Automatic gain control

--- Good luck with that.

Here's what the OP's got:

Vs>----------+-------+ | | [R1] [R3] | | | +-----E1 | | +-------|-----E2 | | [R2} [R4] | | GND>---------+-------+

Where the resistors are the legs of a Wheatstone bridge and E1 and E2 are the outputs from the dividers.

In one case he has a strain gage where E1-E2 = 0.01V full scale, and in another, with the same Vs, he has a strain gage where E1-E2 =

0.02V full scale, and what he wants is this: (view in Courier)

Vs>----------+-------+--------------+ | | | [R1] [R3] | | | +---+---+ | +-----E1---| +|--->+5V | | | | +-------|-----E2---| -|--->0V | | +---+---+ [R2} [R4] |MAGIC | | |BOX GND>---------+-------+--------------+

Where, in the first case the magic box has a gain of:

Eout 5V Av = ------ = ------- = 500 Ein 0.01V

and in the second case, a gain of:

Eout 5V Av = ------ = ------- = 250 Ein 0.02V

Now, with only E1 and E2 available as inputs to the magic box, how's the box going to be able to tell the difference between the full-scale output of the first strain gage and the half-scale output of the second one?

That is, how is this "feedback signal" you allude to being generated, and where's it coming from?

-- John Fields Professional Circuit Designer

Reply to
John Fields
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Cool. We have a box that, given any input, servoes the gain to make 5 volts DC out. Sounds like a 5-volt battery to me, and you can save money by deleting the input connector.

John

Reply to
John Larkin

Yes. You'll see that point covered in another post of mine.

You point was ? ( if ever you had one )

Graham

Reply to
Eeyore

Keep taking the tablets, Jim !

Graham

Reply to
Eeyore

10mV

Charlie is obviously a great name for you ! If you can't see the logical conundrum then you're *NO ENGINEER* !

Graham

Reply to
Eeyore

Bill, wake up and read the guy's idiotic post will you ?

Graham

Reply to
Eeyore

Which gives you the gain but no useful info about the input !

Are you guys really this dumb ?

Graham

Reply to
Eeyore

I couldn't agree more !

It does however have an AGC voltage output which is equally useless.

Graham

Reply to
Eeyore

He hasn't expressed himself very well, but he clearly needs some kind of programmable gain block.

People who don't express themselves well aren't necessarily idiots, and labelling them as idiots isn't the best way of getting them to clarify what they want.

--
Bill Sloman, Nijmegen
Reply to
bill.sloman

10mV

Strain gauges can be fed with AC excitation. I've actually seen this this in a couple of instruments. Advantage is getting rid of amplifier off-sets, and with synchronous rectification you recover signal polarity.

But in OP's case it looks like a wire straight from +5 to the output would solve his problem.

You do have to have a way to tell the amplifier which gain to use. Select by jumpers or resistors in spare pins in the SG connector?

- YD.

--
Remove HAT if replying by mail.
Reply to
YD

I agree.

Hmmmm........

Sorry mate, been there too often.

If they ask a stupid question , it's quite likely IME they are indeed stupid.

Graham

Reply to
Eeyore

10mV

:-)

Yes.

Sure - I'd go for a system that had programmable gain

Graham

Reply to
Eeyore

Unless the AGC system integrates more than a fraction of a second. Some agc systems use a 10 or 100 second integration to track slowly changing signals.

--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I\'ve got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida
Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

snipped-for-privacy@ieee.org wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@m79g2000cwm.googlegroups.com:

what an idiot!

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Reply to
me

Is it an AC or DC bridge? Consider a log amplifier insensitive for long way out of balance sensitive for near null.

me wrote:

News==----

Newsgroups

Reply to
dougfgd

No. He needs a new brain ( that works ) !

Graham

Reply to
Eeyore

--
Please bottom post.

It makes no difference whether the excitation is AC or DC, the OP\'s
request is impossible to realize.
Reply to
John Fields

You are attempting to change the conditions of the poster's question.

There is nothing in the original post saying there is more than a single strain gauge. It says only that conditions acting on the SG change, so its output will change.

Don

Reply to
Don Bowey

It is being generated by the electronic attenuator/amplifier/AGC circuit in the magic box, of course. To meet the requirement of always outputing 5V, the AGC voltage (feedback) will be different for each SG condition.

Don

Reply to
Don Bowey

Obviously, any reply to your question will be pointless, even this one.

Reply to
Don Bowey

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