to ant ris ats the 39 hat NV fle sing tot you Arrecostons, device that ‘makes sound in a speaker— ‘at least if the sound is more than digitol beeps—needs an aucio ‘amplifier Until now the most popu lat IC for driving small speckers has een the LM386. introduced in 1975 by National Semiconductor Figure 1 shows @ typical crcuit Compared to the discrete-component circults that preceded it, the L386 was & godsend; it could deliver 02 watt info an &-chm speaker from a 9-volt supply without on output transformer But the LM386 wasn't perfect As Fig, 1 shows, it requires large elec- ro¥ytic capcetors, which add bulk ‘and cost to the cirouit and can ais- ort he sound os they age. Further, the input impedance of the LM386'5 ‘This new “Boomer” audio amp from National Semiconductor is easier 10 use, offers better perfirmance, and needs fewer bulky external components than anything previously available very high, making it prone to oscilo- tion Ifthe Inputs aren't carefully sop- arated from the outputs lis voltage _gain of 20 (er 200 with one capacitor ‘deied) fs a bit 100 high for ine-level Input (V RMS) and contributes to the oscillation problem Twenty years went by.and Notional semiconductor hos recently intro- duced o new Ine of easy-to-use “Boomer” cucio amplifies. The hance cst of these fs the LNM862. which evaiabie fh both surface mount ond DIP packages wih the some pinout (UMa8620 and UME62N respsctively), Itcan deliver 0675 watt into.an &-ohm, specker a 1% totel harmonic distor- ion, (At sightly ower power levels. ds- toion is oppreciobly less.) What's mere ft hos automatic thermal shut- down to protect it from damage it ‘overloaded and operates fom asi gle & volt supply The inputimpecance brelotively wandusersetable,sothe Fisk of oxcilation much lower Inside the Chip. Figure 2 shows what's inside the device. The M4862 drives the specker differen tially. applying opposte waveforms Yo the hwo termingis—a configura: ‘mon So|ORDeES "8661 JAQUIBHON 8Bleetronios Now, November 1999 is cou z (FOR STABILITY) Fig 1 The cassie LM386 audio amplifier nec sx PLACE CLOSE oe TOI capacitors, thee of them electro}. fion offen called BIL (bridgetied goes fo OV. Thus, the amplifier con eae) Ether side of the speaker produce 1Ovotts of swing from o 5 ‘can go 10 25V. while the other side _vatt supply Thot’s enough for roorr 48=8V C3 filing volume with a 4inch ful range specker The supply voltage can range from 27 to 55 volts: naturaly, the ‘ampifier can deliver more power If the supply voltage is neor the high end of therange You con power the [M4862 from woot three 1 S-valt cols ‘ora reguted Svat supply (Do not use a é-volt battery; It exceeds the maximum rating) Total current con sumption ranges from 5 mA when ‘quiet fo about 260 mA at maximum ‘volume. Power-sunpiy ripple rejection is excefent, better than 50 dB when Cos Tar Using the Chip. A typical amplifier circu is shown in Fig 3. It's simple ‘and does not requite electrotyiic ‘capacitors; that keeps the cost down ond ensures high-fidelity ‘audio Actually, C2.the bias bypass “Fig 2 The new IM4862 needs fewer external combor 130385 sents and less prone to escilaion than theFig 3.4 nical cinct wong the LMA852 Place C3.as close 10 the IC as possible capacitor, can be a tantalum elec troiylic; the aucio signal doesn’t ‘pass through it. Aso, a 100-yF elec- ‘rolylic in porailel with C3 is a good idea when using batteries or a poorly regulated power supply The voltage gain Is equal to 2R2/R1) and should not exceed hich POWER ADELTY SAVING (20-20,900 (150~20,000 He) He) Ri = 22K Low 2 = 22K an w= ich GAN a2) Fig. 4 Here are some component vas for verlations of he circus Fig. 3 20; sound quality is best when R2 = Rl ond the gainis 2 (That's exactly what you need to drive a speaker from bvolt Inetevel of head- phone-level audio ) When the gain 'shigher than about 5, R2 should be bypassed by a small capacitor (Ca) to prevent oscillation “A 5-pF capacitor wil do the job, but a 22 PF capacitor will probably be eas- tr to find: do not use values larger thon 32 pF if the input signal is com- Ing from a low-impedance source, you con use smaller resistors. such Fig 5 How to