How Optocouplers Work and How to Use Them

How Optocouplers Work and How to Use Them - DC To Daylight

Рет қаралды 26,429

Күн бұрын

In this episode, we look at the optocoupler, or optoisolator, as it's also known. This little device is great at isolating voltage and noise from one circuit to another, and it can even be used to translate voltage levels.
We'll dive into how to go about biasing both the input and output of an optocoupler. Then we'll breadboard a demonstration circuit, including the use of a Schmitt trigger to give our circuit a snappier response time. We'll also look at the results on an oscilloscope. So let's explore optocouplers!
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#0:00 Welcome to DC to Daylight
#0:51 Optocoupler
#2:00 Breaking It Down
#8:10 Breadboard
#10:05 Give Your Feedback
#optocoupler #breadboard #optoisolator

Пікірлер: 31

@justovision Жыл бұрын

Another use: Optocouplers are part of the MIDI standard to prevent ground loops between devices.

@AmRadPodcast Жыл бұрын

I hadn't considered that, but I would like to play with MIDI someday. My wife has an old keyboard with a MIDI output, now to think of an interesting project! -Derek

@7alfatech860 Жыл бұрын

Hi Derek, thank you for not oversimplifying the topic! I really appreciate how you show the derivation of the values from the data sheet, etc. In addition, it is great to hear some industry level concerns too, like longevity, which most presenters simply gloss over.

@AmRadPodcast Жыл бұрын

Thanks 7Alfa. Yes, it always kind of bugs me that the long-term reliability stuff is left out in the text, but then again we don't usually consider designing stuff to work the same 40 years out. -Derek

@t1d100 Жыл бұрын

I enjoy Derek's teaching style.

@AmRadPodcast Жыл бұрын

Thank you very much! -Derek

@tinkmarshino Жыл бұрын

I like your show. though it is still way above my head it gives me incentives to understand the subject for the day.. and is one of the best things I have found to help me learn.. The old sink or swim routine.. it has always worked for my though at 70 it is getting a bit harder but I still find it fun.. I thrive on a bit of challenge.. thanks guys.. you really have helped in my quest to learn electronics (at least the basics) carry on!

@AmRadPodcast Жыл бұрын

Hey tinkmarshino - This is great feedback, and it's cool to hear that these topics are helpful to someone learning on their own. Please keep coming back... I've got tons of back to basics stuff in the works. -Derek

@SeanBZA Жыл бұрын

Yes, useful as you can easily get inversion, even if you do not want isolation, or to interface to different voltage levels as well. Plus the simple way to do high side drive, though the on state voltage drop can make it bad with bipolar, but the mosfet driver versions are great for making N channel switches that are easy to interface although they are also going to be slew rate limited.

@AmRadPodcast Жыл бұрын

Hi SeanBZA. Interesting application as a high side driver. I hadn't considered that for the demonstration, but this may make a good future topic when I start poking around with FETs. Thanks for the feedback. -Derek

@fixitalex Жыл бұрын

Back in the days we were making it the hard way with led and photo-transistor.

@AmRadPodcast Жыл бұрын

I once tried making an automatic dog feeder. I needed a way to determine if there was food in the dish, and ended up using an led to illuminate it, and a phototransistor to detect reflected light. It worked great... in the dark. That's when I learned about modulating the signal in order to work in daylight - back to the drawing board kid. :) -Derek

@grins047 Жыл бұрын

Super useful. Thank you!

@taintedmeat9740 Жыл бұрын

Nice equipment collection in the back ground !

@richardcletus6026 5 ай бұрын

Ive been trying to firgure out how and where to jam some PC817s into a guitar or pedal. Had no idea how they worked or how I could apply them, but I have a hunch now. Vague hunch, but I have a big pack of components and a breadboard. Time to get pragmatic.

@loverboykimi 10 ай бұрын

Good Stuff! Thnks.

@Damaraja Жыл бұрын

Cool 👌

@lordofelectrons4513 Жыл бұрын

Another use is dealing with noisy mechanical switches like a micro switch on the end of a long cable especially if that cable is conducting power or other signals.

Жыл бұрын

Optocouplers are often used in the retroaction loop of switching power supplies, where they are probably biased. Does that mean that the regulation will get off as time goes? That might explain faults on old mains connected boards and PSUs?

@CABohol Жыл бұрын

I made a DIY Vactrol VTL5C4 for my Audio limiter circuit.

@AmRadPodcast Жыл бұрын

Awesome. That sounds like a fun project. -Derek

@LandMineFX 2 ай бұрын

For some reason, I'm having issues with pwm when connecting the LED side to an Arduino, and the transistor side to a guitar signal in a PC817 optocoupler. Any attempt to adjust the brightness of the internal LED introduces noise into the signal unless the LED is all the way off or all the way on. Wonder why?

@greatscott36 5 ай бұрын

I'm confused, I see he uses the resister on the positive side but I look up circuits and it shows the other side, dose it matter witch side or...?

@sarimbinwaseem Жыл бұрын

What about high volatges? like 240V AC to micro controller.. I want to get signal from AC voltage to micro controller.. How can I calculate the RIN value.. acc to your formula it's 47K resistor.. will it work?

@arunsebastian4035 10 ай бұрын

can i use schmitt trigger optocouplers instead of NAND gate for switching ?

@paradiselost9946 11 ай бұрын

how about doing this for linear/analog? its strange, that with arduino etc being so popular, that interfacing and isolating an analog signal seems so overlooked... been waiting a month for hcnr200, got sick of it, been playing around with pc817s in a cross coupled feedback loop with some promising results... input drives the isolated output, thats fed back to the output LED to drive an isolated feedback loop in the input... im not actually concerned about precision, as long as its pretty close and its isolated... it all seems fairly linear so far...

@assistantto007 Жыл бұрын

Galvianic?

@Acein3055 Жыл бұрын

Good subject matter. Good narration. Good engineering design work. The overall video presentation is annoying because you keep switching the video back to showing you.