Help me understand this circuit - AC measurement

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gregmcc

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Taken from here

Basically its a project using a microcontroller to measure the mains AC voltage.


While I understand the use of the voltage divider to drop the level to a lower voltage that the uC can read - the bit that confuses me is the 28k and 6k8 resistor. How can you connect the the 6k8 resistor to the arduino's 5V. That 5V will be an AC voltage - correct? How can they power the arduino from that?
 

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The uC has an analog input of 0 to some DC level. The problem is the AC waveform goes below 0 volts. What the circuit does is place the AC component (AC signal) on about a 4 volt DC level. The AC signal is riding on a DC level so the negative peaks of the AC signal do not go below zero volts. That does not "power" the Arduino, it only conditions an input for the Arduino ADC input.

<EDIT> If you scroll down this link to the bottom of page 5 there is an example showing another way to go about it. The biggest difference is the link does not use a transformer however, you should see the resemblance and it is explained. Circuits like this are common and the key word is bias. </EDIT>

Ron
 
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Ron - awesome. Thanks for the file - very useful.

Of course - the 5V to the arduino is not powering the uC - its from a 5V source to the circuit. Why didnt I see that
 
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