ELECTRONICS - [BK1786B supply] - [hardware addon] - [page 1/4]

BK1786B Hardware Addon

Introduction to the hardware addon

This page is about a microcontroller based circuit that can communicate with the BK1786B programmable power supply. The communication is done by using a RS-232 link.

This first version of my circuit polls the BK1786B every 100 ms to see if the maximal output current is reached. If this is the case, a LED and an buzzer are activated. In fact this circuit is a hardware variant of my shortcut detector software.

I realize this is a complex solution that could easily be replaced by PC software, but this circuit could be expanded with additional functions. You could add a LCD module that shows the power output (Watt) or you could add a timer that switches off the supply after some time.

The prototype of my circuit

Project contents

This is a larger project, so I've split it up into different sections:

Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Communication Aspects
Part 3: The hardware circuit
Part 4: The firmware