drive a grounded crcut The balance ofthe circus shown in Fig 3 as R1 = 47K and R2 = 47K to 47K Figure 4 gives component values for some typical amplifiers Note in particular that you can save bat: ‘ery Power, as well 0s. component cost. by cutting the bass response when driving a small speaker that wouldn't reproduce low frequen- cies anyhow The speaker impedance must be at least 8 ohms You can use a 16, 32- of 64-0hm speaker, but you'll get considerably less power ‘out. If you must ground one side of the speaker diive the other side through @ capecttor as shown in Fig 5 you'll get only a quarter as much power asif the speaker were ven differentially The shuldown (SHON) pin disables the ompifier, binging both outputs low and cutting power corsumotion to less than | micto-ampere (yes, microompere), when connected to +5V The shutciown pin & grounded in ermal use You can use it fo imple menta *mute" bution without puting switch in the signal path, or even, wire tio cheadphane jackto lence the speaker when headphones are plugged in The bios pin is the output of a voltage divider built into the chip. lis purpose Is to hoki the postive inputs of both op-amps at half the supply voltage so that they can ‘operate with a single supply. You can aso use the bios pin to bias ‘one oF two additional op-amps as shown in Fig 6 ‘The bias pin should be bypassed to ground by « capacitor between 01 and 10 uF. Larger values Improve tipple rejection and sup- press the “thump” when the ampit fler Is turned on Some Applications. The LM4862 teams up wellwith other low-voltage ICs For example, Fig. 7 shows an ‘experimental AM radio based on the Plessey (formerly Ferrant) ZN414 TRF teceNver chip. On the bread- boord, this circutt gave high-fidelty ca oT «i = me our] a é + us vs a { 4 mms Ts * ‘Fig 6 You can use the bas pin. pin 2 tobias one or two external op-ampo as shown Kee Mon sowansera “6661 J0qUOHON aisa simple high-auelity AM receiver. reception of local AM stattions Like other ampiiiers, the LM4e62 mokes a fine oscilator Figue 8 shows classe op-amp square- Fig. 8 This squarewave oscillator produces Tou I-KPe tone in the speaker wave oscillator that can serve as loud sren—at least twice as loud as any conventional S-volt circuit Etoctronics Now, November 1909 Fig 9 A tiny grain-ofwheoot Hight bul i the fortback relator tn this circu for a Wien- 42 bridge oscillator Fig 7 When the LM4S62 is combined wih the Plone (Ferant) ZN414 reeiver Qi. the rel Figue 9 shows a Wien bridge that produces @ low-distorlion sine wave Inthe lost ckcutt, | -volt, 1A light bulb RadioShack 272-1139) Fig 10.The oscillators tn Figs 8 ad 9 an be puriouton controled as shown here sores as the regulating element in the feedback loop. As current increcses. the bulb heots up and its resistance increases. cutting feed: ack and slabiizing the oscilator The bulb does not actually glow visi lyn normal operation Resistor RV is closely matched to the bub and wil require a different valve ifa different kind of bulb is used "To moke either of the oscilators sound at the press of a button or to ‘use them for Morse code practice, add @ momentary-contact switch that grounds the shutdown pin as shown in Fig. 10. The 10K resistor needed because the shutdown pin has no intemal pultup; if uncon nected, I floats” to a random volt- ‘age ond the LM4862 operates very ertaticaly Finally, @ speaker isn’t the only RUN BACKWARD Ig. 11 Using the LMISS2 asa Bidirectional ‘motor controler thing the LM4862 can diive differ entially, i also rakes a fine full: bridge bi-irectional ctiver for small motors Figure 11 shows a circuit that wos breadboardtested with a | volt tape-recorder motor (un ing on 5 Volts, of course) In tis cit cuit, the Inputs of the LM4862 are ‘compatible with CMOS togic out puts, making computer control easy to implement Avaitabitity. One potential problem with the chip for hobbyists is that it is not that widely ovalable National does provide free samples to eng neers ond sometimes others For ‘more information, see their Web site ‘at www.national.com tt 1s. also qvaildsle from traditional fulHine ‘dshbutors auch as Newark Electronics (ww newark com) a