Schematic Reference

Can be fitted into a packet of cigarettes Also suitable as Fuzz-box

This small amplifier was intended to be used in conjunction with an electric guitar to do some low power monitoring, mainly for practice, either via an incorporated small loudspeaker or headphones.

The complete circuit, loudspeaker, batteries, input and output jacks can be encased in a small box having the dimensions of a packet of cigarettes, or it could be fitted also into a real packet of cigarettes like some ready-made units available on the market.

Circuit diagram:

Mini Portable Guitar Amplifier Circuit Diagram

This design can be used in three different ways:

• Loudspeaker amplifier: when powered by a 9V alkaline battery it can deliver about 1.5W peak output power to the incorporated loudspeaker.
• Headphone amplifier or low power loudspeaker amplifier: when powered by a 3V battery (2x1.5V cells) it can drive any headphone set type at a satisfactory output power level or deliver to the incorporated loudspeaker about 60mW of output power. This configuration is useful for saving battery costs.
• Fuzz-box: when powered by a 3V battery (2x1.5V cells) and having its output connected to a guitar amplifier input the circuit will behave as a good Fuzz-box, showing an output square wave with marked rounded corners, typical of valve-circuits output when driven into saturation.

Notes:

• For the sake of simplicity and compactness, this unit employs a dual bridge IC amplifier and a few other parts. For the same reason no volume or tone controls are provided as it is supposed that the controls already existing on the electric guitar will serve satisfactorily to the purpose.
• No power switch is used: the battery voltage will be applied to the circuit when the input plug will be inserted in the input jack socket J1. For this purpose be sure that the input plug is a common 1/4 inch guitar mono jack plug and J1 is a 1/4 inch stereo jack socket.
• The output jack socket J2 must be a switched stereo type. The changeover switching is arranged in such a way that, when a common headphones stereo jack plug is inserted into the socket, the loudspeaker will be disabled and the mono output signal will drive both the headsets in series, allowing full headphone reproduction. When used as a Fuzz-box output, a mono jack plug must be inserted into J2.
• If the amplifier is intended to be encased in a packet of cigarettes, standard loudspeaker diameter should be 57 or 50mm.

Source:www.redcircuits.com

Overture Audio Power Amplifier Series Dual 20-Watt Audio Power Amplifier with Mute and Standby Modes

The LM1876 is a stereo audio amplifier capable of delivering typically 20W per channel of continuous average output power into a 4 or 8 load with less than 0.1% THD+N.

Each amplifier has an independent smooth transition fade-in/out mute and a power conserving standby mode which can be controlled by external logic.

The performance of the LM1876, utilizing its Self Peak Instantaneous Temperature (°Ke) (SPiKe™) protection circuitry, places it in a class above discrete and hybrid amplifiers by providing an inherently, dynamically protected Safe Operating Area (SOA). SPiKe protection means that these parts are safeguarded at the output against overvoltage, undervoltage, overloads, including thermal runaway and instantaneous temperature peaks.

Circuit Diagram

Dual 20-Watt Audio Power Amplifier Circuit Diagram

THD+N at 1kHz at 2 x 15W continuous average
output power into 4 or 8:	0.1% (max)
THD+N at 1kHz at continuous average
output power of 2 x 20W into 8:	0.009% (typ)
Standby current:	4.2mA (typ)

Applications

The preamplifier is intended for use with dynamic (moving coil–MC) microphones with an impedance up to 200 Ω and balanced terminals. It is a fairly simple design, which may also be considered as a single stage instrument amplifier based on a Type NE5534 op amp. To achieve maximum common-mode rejection (CMR) with a balanced signal, the division ratios of the dividers (R1-R4 and R2-R5 respectively) at the inputs of the op amp must be identical. Since this may be difficult to achieve in practice, a preset potentiometer, P1, is connected in series with R5. The preset enables the common-mode rejection to be set optimally. Capacitor C1 prevents any direct voltage at the input, while resistor R7 ensures stability of the amplifier with capacitive loads.

