Tell me more ×
Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for electronics and electrical engineering professionals, students, and enthusiasts. It's 100% free, no registration required.

I am using a dual op-amp package in a circuit, however I only need to use one. Is there anyway to disable the other op-amp so it doesn't inject electrical noise in my circuitboard? I think grounding the positive input and setting the op-amp into unity gain might be best, but I am not certain.

share|improve this question
That will do fine ... as long as the amp is unity-gain stable of course :) – MikeJ-UK Sep 18 '12 at 15:15
2  
For those who might not be following, the issue is that if you leave the inputs open and/or don't complete a negative feedback loop, there's a fair chance your op-amp output can hammer back and forth unpredictably between +/- rail and add noise to the circuit. – Scott Seidman Sep 18 '12 at 18:49

1 Answer

up vote 15 down vote accepted

A unity gain buffer is what this article also suggests. Quote:

The best thing to do with a surplus op-amp it is to use it. There are lots of places in an analog circuit where a buffer amplifier may improve performance - and a unity gain buffer uses no extra components.

Grounding the non-inverting input is fine if you have a dual power supply. If you use a single supply you better set the input to Vcc/2 with a resistor divider:

enter image description here

(from the same article)

share|improve this answer
Can you elaborate on the need to to set the positive input to Vcc/2 in the single-ended supply case? – vicatcu Sep 18 '12 at 15:29
@vicatcu - the unreadable red text in the picture says: "Do not connect the input to V+ or V- as this may cause the output to try to swing past its supplies and saturate". Which will cause increased power consumption. – stevenvh Sep 18 '12 at 15:35
@vicatcu - I can second the recommendation in Steven's answer. Connection the + input to the half way point between the V+ and V- rail is the correct thing to do. --- It may have the additional benefit in that it makes places where wires can be attached in case a re-work ever requires the use of the op-amp. – Michael Karas Sep 18 '12 at 16:05
@MichaelKaras cool, I wasn't suggesting steven was wrong, just wanted to try and learn more from his answer – vicatcu Sep 18 '12 at 17:35
1  
@user1207381 - yes, you can generally pick any voltage within the common mode range (that keeps the output within it's stated range), VDD/2 is usually specified as it's generally the most convenient (e.g. 0V for dual rail) The key thing is not to let the output saturate. – Oli Glaser Sep 18 '12 at 23:40
show 1 more comment

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.