Hey Everyone. i am a newbie in the microcontroller world. i am designing a circuit which control battery cells simulation cells. So basically the goal is to produce a voltage between 0 and 5 Volt. i will do this with a DAC giving its output to a linear voltage regulator. and i would like also to measure the current between the supply and the Linear voltage regulator with a current monitor chip highside lowside which has also I2C. I wanna automate all of this process when i give different output values from my DAC into the circuit. So My DAC ( MAX517 ) has I2C and my Monitor Chip for the measuring ( INA226 ) has also I2C. The question is i really have no clue about microcontrollers but what i know is before choosing one i have to see the resoultion of my DAC which is 16 Bit so i need atleast a microcontroller with 16 Bits and i also need to check what kind of Interfaces i need. I think i need I2C and maybe SP1 FOR LCD later? or Usb? and i need many digital inputs outputs. the quesiton is now. Can someone briefly explain for me, which microcontroller i need to control my DAC517 and which software i have to write? which tools or softwares do i need? I would really be glad for any help Thanks Regards, Fadi
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From newbie to this task is about 3 years of experience. You should start wirh a much simple idea. Yours
hi it dosn't matter what bit-with your mcu has. it dosn't even matter if it has a build in I2C Interface,you can do this by Bitbaning on every Micro.
You do not need a 16bit Microcontroller to process 16bit data. Every 8bit controller is capable to handle up to 64bit data without no overhead from the programmers pint of view. And with some overhead it can process any data that fit into the RAM. Of courde, a native 64bit controller would process 64bit data faster. But that's obviously not improtant for your project. The interfaces are more interesting. If you find one that contains all required interfaces then you have a nice single-chip solution. As more chips you need as more error you may do. Almost all microcontrollers are primarily programmed in C. AVR microcontrollers (e.g. ATmega328P or ATmega32U4) are easy to learn and there are lots of informations online. If you want something larger then I would recommend any ARM based microcontroller, for example the STM32F103 series which is available in different sizes). Regarding your current monitor: If you measre the current between power supply and voltage regulator then you measure the current consumption of the voltage regulator + the load. So it would be more preciseto measure the current at the output. Many voltage regulators have a separate feedback pin which you can use to overcome the voltage loss at the current sensor (shunt).
Thanks alot Stefan. which wanna would you recommend to control the MAX5217 for the best results and more accurate? price is not important. the STM32F103 ?
It depends on your skills. It seems that you are not familiar with microcontrollers, so start with Arduino Nano modules (ATmega328P). You can program them with and without Arduino software. They are cheap, well documented and have a very easy to use USB interface.
> What about the Arduino Uno wouldn't be a better choice?
The Arduino Uno is also Ok, but quite large. Arduino Nano has almost the
same capabilities.
Thanks alot Stefan I will buy the Arduino Nano and work with the offline Webeditor and try to control the MAX5127.
Fadi Safadi wrote: > i have to see the resoultion of my DAC which is 16 Bit Keep one thing in mind: to get that performance from "digital µC" to "real analog world" you will need a lot of experience with layout and grounding on the analog side.
Just for the case that the Arduino Nano has not enough I/O pins: The ATmega2560 has much more of them and is also avaiable as a module with USB connector. But I would first check the smaller microcontroller, It's much more handy. The programming model is the same on both.
Stefan U. wrote: > You do not need a 16bit Microcontroller But you can! Don 't start with frustrating avr. Better try msp430.
Fadi Safadi wrote: > Can someone briefly explain for me, which microcontroller i need to > control my DAC517 Industry would say: the cheapest that can do the job. > and which software i have to write? Seems to be a simple control program not very fast not very complex so even an ATmega8 can do the job. But of course you may have missed to describe the bog hog part of it. > which tools or softwares do i need? Use an Arduino. Simple Software and programmable over USB. Not the cheapest but low tco.
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