Needing a simple microcontroller to program ADC0831

satchmo05

Hi all,

I am building a LED tomography system (think of it as a simple transmitter and receiver). I would like to do signal processing on the received data, so I am needing to convert my analog, received signal to a digital signal.

The ADC I have chosen is the ADC0831 (DIP package). The schematic for this part is here: http://www.futurlec.com/ADConv/ADC0831.gif. I need a microcontroller that I can program to provide the high and low signals needed to use this ADC.

Does anyone have any experience in doing this? I have seen the Basic Stamp used in this, but I would like to keep the sizing of the microcontroller to a minimum (if possible). Thanks!

- Satchmo05

vk6kro

The ADC0831 is an 8 bit ADC and it is serial, which means you only get 256 levels and you have to do a lot of bit-bashing to get a result.

I would suggest you get a Picaxe 8M2.
This uses a language similar to the Basic Stamp, it does 10 bit ADC so you get 1024 levels of ADC, and it is a small 8 pin chip which just needs 5 volts to operate.
And it actually has 3 ADC inputs.

You need to make up a simple 3 wire programming cable but you can salvage the wire from an old serial mouse.

The programming software is free and the chip costs about $3
www.picaxe.com

The actual command for reading the ADC input is
readadc10 c.4, W4
where c.4 describes pin 3 of the chip, and W4 is the variable you put the value into.

Then you can use W4 in calculations as you like.

satchmo05

Thanks vk6kro,

The part seems like a great find for my application. Cheers,

- Satchmo05