555 Frequency Precision

Assuming that you're talking kHz all the way here, if you need more precision you either need to roll your own oscillator from a precision comparator and precision resistors, or you need to consider using a 4060 and an appropriate crystal, or some other crystal/counter scheme.

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Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com
Reply to
Tim Wescott
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Get away from the two-R configuration and use only a single R from output back to the capacitor... and use a potentiometer as part of the R, to set F accurately.

...Jim Thompson

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|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
|  Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
|  Phoenix, Arizona            Voice:(480)460-2350  |             |
|  E-mail Address at Website     Fax:(480)460-2142  |  Brass Rat  |
|       http://www.analog-innovations.com           |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.      Sometimes I even put it in the food.
Reply to
Jim Thompson

Go back and decide between KHz and MHz. What values of timing components are you using?

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John Popelish
Reply to
John Popelish

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I suggest you visit sci.electronics.basics and read the replies to the
thread "555 oscillator queer behaviour" which you started there.

And please bottom post.
Reply to
John Fields

Hello,

I am having some problem with the 555 type oscillator. I am testing various brands and qualities of 555s and each one produces a different frequency for the same configuration of resistors (Ra & Rb) and capacitor (C). Even between 2 ics of the same brand (and batch) the frequency is different. In detail for a theoretical frequency of 72KHz, i get experimental values of 54MHz for "no-name" TTL-555s, 56.6MHz for "no-name" LinCMOS-555s and 67.6MHz for Philips TTL-555s. As you can see the difference is from around 20MHz downto around 4KHz. To sum up, is this normal or is there a problem with my circuit? Does this mean the precision of an unreliable "no-name" 555 (that produces inconsistent frequency) will degrade in the future due to wear out from usage or to increased temperature? Is there an other economical and fairly common option to produce stable and theoretically predictable digital clock at 76KHz?

thanks in advance @@

Reply to
panos v

BUT! It will stay on frequency one set with a pot.

...Jim Thompson

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|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
|  Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
|  Phoenix, Arizona            Voice:(480)460-2350  |             |
|  E-mail Address at Website     Fax:(480)460-2142  |  Brass Rat  |
|       http://www.analog-innovations.com           |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.      Sometimes I even put it in the food.
Reply to
Jim Thompson

Another batch of 555 frequency mysteries?

I was hoping to see your feedback about the very similar query you raised 5 days ago, subject '555 oscillator queer behavour'. For example, so far you haven't shown us your circuit, or provided details of what frequency measuring approach you use.

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Terry Pinnell
Hobbyist, West Sussex, UK
Reply to
Terry Pinnell

Sorry my mistake, all frequencies are KHz.

Reply to
panos v

--- Not necessarily, since the timing components will have their own tempcos which _aren't_ ratiometric.

Not only that, if the timing cap is electrolytic its leakage current will also vary with temperature, throwing the frequency off.

For the OP's application, at the frequency he's working he probably won't be using an electrolytic, but you never know...

-- John Fields

Reply to
John Fields

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Not necessarily true, since the pot and cap will have their own
tempcos and the pot will be used like a rheostat.
Reply to
John Fields

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_And_ required threshold current.

_And_ required trigger current.

_And_...
Reply to
John Fields

The previous matter (problem) is still open. I was not able to reach any theoretical frequency value (with the common 555 circuit of 2 resistor and 1 capacitor) but after trying several "brands" of 555s i came very close to the desirable 76.8KHz (in particular 8KHz less). So considering i was in a dead end i decided to use the most "reliable" brand of 555 and to cook the resistor values so the 555 produces 76.8KHz. Now about the measuring instrument, i used a frequency- meter (Kikusui electronics: Multi-Counter, model 255) which i found at the univercity and know nothing else about. I tested its precision with a known clock and found it OK. The following small pdf file contains the 555 configuration:

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Also to create the 5Volt supply i use the LM7805C voltage regulator with 2 capacitors of

10uF between the input and output pins of the ic and the ground. A wallwart transformer of 9Volt and 1A is applied at the input of the LM7805C regulator.

Reply to
panos v

Yes. That happens.

The answer is on the data sheet IIRC. Yup.

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Check 'initial error' on page 6. Can be 3% ( presumably +/- ) making 6% difference between 2 samples possible. That's for a monostable too. You'll be using it as an astable and the numbers look worse ( unspecified max ). Reading between the lines, assume it'll be no better than 12-14% worst case.

Don't forget the tolerance on your Rs and Cs either !

Graham

Reply to
Pooh Bear

Until the temperature changes.

Back in 1975 my boss got interested in cheap oscillators, and I looked at a bunch of RC circuits - the 555 got discarded very early. An emitter-coupled multivibrator was a lot better, but even that wasn't good enough - probably due to the temperature sensitivity of the Early effect.

Bob Widlar's LM322 (of blessed memory) got rid of the worst problems of the 555 by using an internal regulator to stabilise the voltage across the oscillator circuit, but it still wasn't as good as the emitter-coupled multivibrator (which probably came from Peter Baxandall).

------------- Bill Sloman, Nijmegen

Reply to
bill.sloman

Until the temperature changes.

Back in 1975 my boss got interested in cheap oscillators, and I looked at a bunch of RC circuits - the 555 got discarded very early. An emitter-coupled multivibrator was a lot better, but even that wasn't good enough - probably due to the temperature sensitivity of the Early effect.

Bob Widlar's LM322 (of blessed memory) got rid of the worst problems of the 555 by using an internal regulator to stabilise the voltage across the oscillator circuit, but it still wasn't as good as the emitter-coupled multivibrator (which probably came from Peter Baxandall).

------------- Bill Sloman, Nijmegen

Reply to
bill.sloman

I make a point of designing out presets whenever practical ! *Someone* is bound to be unable to resist fiddling !

Graham :-)

Reply to
Pooh Bear

You got 56.6MHz from a 555 *holy cow*.

Before anyone else says it "Use a PIC" They have a built in oscillator and can give you the needed frequency on an IO pin.

Now that that's out of the way:

How stable? How predictable? How accurate?

76*32 = 2.432MHz. You can get 2.457 crystals off the shelf. The CD4060 or 74HC4060 would do nicely.
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kensmith@rahul.net   forging knowledge
Reply to
Ken Smith
[...]
[...]

True, unless you use a bad ceramic capacitor. Use an NPO or plastic capacitor.

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kensmith@rahul.net   forging knowledge
Reply to
Ken Smith

In article , Pooh Bear wrote: [...]

... or forget to fiddle on the production line.

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kensmith@rahul.net   forging knowledge
Reply to
Ken Smith

I'm glad to see you're aware of that one too !

I've seen presets set in *very* odd positions occasionally. I have next to no time for them. If you can't design a tolerant circuit you should learn how to !

Hilarious example. A design I reviewed had a 5.1V zener reference diode. Followed by a preset to trim out its tolerance. Did no-one consider using a bandgap reference ? Probably cheaper in total cost too !

Graham

Reply to
Pooh Bear

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