USB Isolator

[felis]

Hello,

This is an article about my last project, full/low speed USB isolator circuit based on Analog Devices' ADuM4160. The isolator works quite nicely galvanicaly separating PC-based USB instruments from their PCs, as well as cutting ground loops, which cause hum in USB audio devices. Take a look and tell me what you think.

Circuits@Home USB Isolator.

/felis

 

[kchriste]

Looks like a really good idea. The common ground always made me very leery of USB based scopes, etc. Never seen a chip with "monolithic air core transformers" either.

 

[felis]

The initial purpose of the isolator was just that - to disconnect my USB based Bitscope 310 from PC when probing high voltage. It turned out that PC was also a source of significant noise, so now I run the scope with USB isolated all the time.