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I want my piezos to have a center voltage at 2.5V for a 0-5V ADC input on Atmega328, so it can sense force in both ways - one way would be >2.5V and the other will be <2.5V.

Will this circuit work? Or any improvments?

sch

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  • \$\begingroup\$ It probably won't work as the voltage buffer will just eat all the charge of the piezos, or are those resistors meant to be 1M\$\Omega\$? (as in megaohm, in LTSpice M/m is used as milli and meg is for mega and the circuit looks very LTSpiceish) \$\endgroup\$
    – Arsenal
    Sep 2, 2015 at 15:10

2 Answers 2

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Slight improvement (less power consumption and fewer parts):

schematic

simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab

U1 has to be very low input bias current, of course. You might want to add some series resistors to the non-inverting inputs in case the piezo voltage exceeds 2.5V.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Thank you for the ciruit. This way I can use 4 opamps for 4 piezos. I have TL084, and it says low imput bias current in datasheet. Btw, if I only have +5v powering the opamp, the outputs would never exceed 5v? \$\endgroup\$ Sep 2, 2015 at 15:48
  • \$\begingroup\$ TL084 is a poor choice for this- something with rail-to-rail input and output would be better. Also that is recommended to run from a single 5V supply. For example, the inexpensive MCP6L04. I recommend the series resistor to keep the op-amp protection networks from conducting too much current, but the output should not exceed the supply voltages even under some abuse at the inputs. \$\endgroup\$ Sep 2, 2015 at 16:07
  • \$\begingroup\$ Sorry for the noob question, but how (and how much R) do I add the series resistors? And is there any suitable opamp in DIP packaging? Thank you. \$\endgroup\$ Sep 2, 2015 at 16:20
  • \$\begingroup\$ Enough but not too much. ;-) Maybe 10K. Check out MCP6004. \$\endgroup\$ Sep 2, 2015 at 16:24
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If the resistors R3 and R4 are 1MΩ( in LTspice; 1m = 1 milli Ω , 1M = 1 mega Ω ) your circuit will work. For some additional improvements, you can take a look at the frequency response of your circuit. To do that you will need to change your model a little bit and consider some additional capacitances. Take a lot here for a very intuitive guide. Hope it helps!

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  • \$\begingroup\$ In LTspice: 1m = 1M = 1 milli, the latest version will automatically convert 1M to 1m to be less confusing. 1meg = 1Meg = 1 Mega. (I just tried because you made me distrust myself) \$\endgroup\$
    – Arsenal
    Sep 2, 2015 at 15:39
  • \$\begingroup\$ oh yes I mean 1 mega ohm. But as I type in 1M, it automaticly change to 1m after I hit the ok button, how exactly I enter 1M? And I will be using this sensor for manual squeezes so it would be mostly VERY slow AC signals. Thank you for the link, I will have a look at it! \$\endgroup\$ Sep 2, 2015 at 15:43
  • \$\begingroup\$ haha it seems you are right, I just tried. @Arsenal \$\endgroup\$ Sep 2, 2015 at 15:50

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