LM2917 Frequency to Voltage Converter

In your circuit have you connected pins 4 & 7 to pin 6? That schematic indicates they shouldn't be, but with that style it would be easy to misread that.

wanderson:
In your circuit have you connected pins 4 & 7 to pin 6? That schematic indicates they shouldn't be, but with that style it would be easy to misread that.

I think in the style used by matinzk only dots or filled circles indicate connected lines.

Edit: Added missing word I thought was there.

Far-seeker:

wanderson:
In your circuit have you connected pins 4 & 7 to pin 6? That schematic indicates they shouldn't be, but with that style it would be easy to misread that.

I think in the style used by matinzk only dots or filled circles indicate connected lines.

Edit: Added missing word I thought was there.

Yep, that was why I asked. I suspect the OP might have wired those connections by misreading the schematic.

Nope I don't have pins 4 & 7 connected to pin 6. Only pin 4 & 7 are connected and 5 & 6 connected together.

Although not the high current issue, The reason for the discrepancy in the speed is due to that series capacitor and diode... at some point probably around 2000 - 2200 rpm that capacitor is going to be charged high enough to start to 'block' the input pulses... connect a meg or so from the diode capacitor junction to ground... Not enough to affect accuracy, just enough to make sure the diode operates as a diode. What happens is that the diode is cut off by the dc generated from the input pulses. At some input condition the diode becomes reverse biased and cut off except for the diode and capacitor leakage and the load resistance which is the reason it 'sorta' works above 2 - 2.5K rpm's.

Doc

Thanks again for the replies.

I connected an oscilloscope to the RPM pulse wire, with the DC offset circuit (resistor, capacitor & diode) also connected and did some test with the pulse going through the DC offset circuit and the frequencies seems to be fine.

Another thing I've found is that the reason why at higher RPMs it lows lower, is that, since the chip was getting hot the accuracy was dropping, so it seemed it was reading incorrectly. So if I leave the circuit off before it's hot, and then inject 100Hz (3000RPM) to it using an Arduino, it will read the way it should. Then of course drops when the chip gets hot =(

I think (Know) you will find a negative voltage present on pin 1 when the chip gets hot... and there is no path to "bleed" off the positive voltage, Under "No Signal" conditions?.
If you look at the series diode capacitor connection and think about it carefully you will see that at some input condition (pulses in) the cathode of the diode must go positive as the diode prevents the capacitor from discharging and at some point the diode is biased off... it's Basic electronics theory... Electronics 101... try something, measure the current without any input whatsoever (disconnect everything from pin 1) if it is still @ the 60? - 70? mA... If so the device is defective. I've read the attached LM2917 data sheet 3 times and I can't find a schematic even close to your drawing... and pin 1 is the + input to an Op-Amp... The non inverting input to any op-amp is a very high impedance point... There is no discharge path for that 2R2uF cap... which may have damaged the op-amp input...

Doc

LM2917.pdf (331 KB)

The diode, cap and resistor aside and completely disconnected from the circuit and the pin 1 of the chip, the circuit pulls that much current.

I've tested this with a few of these chips that I've got. All the same.

Did you try all of these ics in the previous circuit? Perhaps you have burned them all,

No,

These have all been brand new with the above disconnected.

Did you look at the data sheet I included? and see if perhaps one of the other 'suggestions' might be more applicable. What happens, If you Ground pin 1, to the current drain... as I pointed out before that is a very high impedance node... The next likelyhood in my experience is that you don't have wired what you think you do... usually when devices draw inordinate amounts of current there is a reason for the behavior... In my experience it is something Assumed or Overlooked (looked over) so many times that you simply can't see it any more... that was what my techie was for... double checking me. As much as I hate to say it I still make similar mistakes and I have to stop and think about what I had.... I once tore a circuit up and re-built it ... Three Times... The Same way. My Employer walked up behind me and asked me why did I have an output grounded... I had swapped two wires in a cable harness and had "Checked it" every time... the ground pin was adjacent the output pin and both went to a connector.

Doc

I once tore a circuit up and re-built it ... Three Times... The Same way. My Employer walked up behind me and asked me why did I have an output grounded... I had swapped two wires in a cable harness and had "Checked it" every time... the ground pin was adjacent the output pin and both went to a connector.

That's been my experience also, there is often nothing smarter then a second set of eyeballs. :wink:

I realise this is an old topic but it doesn't seem to have a solution.

Just in looking at the data sheet for the LM2917 i noticed it has an internal zenner diode connected to pin 6. Your circuit depicts pin 6 connected directly to 9V rather than is suggested in the data sheet of using a 470ohm current limiting resistor between pin 6 and the power supply.

It is possible that the internal zenner is sinking the excess current and thus producing the unwanted heat.

Bernie

I'm always think out of the box. Why have an digital signal make it to an analog signal and then make it digital again.
Use the tacosignal directly and measure the time between two pulses. RPM are the inverse funktion of time.
Perhaps you need a prescaler I don't know how fast signals the arduino can measure .

Saabman, du råkar inte vara från Sverige?

Pelle

Old thread but since I'm currently exploring doing the same, wouldn't a mosfet triggered by the signal wire that outputs 5V into the arduino...then count the rate of that pin turning on and off using micros... then some calcuations. Wouldn't that be easier?

donperry:
Old thread but since I'm currently exploring doing the same, wouldn't a mosfet triggered by the signal wire that outputs 5V into the arduino...then count the rate of that pin turning on and off using micros... then some calcuations. Wouldn't that be easier?

That really depends on the arduino/micro you're using. If you have one with high enough clock speeds and low enough input frequency, that would be an easy way to do it. I'm using these chips right now for an anti-skid/traction control application where I need to take an input from 4 wheels, average the fronts and backs, measure the difference and act on it.
An arduino might not work here because I have 4 inputs. The frequencies are high enough that I'd need to use interrupts and it's almost entirely possible that the arduino gets interrupted while handling another interrupt, causing unpredictable timing behaviour.
On the flip side, using an ic like this, would let me implement my whole circuit with analog components and no microcontroller at all

you don't need converter, you need arduino frequency meter and convert it to RPM

Can you attach the schematic of the circuit using the "Attachments" button in the lower left corner of the screen ?

I can't see your circuit.

Have you used a current limiting resistor ( datasheet suggests 470R) in series with the supply?

Allan