PB3 and PB4 hard-wired to USB+ and USB-, using the nrf24l01+ modules might seem impossible. Another issue is that although the nrf inputs are 5v tolerant, Vcc must be between 1.9 and 3.6V. I’ve designed a simple solution to provide 3V power as well as control the modules with just 3 of the pins on the ATtiny85.

Controlling Nrf24l01+ RF module with 3 I/O pins

Controlling Nrf24l01+ RF module with 3 I/O pins

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This serial LCD module gets power and data through one wire

I found this interesting post on EDN by  about driving an HD44780-based LCD module serially through one wire. It receives the display data as well as power supply through the same single wire connected to the UART TX pin of the host microcontroller. The LCD module itself uses a PIC12F508 microcontroller that receives the serial data from the host MCU and transfers it to the LCD in 4-bit mode. The clever trick in this design is during idle condition, the UART TX output from the host MCU remains high, which is used to supply power to the PIC12F508 MCU and the LCD. During the data transmission, a simple capacitor and diode circuit is used to continue providing the stable DC power to the LCD and PIC MCU.

1-wire serial LCD

1-wire serial LCD

Microchip introduces a new Power Monitoring IC With High-Accuracy Signal Acquisition

Microchip Technology Inc., a leading provider of microcontroller, mixed-signal, analog and Flash-IP solutions, today announced a new power monitoring IC, the MCP39F501.  This device is a highly integrated, single-phase power-monitoring IC designed for real-time measurement of AC power.  It includes two 24-bit delta-sigma ADCs, a 16-bit calculation engine, EEPROM and a flexible two-wire interface.  An integrated low-drift voltage reference in addition to 94.5 dB of SINAD performance on each measurement channel allows accurate designs with just 0.1 % error across a 4000:1 dynamic range.

 

Power monitoring chip

Power monitoring chip

 

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