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Category Archives: PIC Projects

Digital logic probe for troubleshooting TTL and CMOS circuits

Posted on April 19, 2012 by R-B 6 comments

A logic probe is considered as a stethoscope for engineers and technicians for debugging digital logic circuits that consists of logic gates, memories, registers, etc. A digital multimeter (DVM) can also be used for such analytical purposes but it gives you the numeric value of the voltage at a point instead of the logic state. Depending on whether the circuit is based on TTL or CMOS components, the voltage levels for logic 0 and 1 could be different for each family. DVM users, thus, have to calculate logic levels from the measured voltages, which consumes time and delays the troubleshooting procedure.

Making a digital capacitance meter using microcontroller

Posted on March 25, 2012 by R-B 42 comments

Capacitors are one of the most common passive electrical components that are extensively used in all kinds of electronic circuits. In this project, we will discuss a technique of building a digital capacitance meter using a PIC microcontroller. This project can measure capacitance values from 1 nF to 99 ?F, with a resolution of 1 nF. The technique is based on measuring the time elapsed when a capacitor is charged to a known voltage through a series resistor. The microcontroller used in this project is PIC16F628A.

A brief overview of Allegro ACS712 current sensor (Part 1)

Posted on January 25, 2012 by R-B 18 comments

Sensing and controlling current flow is a fundamental requirement in a wide variety of applications including, over-current protection circuits, battery chargers, switching mode power supplies, digital watt meters, programmable current sources, etc. One of the simplest techniques of sensing current is to place a small value resistance (also known as Shunt resistor) in between the load and the ground and measure the voltage drop across it, which in fact, is proportional to the current flowing through it. Whereas this technique is easy and straightforward to implement, it may not be very precise because the value of the shunt resistor slightly

Measurement of temperature and relative humidity using DHT11 sensor and PIC microcontroller

Posted on January 10, 2012 by R-B 140 comments

Measurement and control of temperature and relative humidity finds applications in numerous areas. These days devices are available which have both temperature and humidity sensors with signal conditioning, ADC, calibration and communication interface all built inside them. The use of such smart sensors greatly simplify the design and reduces the overall cost. We discussed in past about Humidity and temperature measurements with Sensirion’s SHT1x/SHT7x sensors. These sensors are capable of measuring both temperature and relative humidity and provide fully calibrated digital outputs. While SHT1x/SHT7x are very accurate sensors, they are still expensive for hobbyists use. This articles discusses the DHT11 sensor

Breadboard module for 18-pin PIC16F microcontrollers (PCB version)

Posted on December 25, 2011 by R-B 5 comments

Because of their compact size, ease of use and many built-in peripherals, the 18-pin PIC16F series processors (PIC16F628A, PIC16F88, and now PIC16F1827/47) have always been my favorite microcontrollers. Many of my projects and tutorials written in this blog also use PIC16F628A and PIC16F1827 microcontrollers. As I will be using them more in the future too, I thought of making some PCB versions of my breadboard module for PIC16F628A with some modifications. I used Iteadstudio’s PCB prototyping service for this, and I would say the PCBs turned out really well for the price I paid. I used their 2 layer 5cm x 5cm

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