On Aug 29, 12:20 am, Polymorph<mike.a.steph...@gmail.com> wrote:
On Aug 29, 1:47 pm, Osgeld<osg...@cheesefactory.us> wrote:
On Aug 28, 8:35 pm, Polymorph<mike.a.steph...@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Guys,
I decided to add the LM386 amplifiers to my Mockingboard that I posted
about a few weeks ago. Prior to adding the amplification, the board
was working fine with powered speakers. This might be another case of
"if it aint broke, don't fix it", but I wanted to hear the difference
the amplifiers would make, and I had already bought them as well, so
the temptation was too strong. ;-)
I completed the amplifier add-on and have got it working as such, but
with *heaps* of bus noise being output. I can play music, and I know
the amplifiers are obviously working as the sound is loud even on un-
powered speakers. The trouble is, as soon as I turn on the Apple II, I
can hear fairly loud bus noise.
Now I've used the circuit as described in the AY-3-8910 data manual
which can be seen here:http://apple2.sytes.net/Mockingboard/images/AY-3-8910_Interfacing.jpg
From analysis of the high resolution scans of the Mockingboard V1 on
the ReactiveMicro site, this circuit appears to be very similar to
what is on the Mockingboard V1. Is there anything obviously wrong
with the circuit above?
Another thing I've noticed is that the Mockingboard V1 has some
additional 0.1uF capacitors on the +5V line going into the AY-3-8910
and 6522 chips. Could the absence of these capacitors be responsible
for the noise I'm hearing?
I've gone over the additional amplifier circuitry that I added, and
everything appears to be wired correctly. Remember, the rest of the
circuit was working fine (albeit without amplification).
Is anything else I should check to eliminate the bus noise?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Cheers,
Mike
nothing looks offensive, although the 386 is an especially noisy chip
in the first place, the 0.1uf caps going to the digital chips are
decoupling caps, they keep bouncy power from effecting the chips
(false triggers and whatnot) and they should not have any effect on a
analog output
what happens if the amp is powered externally?
Thanks, I'll give that a try tonight and see what happens.
One thing that has occurred to me just now is that the resistors I've
used are all 0.5 Watt. The addition of the amplifier would be causing
the output to go greater than 0.5 Watts now would it not? Could this
be the cause of the noise? Should I replace all resistors with 1 Watt
(or higher) resistors, or are the 0.5 Watt ones I'm using sufficient?
Cheers,
Mike
half watt resistors are really overkill (but not doing any harm) the
wattage rating of a resistor is not how much you can pass though it,
but how much energy it can dissipate before breaking, with the current
and voltages involved your more than ok
the issue is there is noisy power, your amplifying it (just like the
hum of a guitar amp) so you are looking to remove it or filter it
out...
I dont know how you have this constructed, if its soldered together,
trial and error could be a big PITA, that is why I suggested running
it off of a separated power supply first, you could also increase the
value of the 300pf capacitor or omit it and the 500 ohm resistor, as
that is not usually seen on basic applications of the amp
it also could be coming from the passive mixer since its taking 3
inputs and running them through a voltage divider to ground
dunno I am not an analog electronics guru