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4. Making things nice - output amplifier

A project log for GPS disciplined 555 clock

Can we make a precise clock with analog indicators driven by 555s?

jan-waclawekJan Waclawek 01/10/2022 at 01:170 Comments

Voltage on the capacitor swings between 1/3 VCC and 2/3 VCC. To utilize the full swing of an analog meter, this needs to be amplified and shifted, so that the output waveform starts at zero. We need to use an amplifying stage which won't load the capacitor, anyway. Utilizing a JFET-input opamp (e.g. the venerable TL07x), the load is in the range of tens of pA, mostly negligible.

Following is an example shift-and-amplify circuit, resulting in full 0-VCC output swing:


and the resulting waveforms (green is voltage on C2, blue is voltage on opamp's output):

It is true that the rising portion of the waveform is not strictly linear, but this probably won't pose any problem - the difference is small, and the ticks/marks on the meters can be drawn with non-uniform spacing to match the true waveform.

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