# Tag Info

## Hot answers tagged current-source

Accepted

### What's the intuition for reading transistor/resistor circuits?

What's a step by step way of thinking about the flow of electrons in such a circuit? How can we tell it would provide constant current for instance? The first step is to forget about flow of ...
• 159k
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### Choosing resistor values for inverting amplifier and why?

There are downfalls with choosing very large resistors and very small resistors. These usually deal with the non-ideal behavior of components (namely Op-Amps), or other design requirements such as ...
• 16.2k
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### What's the point of a current source?

The current in any 2 terminal device is always the same, there's no way for a 2 terminal device to provide "extra" current. You can't have 0A in and 4A out. What it does do is force the current to ...
• 19.5k
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### What are some practical examples of a constant current source?

Photovoltaic cells and betavoltaic cells are examples of devices that produce more-or-less constant current up to some maximum open-circuit voltage, just as a battery produces more-or-less constant ...
• 328k
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### op amp+mosfet = current source.Why do we need a feedback resistor?

R2 (10k R4 in my diagram) is there to form together with C1 (1nF capacitor) a Miller Integrator to prevent unwanted oscillation. And yes, this circuit will sometimes oscillate, mainly due to poor PCB/...
• 12.3k
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### How does this constant current sink actually work?

The circuit employs negative feedback and utilizes the very high gain of the op amp. The op amp will try to keep its non-inverting and inverting inputs at the same voltage $V_{\text{set}}$ due to ...
• 6,961

### What's the point of a current source?

A current source is a voltage source which - in ideal circumstances - creates as much voltage as needed for the specified current to flow. Think of it as a power supply with an adjustable voltage and ...
• 317

### Why are current sources not drawn explicitly in the datasheets' schematic diagrams?

Most likely just to simplify the schematic. They would likely be implemented with various scaled and interconnected current mirrors as well as some sort of reference current generation circuit. One ...
• 39.6k

### Reversed DIP Switch

This is what your circuit looks like: simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab When you close the DIPSW the LED will be shorted thus the current will flow through the DIPSW ...
• 16.5k

### What's the intuition for reading transistor/resistor circuits?

What's the intuition for reading transistor/resistor circuits? More precisely speaking, "reading" means "understanding" here. So, the question is, "How do we intuitively ...
• 9,181

### Do constant current batteries exist?

Do constant current batteries exist? ["Battery" used for "cell" in many places below] Essentially, no. A battery could easily be made that had that characteristic by adding electronics in the ...
• 142k
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### I don't understand current source, voltage source, infinite resistance, zero resistance etc

If something has infinite resistance wouldn't nothing happen because everything is blocked? I also don't understand what an "open circuit" really means (to my eye it just looks like a ...
• 46.4k

### Why do PNP transistors source current and NPN transistors sink it?

Have you ever heard of an emitter follower? An NPN transistor connected in the emitter follower configuration sources current: This figure is from the Wikipedia page on the common collector (emitter ...
• 57.7k
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### Do constant current batteries exist?

Russell is bang-on for conventional electrochemical batteries, AFAIK, which makes sense because electrochemistry works on voltages. However, there is something that is considered a battery that ...
• 328k

### How do we create current sources?

Constant current sources ... there are no such devices in nature; almost all of sources are (constant) voltage sources. So we have to make them. I think you are correct. Due to physics chemical ...
• 159k

### Highly accurate constant current source

I can speak from some small experiences on a part of this. I'll leave the "highly constant and highly stable" current source design to those who know this better than I. But I was involved in creating ...
• 69.1k
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### Tube cathode biasing with CCS

The 12AX7 double triode is connected as a differential amplifier (long-tailed pair). In the Wikipedia article you see a similar circuit implemented with BJTs, but the principle is the same: consider ...
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### Why is my transistor beta lower than expected?

The beta value you are getting is rather typical for a transistor in reverse active mode. That is, using the collector as an emitter. Assuming every thing else is ok (vendor, supplier, and ...
• 8,146
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### PIC Micro - Can I use both sinking and sourcing maximum current ratings if some pins sink while others source?

The maximum ratings are usually about two things, broadly speaking. One is about local dissipation -- the port pins are often arranged near each other on the die and if you dissipate too much in a ...
• 69.1k
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### LM317 intermittent current source

To drive 50 mA through 330 ohms, you need 16.5 V. For 50 mA through 1330 ohms you need 66.5 V. In the constant current mode, the maximum output voltage of the LM317 circuit is \\$V_{in} - 3\ {\rm V} ...
• 121k

### How can I make a current source that can supply 1uA?

D2 generates a stable voltage, while the forward voltage of Q1 varies with temperature (by about -2 mV/deg. C). You can compensate for this by putting a standard diode in series with D2 -- e.g. a ...
• 328k
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### Why do PNP transistors source current and NPN transistors sink it?

This is because it's more typical to connect the load to the collector. You can use the emitter as an output, but that has certain limitations...the voltage gain will always be 1 in an analog emitter ...
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### Question about electrical power in circuits

By example I can demonstrate how a current source can both absorb and emit energy. Take this simple circuit consisting of a single voltage source (a battery) and a resistor: simulate this circuit &...
• 7,130
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### Current source with MOSFET

In my understanding the 1K along with the 200pF create an integrator topology to provide some stability Correct and, particularly when using a MOSFET in these configurations there can be a ...
• 380k
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### Source Transformation of dependent sources

Since this is quite within reach I will try to go through the whole story. Let's take a generic network N and spot one generator (either current or voltage), for now we will not consider it as ...
• 2,843

### Choosing resistor values for inverting amplifier and why?

In your specific op-amp circuit, the voltage on junction of Rf and Rin is the same as the voltage on the non-inverting input. This has to be so - it's called a virtual earth. Given that fact, this ...
• 380k
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### PSU Current on negative line

It would probably make more sense if the label were adjusted sligthly: Those -5V and -12V outputs really are negative voltages (not the ground returns for +5V and +12V) and they do sink current.
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### How does Stitching capacitor provide shortest return current path between plane splits, as we know that it blocks DC current?

We're only talking about high frequencies here. If there is a DC connection, then there would be no need to split a plane. If you split the plane there is a loop created that has some area. That means ...
• 328k