Purchased some thermistors (NTC 50,100,250 ohms)

[mat337d]

I have just purchased some thermistors
(NTC 50,100,250 ohms). I want to wire it with a led.
so it will controll the leds light output with changing temp. I have already tried both series and parrallel configurations. the series confguration does not work at all. In parrallel configuration the thermsistor gets
very hot and the led dimms till it goes out. Am I doing somthing wrong? Is their a special way to wire
thermistors? thanks

power supply 9v 300ma

 

[willib]

those are sensors , you could to measure their resistance with an ohmmeter , but the way its usually done is to use a small current of 1 mAmp or less and measure the voltage across the thermistor..
the way you do it is set up a voltage divider ..

Page 9 has what i think you are looking for..
http://cache.national.com/ds/LM/LM35.pdf
check out their whole typical applications section ..
hope this helps..

 

[Gokul43201]

Matt, you're putting way too much current into your thermistor. As willib suggested, 1mA should be considered an upper bound for most NTCs (typically a few hundred microamps). Anything more than this renders your set-up meaningless, as the self-heating effects will drown out ambient temperature changes.

 

[chroot]

Just to note -- the LM35 is NOT a thermistor; it's an entire IC designed for ease-of-use. It is, by the way, a nice little part.

(For the record, I used to work at National, right beside the guys who did the applications work for the temp sensors. )

- Warren

 

[mat337d]

thanks for the help. Still I have hooked these things up just about every way I can think and they don't respond. I am beginning to think they do not work at all. I am still going to keep trying to get them to work though.

 

[Integral]

Mat377d,
Evidently you have not understood the previous posts. The basic message is, What you want to do cannot be done the way you are trying to do it. It simply does not work that way.

One way do make it work would be to dirve a transisor amplifer with your thermistor, use the out put of the transistor to power your led. Do do this you will have to understand the meaning of terms like 1ma.

 

[Gokul43201]

Just to note -- the LM35 is NOT a thermistor; it's an entire IC designed for ease-of-use. It is, by the way, a nice little part.

I think I've used these, (the fahrenheit version : LM34). I must chime in with my word of appreciation. These critters are neat !

Edit : sorry for the sidetrack : :uhh: