1. Home
  2. Electronics Design
  3. What's the LM324 of the day?

What's the LM324 of the day?

I've been designing hobby analog projects with the venerable LM324 for longer than I care to think. My most recent databook is 1989. But it's running out of steam. Power supply voltages are getting lower etc. And I've lasted longer than my lifetime supply of 'em.

What's the reigning jellybean quad op amp of the day?

Looking for something like the LM324. Stable, low power, dirt cheap, available everywhere, wide power supply voltage range, but usable with a 3V single ended power supply, rail to rail output and wide input common mode range that includes ground.

And be available in a package that a geezer with a hand held soldering iron can hook up...dip/soic etc. maybe a single-amp sot23 variant. Seems like everything in the trade mags today is so small a gnat could eat more than one. I'm not building cellphones, I'm hanging together hobby stuff with real wires and low density home brew single-sided circuit boards. Real designers need leaded packages... not to be confused with packages containing lead...although I'd rather have lead coated lead frames. ;-)

Wide bandwidth is sometimes good...but the thing I liked best about the LM324 is that you could just hook it up and it worked. Pick any spec and it was good enough. Rarely even looked at the spec sheet. I don't remember ever having one oscillate on me...even with caps hanging directly on the inputs and/or outputs. A small amp is no use if it takes a dozen passives to keep it stable.

Would be nice to pick something that has a chance of being available a decade from now. Hate to waste the few brain cells I have left learning the idiosyncrasies of a new chip on every design.

Recommendations for a LM324 replacement? Thanks, mike

--
Return address is VALID!
Reply to
mike
Loading thread data ...

It's the LM324 :)

I don't think there are any.

Unfortunately I find I have to pick the particular parameter(s) that are important, and find the part that matches and has a good price.

You *can* get opamps that "do everything", but they always seem to be

3x the cost of one that only does just what you need and no more, for a given application. 
--

John Devereux
Reply to
John Devereux

Well, that's better than no information. I'm building one-off projects. Adding 50-cents won't break me if it saves hassle. Gimme some suggestions of the do-everything parts. mike

--
Return address is VALID!
Reply to
mike

Not exactly like the LM324 but it has become very widespread last 15 years - the LMC6482 (6484 quad, I think, I use the dual). It does not work at +/-15, though. Rail to rail everywhere, MOSFET inputs, hence not very low noise, but pretty handy overall.

Dimiter

------------------------------------------------------ Dimiter Popoff Transgalactic Instruments

formatting link

------------------------------------------------------

formatting link

mike wrote:

Reply to
Didi

LT1014 is pretty good for low frequency applications. 10x the performance for 10x the price.

The choices are broader if you can live with 5V-ish maximum supply voltage (eg. +/-2.5V).

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

--
"it\'s the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog  Info for designers:  http://www.speff.com
Reply to
Spehro Pefhany

My generic at the moment is the LM833, but I had a much different set of criteria (it's a dual, not a quad) - inexpensive, works with +-15V in the olde-fashioned manner, fairly clean, claims to have short-circuit protection. Comes in DIP or SOIC, at least.

Just stocked up a bunch of inexpensive small-signal diodes/transistors - couldn't think of anything exciting, just filling in a small order of things I actually needed so it would not be 50% shipping - grabbed 1N916 (half the capacitance of 1N914, same low price, otherwise could see nothing to pick between them) and 2N3904/06. I suppose there might be a more exciting choice of generic small-signal transistor these days, but they certainly have staying power, and at 2.8 cents apiece I can afford to buy 100 each just to have on hand.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by
Reply to
Ecnerwal

Our generic is the LM7301. It's a single, SOT-23, 4 MHz, r-r i/o and works from 1.8 to 32 volts. Ballpark 80 cents.

There are dual 741-type amps for numbers like 12 cents.

John

Reply to
John Larkin

Actually there aren't as many as I thought - I think these days most opamps are designed for 5V supplies or less. I guess people looking for a high supply voltage don't need rail-rail operation.

But something like the OP484 illustrates my point.

Except it's around *50* times the price of a LM324!

--

John Devereux
Reply to
John Devereux
[snip]
*Except* it's not exactly a "jelly-bean" part... the specs are QUITE impressive!

...Jim Thompson

--
|  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     |
             
         America: Land of the Free, Because of the Brave
Reply to
Jim Thompson

Yes, quite - I see some of you guys found some that are closer to "jelly bean" though. JL's LM7301 looks nice. Is there a quad version?

--

John Devereux
Reply to
John Devereux

TLV2374 MC33204 LM6134

Vladimir Vassilevsky DSP and Mixed Signal Design Consultant

formatting link

Reply to
Vladimir Vassilevsky

As John Devereux wrote the LM324 is still very alive and kicking. I use it all the time. If you want a reasonable low voltage performance it has a sibling, the LMV324:

formatting link

Costs a few pennies more though so I always use the LM324 when possible.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
Reply to
Joerg
[snip]

Cheapskate ;-)

Have you evaluated the LMV324 for output performance near ground? Sink ability, etc ?

...Jim Thompson

--
|  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     |
             
         America: Land of the Free, Because of the Brave
Reply to
Jim Thompson

It quickly loses steam below 100mV and way at the bottom the current source in there loses grip as well. So while marketeers may call them RR for my taste they really aren't. Doesn't matter in most of my designs, what I really need is the fact that the input CM range includes the negative rail.

Now that we are on the topic about migration paths: When does someone come up with a grandchild to the MC34063 that can run at 10x of its frequency, still cost less than a quarter and is available from half a dozen manufacturers? When can we stop rolling our own?

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
Reply to
Joerg

I don't have a clue ;-)

...Jim Thompson

--
|  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     |
             
         America: Land of the Free, Because of the Brave
Reply to
Jim Thompson

The market would be huge but the movers and shakers at places like ON Semi, National, TI don't see it. Instead they come out with an ever increasing number of boutique chips that mass product designers don't use.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
Reply to
Joerg

Back in the days when I designed switchers I rolled my own from scratch, never used anything but common easy-off-the-shelf parts.

...Jim Thompson

--
|  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     |
             
         America: Land of the Free, Because of the Brave
Reply to
Jim Thompson

I still do that a lot. Except that nowadays we have cheap FETs and blazingly fast logic gates. I have an old inverter somewhere. It has an address screen-printed onto a side panel where to order new transistors and how to install them. I doubt they'd have those Ge transistors anymore.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
Reply to
Joerg

"Jim Thompson" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

But weren't the switching frequencies still within the range of human hearing back then? :-)

Reply to
Joel Koltner

My rule was "just above" ;-)

...Jim Thompson

-- | 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 | |

formatting link
| 1962 | America: Land of the Free, Because of the Brave

Reply to
Jim Thompson

ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.