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I'm reading Make: AVR Programming. The next project wants me to try to drive an 8 ohm speaker with a pin from the microcontroller.

I'm no EE, but I do know that 8 ohms is not a lot of resistance, and it seems like we're going to run into problems running too much current through the microcontroller pin.

The book's solution is to use a "blocking capacitor". For some reason, I'm still a bit skeptical this is safe for my microcontroller. There are no resistors anywhere in sight. Here is the page from the book:

Blocking capacitor diagram

Question: if I don't care about sound quality, is this circuit safe for my microcontroller? The maximum current is supposed to be 40mA per pin.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ i would put a 500ohms in series with the avr (OR replace the cap with a smaller 20-30nF cap). Either option will limit the current. \$\endgroup\$
    – hassan789
    Commented Mar 19, 2015 at 4:01

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Whoever wrote that page is criminally wrong. The blocking capacitor is only an open to DC. The AC current will still be much higher than the AVR's absolute maximum. As a minimum, put a push pull buffer between the micro and speaker. I would rather see a low side switch.

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    \$\begingroup\$ @Jakerc You might want to throw that book away. \$\endgroup\$
    – Austin
    Commented Mar 19, 2015 at 9:29
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    \$\begingroup\$ Looked into it further, the author has a Ph.D in Economics, was a career statistician, and considers himself an electronics hacker, explains everything. \$\endgroup\$
    – Matt Young
    Commented Mar 19, 2015 at 12:18
  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks, guys. @Austin, it's a book from the library, so I don't think that's my best option, but I'm glad to hear my skepticism was well-founded. \$\endgroup\$
    – Jakerc
    Commented Mar 19, 2015 at 13:48

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