Isolated, 0.1% Accurate, 8 Channel, 12bit A/D Converter with PC Interface

Feb. 10, 2009
This circuit uses the parallel port on the PC to interface to a MAX147 12bit, 8 channel A/D converter. By using the National LM4040AIM-4.1 reference, an accuracy of 0.1% is obtained. Each of the input channels to the A/D is buffered with a rail-to-rail op

Isolated, 0.1% Accurate, 8 Channel, 12bit A/D Converter with PC Interface

This circuit uses the parallel port on the PC to interface to a MAX147 12bit, 8 channel A/D converter. By using the National LM4040AIM-4.1 reference, an accuracy of 0.1% is obtained. Each of the input channels to the A/D is buffered with a rail-to-rail op-amp to isolate and buffer the analog inputs. These inputs also have input protection diodes to protect the op-amps. At 25C, these diodes have a reverse leakage current of 25nA so keep the source impedance less than 10K ohms to keep the offset error les than 1 LSB. Power is obtained by following the 6-9 volt battery with a low dropout linear regulator. The HPCL-2730 opto-isolators were used for their high current transfer ratio and to electrically isolate the PC from the harsh analog realities of the outside world.

The following table maps the MAX147 A/D converter signal to the matching signal on the PC parallel port:

PC Pin / Signal MAX147
15 / S3 Dout
9 / D7 See Text
13 / S4 Spare Output
2 / D0 SCLK
3 / D1 CS\
4 / D2 Din
5 / D3 Spare Input

Since the Parallel port of the PC does not have any power coming out to it, it's necessary to drive the pull-up resistors with the D7 output. Therefore, ensure that D7 is high if you want to see the Din signal from the A/D. A spare, isolated output and input are available for additional I/O.

At this time it will left as an exercise for the student to write the code necessary to perform the I/O function between the MAX147 and the PC. However, the following link should contain more than enough information to perform this task whether you're writing in C, C++, MS BASIC or Visual Basic:

In addition, click the following link to download the MAX147 datasheet in PDF format:

MAX147 Schematic
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