Circuit diagram:

Balanced Microphone Preamplifier Circuit Diagram

Power supply:

Power Supply For Balanced Microphone Preamplifier

Resistor R3 prevents the amplifier going into oscillation when the input is open circuit. If the microphone cable is of reasonable length, R3 is not necessary, since the parasitic capacitance of the cable ensures stability of the amplifier. It should be noted, however, that R3 improves the CMR from >70 dB to >80 dB. Performance of the preamplifier is very good. The THD+N (total harmonic distortion plus noise) is smaller than 0.1% with an input signal of 1 mV and a source impedance of 50 Ω. Under the same conditions, the signal-to-noise ratio is –62.5 dBA. With component values as specified, the gain of the amplifier is 50 dB (´316). After careful adjustment of P1 at 1 kHz, the CMR, without R3, is 120 dB. The supply voltage is ±15 V. The amplifier draws a current at that voltage of about 5.5 mA. Note the decoupling of the supply lines with L1, L2, C2–C5.

Author: T. Giesberts - Copyright: Elektor Electronics 1998

Dew (condensed moisture) adversely affects the normal performance of sensitive electronic devices. A low-cost circuit described here can be used to switch off any gadget automatically in case of excessive humidity. At the heart of the circuit is an inexpensive (resistor type) dew sensor element. Although dew sensor elements are widely used in video cassette players and recorders, these may not be easily available in local market. However, the same can be procured from authorized service cent res of reputed companies. The author used the dew sensor for FUNAI VCP model No. V.I.P. 3000A (Part No: 6808-08-04, reference no. 336) in his prototype.

In practice, it is observed that all dew sensors available for video application possess the same electrical characteristics irrespective of their physical shape/size, and hence are interchangeable and can be used in this project. The circuit is basically a switching type circuit made with the help of a popular dual op-amp IC LM358N which is configured here as a comparator. (Note that only one half of the IC is used here.) Under normal conditions, resistance of the dew sensor is low (1 kilo-ohm or so) and thus the voltage at its non-inverting terminal (pin 3) is low compared to that at its inverting input (pin 2) terminal.

Circuit Diagram:

 Tiny Dew Sensor Circuit Diagram

The corresponding output of the comparator (at pin 1) is accordingly low and thus nothing happens in the circuit. When humidity exceeds 80 per cent, the sensor resistance increases rapidly. As a result, the non-inverting pin becomes more positive than the inverting pin. This pushes up the output of IC1 to a high level. As a consequence, the LED inside the opto-coupler is energized. At the same time LED1 provides a visual indication. The opto-coupler can be suitably interfaced to any electronic device for switching purpose. Circuit comprising diode D1, resistors R8 and R6 and capacitor C1 forms a low-voltage, low-current power supply unit. This simple arrangement obviates the requirement for a bulky and expensive step-down transformer.

Source:pecworld.zxq

This circuit uses a complementary pair comprising NPN metallic transistor T1 (BC109) and pnp germanium transistor T2 (AC188) to detect heat (due to outbreak of fire, etc) in the vicinity and energise a siren. The collector of transistor T1 is connected to the base of transistor T2, while the collector of transistor T2 is connected to relay RL1.

The second part of the circuit comprises popular IC UM3561 (a siren and machine-gun sound generator IC), which can produce the sound of a fire-brigade siren. Pin numbers 5 and 6 of the IC are connected to the +3V supply when the relay is in energised state, whereas pin 2 is grounded. A resistor (R2) connected across pins 7 and 8 is used to fix the frequency of the inbuilt oscillator.

Circuit Diagram

Automatic Heat Detector Circuit Diagram

The output is available from pin 3. Two transistors BC147 (T3) and BEL187 (T4) are connected in Darlington configuration to amplify the sound from UM3561. Resistor R4 in series with a 3V zener is used to provide the 3V supply to UM3561 when the relay is in energised state. LED1, connected in series with 68-ohm resistor R1 across resistor R4, glows when the siren is on. To test the working of the circuit, bring a burning matchstick close to transistor T1 (BC109), which causes the resistance of its emitter-collector junction to go low due to a rise in temperature and it starts conducting. Simultaneously, transistor T2 also conducts because its base is connected to the collector of transistor T1. As a result, relay RL1 energizes and switches on the siren circuit to produce loud sound of a fire-brigade siren.

