Hi, folks.
I am curious about a detail of AD converters in Arduino processors.
On a UNO or NANO, the ATmega328p has a 10-bit AD converter, so it can return unsigned integer values from 0 (representing an input of 0V) to 1023 (representing an input of …, what exactly?)
I don't really know how the innards of an AD converter work. Normally, Arduino developers just use the power-supply voltage (5.0 V on UNO or NANO) as the AD reference voltage.
So does an AD value of 1023 actually represent EXACTLY the full reference voltage (e.g. EXACTLY 5.0V on UNO or NANO)? Or does 1023 actually represent JUST UNDER the reference voltage (e.g. JUST UNDER 5.0V; 4.9951171875V, to be exact ), and the EXACT full reference voltage (5.0V) would be represented by the (theoretical, but unavailable) value of 1024?
In sketches that convert AD inputs to actual voltages, I have seen different people use either 1023 or 1024 as the divisor when calculating the voltage. I.e. either (assuming the reference is 5.0V):
float Vx = 5.0*(((float)ADvalue)/1023.0)
or
float Vx = 5.0*(((float)ADvalue)/1024.0)
Which of the above is the more correct calculation?
(Note: I use 1023 and 1024 above, assuming 10-bit AD converters. I know that some boards have 12-bit converters so, for those cases, substitute 4095 and 4096. )
I know that it does not really make any practical difference "for government work," but curious (and pedantic) minds (at least this one ) want to know!
BTW (and unrelated to the above, but sort of related to AD converters ) I once read that reading in an AD converter value from an unconnected (i.e. open) AD pin, makes a good source of randomness for seeding the Arduino random number generator. Is that good advice?
Thanks and best regards,
DuinoSoar.