Tag: Arduino

An Arduino based IC tester with smart touch

Electronic components can be tested to ensure that they meet certain specifications or to diagnose problems in a circuit. The specific tests performed on electronic components depend on the type of component being tested and the function it is intended to perform. For example, resistors can be tested for their resistance value, capacitors can be tested for their capacitance value, and transistors can be tested for their amplification and switching capabilities. Some of the limitations of electronic component testing include the accuracy of the test equipment and the difficulty of testing some components in-circuit. For example, testing a capacitor for its capacitance value may require removing it from the circuit, which can be time-consuming and may not be practical in some cases. Additionally, some electronic components may be sensitive to environmental factors, such as temperature and humidity, which can affect their performance and make testing more challenging.

Continue reading

Resetting Arduino via serial line

Usually, Arduino boards are reset by using additional DTR line of the serial interface. This becomes a problem when USB-UART adapter doesn’t support DDR line. And you probably read many cases where one or another particular cable won’t work for programming but can be used for simple serial data transfers. Ralph thought that there should be another solution that would allow using any serial cable for programming. He thought that TXD and RXD lines are always available since they are used for data receive and transmission. So why not to use one of those to reset the microcontroller. With three additional discrete, he created a simple circuit that would stand between RXD data line and RST pin. This is simply an RC circuit that would discharge cap during some time. So when data line works in regular operation – RSTin isn’t affected due to slow cap discharge. But when the RST signal is held down for a longer time – the cap is discharged, and then the RST signal is sent. Since he’s done modifications, he also had to make…

Continue reading