Continue to Site

Welcome to our site!

Electro Tech is an online community (with over 170,000 members) who enjoy talking about and building electronic circuits, projects and gadgets. To participate you need to register. Registration is free. Click here to register now.

  • Welcome to our site! Electro Tech is an online community (with over 170,000 members) who enjoy talking about and building electronic circuits, projects and gadgets. To participate you need to register. Registration is free. Click here to register now.

Inexpensive PIC Microcontoller with DAC output??

Status
Not open for further replies.

mr_ivoryz

New Member
I'm new to using Microcontollers, but here is my general question.

I plan to use a PIC with 3 inputs and 3 outputs. My plan is to have the PIC setup so that when button 1 is pushed, say 1V is outputted through the DAC, then when button 2 is pushed, 2 Volts is outputted though the DAC etc...

My question is, can anybody reccomend to me a PIC that can do this and at the same time is inexpensive and easy to program?

Any comments is greatly appreciated!
 
Any PIC can do this. More importantly, what do you plan to do for the DAC? A separate IC? or a lowpass filter on a PIC pin so the PIC can act like a DAC? Programming one PIC is pretty much identical to programming another PIC (within the same series like PIC16, PIC18F, dsPIC30, etc).

And what is the maximum voltage you want from the DAC? That will decide whether you can use a lowpass filter on a PIC pin to imitate a DAC (it would only go up to ~5V).
 
Last edited:
Response time is important as well, PWM DACs are not known for their fast response times.
 
dknguyen: I figured that most pics can do this, but im getting lost on the DAC part...

The plan for the DAC is to have it hooked up to some sort of relay/voltage controlled switch....im pretty sure too that I wont need to excede 5V. I just need three different outputs under 5V, to control three different circuits.

So is it better to use a A separate IC? or a lowpass filter on a PIC pin? Tyming isnt really an issue, its not super important in this project.
 
Some sort of relay or voltage controlled switch? Those are two VERY different driving conditions and neither of them would be done with a DAC. I think you need to clarify what you intend to use specifically because we can't offer suggestions on what the best way of driving your project might be if you don't even know what parts you're going to use yet.
 
Here is a block Diagram of what I am trying to do:

Basically it's going to be a 3 band audio equalizer, and I want to be able to switch between some preset settings (Jazz/Natural/Bass) by the push of a button...or a manual setting where I would turn some knobs to adjust the other three settings (Bass/Mid/Treble).

The Pic is going to control the preset filter designs....my question is, what do i need in the "? Box" to enable the Pic to control the three preset filters?

I hope this picture help show what I am trying to do...

**broken link removed**
 
If you just want 3 voltages, you could simply use IO pins and a resistive ladder. What are the voltages that you need?
EDIT:
Just saw your diagram above. Simply use an analog switch such as the 4066, 4053, etc to switch the filters in/out. There are probably better IC's for this (Lower distortion & noise) but those are off the top of my head.
 
Last edited:
kchriste: Thanks for the info, I'm pretty sure the analog switch is the way to go!

Thanks too to everyone for the input, i really appreciate it! :)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest threads

New Articles From Microcontroller Tips

Back
Top