Note.

• We have added a table to enable readers to obtain all possible sound effects by returning pins 1 and 2 as suggested in the table.

 Author:Sukant Kumar Behara Copyright:Circuit Ideas

The well-known LM386 is an excellent choice for many designs requiring a small audio power amplifier (1-watt) in a single chip. However, the LM386 requires quite a few external parts including some electrolytic capacitors, which unfortunately add volume and cost to the circuit. National Semiconductor recently introduced its Boomer® audio integrated circuits which were designed specifically to provide high quality audio while requiring a minimum amount of external components (in surface mount packaging only). The LM4906 is capable of delivering 1 watt of continuous average power to an 8-ohm load with less than 1% distortion (THD+N) from a +5 V power supply. The chip happily works with an external PSRR (Power Supply Rejection Ratio) bypass capacitor of just 1 µF minimum.

In addition, no output coupling capacitors or bootstrap capacitors are required which makes the LM4906 ideally suited for cellphone and other low voltage portable applications. The LM4906 features a low-power consumption shutdown mode (the part is enabled by pulling the SD pin high). Additionally, an internal thermal shutdown protection mechanism is provided. The LM4906 also has an internal selectable gain of either 6 dB or 12 dB. A bridge amplifier design has a few distinct advantages over the single-ended configuration, as it provides differential drive to the load, thus doubling output swing for a specified supply voltage. Four times the output power is possible as compared to a single-ended amplifier under the same conditions (particularly when considering the low supply voltage of 5 to 6 volts).

Circuit diagram:

Boomer Audio Power Amplifier Circuit Diagram

When pushed for output power, the small SMD case has to be assisted in keeping a cool head. By adding copper foil, the thermal resistance of the application can be reduced from the free air value, resulting in higher PDMAX values without thermal shutdown protection circuitry being activated. Additional copper foil can be added to any of the leads connected to the LM4906. It is especially effective when connected to VDD, GND, and the output pins. A bridge configuration, such as the one used in LM4906, also creates a second advantage over single-ended amplifiers. Since the differential outputs, Vo1 and Vo2, are biased at half-supply, no net DC voltage exists across the load.

This eliminates the need for an output coupling capacitor which is required in a single supply, single-ended amplifier configuration. Large input capacitors are both expensive and space hungry for portable designs. Clearly, a certain sized capacitor is needed to couple in low frequencies without severe attenuation. But in many cases the speakers used in portable systems, whether internal or external, have little ability to reproduce signals below 100 Hz to 150 Hz. Thus, using a large input capacitor may not increase actual system performance. Also, by minimizing the capacitor size based on necessary low frequency response, turn-on pops can be minimized.

We have already published designs that use a transistor junction operating in Zener breakdown as a noise source. Anyone who has experimented with a reverse-biased transistor knows that the amplitude of the noise voltage generated in this manner is strongly dependent on the supply voltage. The variation between individual transistors is also rather large. An obvious solution is to use an adjustable supply voltage for the noise generator stage. A BC547B starts to break down at around 8V.

Circuit diagram :

Optimised Semiconductor Noise Source Circuit Diagram

Using P1 and R1, you can adjust the voltage across T1 and R2 between 8 and 12V. C3 decouples the reduced supply voltage. An impedance buffer in the form of T2 and R3 is added to the circuit, to prevent the connected load from affecting the noise source. This buffer is powered directly from the 12-V supply. To adjust this circuit, connect the output to an oscilloscope. Then adjust P1 to obtain the highest signal amplitude, combined with the best ‘shape’ of the noise signal. The output voltage is approximately 300mVpp, and the current consumption is around 2mA.

Source : www.extremecircuits.net