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  • Author Author: baldengineer
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Final Countdown - ADC from scratch demo video

baldengineer

 

In this video, I demonstrate how the visualized ADC (vADC) works. For the final version of the project, I put all of the analog electronics onto perma-protoboards. I really like working with these because they make converting from breadboard to perma-board straightforward.

 

A couple of highlights from the video:

  • A brief overview of the components involved: Sample and Hold Amplifier, Comparator, Register (Arduino Nano Every 33), and the DAC!
  • Demonstrate digitizing a 1.00 volt signal and a 4.00 volt signal.
  • Step-through 4.00 volt digitizing process

 

I found the last step the most important part of the project. Watching the boards flash and hearing the relay clicks is fun! However, it happens so quickly it might be tough to see/understand what is happening. By stepping through and watching each bit get tested, I think you can better visualize how this particular ADC works.

 

The irony to me is still that the primary piece of this ADC is the internal DAC, which is the focus of this project.

 

Thank You

Except for the final bits of code and a few bits of soldering, I streamed working on this entire project. In total, it took about 12 streams that ran between 2 and 4 hours each. But, like a new streamer, I forgot to highlight most of the work. (I do have local recordings, however.)

 

So while I might say "I" several times, the truth is, this has been a bit of a team effort. Stream viewers were critical in helping me realize the code for the binary search. What ended up being only a few lines of code literally took hours to work through. And, to the credit of my chatters, they had all kinds of ways to optimize the final code. However, I decided to hold back on optimizing too much because I wanted the steps to be clear.

 

So, to everyone who offered help on the project, I sincerely appreciated it.

 

Looking forward, I have enough PCBs and parts to expand vADC to be an 8-bit ADC. Fortunately, most of the code and all of the hardware supports expanding to more bits. I just need to convert some of my free time into this conversion project.