Idiot (me) needs help wiring sensor to Red Lion Cub3 Counter

[Bryan Jeppson]

Okay, I bought this optical sensor Optek OPB821Z

http://www.optekinc.com/datasheets/opb820-821.pdf

and I'm trying to figure out how it hooks up to a Red Lion Cub3 ctr

http://www.redlion.net/Products/Grou...Docs/01008.pdf

Thought I could figure this out, but no progress...just a lot of #$%$%&^&!!!! I've wired enough guitars in my day to understand the very very basics of resistors, but am not too great at schematics. Can someone give me a clue as to what wires go where, and what battery source I need for the switch (the counter is already powered by 2 1.5v batteries. Thanks in advance.

[walcen]

OK, terminals 3&4 of your Optical Switch need to be powered and it is polarity sensitive because you're powering a photo diode and it will only work in one direction.

I'm not sure how to read that data sheet so I'm not sure of the voltage requirement but I wouldn't apply any more than 5 Volts DC to start with.

Terminals 1&2 of your Optical Switch are connected to the counter wires in either direction.

When the light path in the switch is interrupted it will switch off, when the path is cleared it will switch on and add another digit to you meter. the path breaker is usually a disk with a hole in it on the shaft that turns the bobbin.

Some may correct me as there are more qualified people here, but short of drawing pictures, that's the best I can manage.

hope this helps

regards to all

Walt

[Berman]

Hi
please dont feed a LED direct by an powersupply. LED need a resistor in the supply-line, mainly to stabilize the current running through them, without this the LED will drag more and more current and will finally burn out.

Look at this circuit, apply it corresponding the datasheet of your optical switch, and select the resistor according your powersuppy.

http://classicamplification.net/wind...OPTEK-CUB4.pdf

greetings
Hermann

[Jazz P Bass]

Nice reply Hermann.
That about sums it up, huh.

[David King]

When using any optical, magnetic or mechanical switch, strive to keep the pulse width for "on" and "off" equal i.e. 1/2 the time each. This will get you the highest reliable count speed.

[Bryan Jeppson]

Thanks everyone for your help. Turns out my biggest shortcoming was not being able to tell which voltage was correct from all the different figures in the specs. At $5 a pop, I luckily bought 2 of these in case I killed one accidentally, which is likely what happened to the first one - I tried powering it off of a battery holder I had for 4 AAs. One of my wife's friends looked over the spec sheet and said it should be driven by a single 1.5 volt battery. I'd seen the shematic on classicamplification.net before, but to paraphrase Shakespeare "It was all geek to me." I couldn't really figure out how to apply it. If I'm powering this switch off a simple DC battery rather than a DC converter powersupply, do I still need resistors to prevent LED burnout, or is the ampage insignificant enough for that not to be a concern?

[Jazz P Bass]

The 1.5 volt led spec is the forward voltage of the led.
The resistor is for current limiting.
I would advise that you follow the schematic.
The spec sheet shown indicates how to hook up the optoswitch.
The minimum advised is 5 volts dc.
The schematic shows how to wire it up.
As shown they are using voltage regulators.
That is the 78XX. The XX is the voltage output of each regulator.
The L05 is 5volt.
The L09 is 9 volt.
The L12 is 12 volt.
Using batteries to power this is o/k, but performance will suffer as voltage drops.
The regulator can take a higher voltage & maintain its output until the battery voltage drops to the regulators minimum input voltage.

[ivkovicp]

Some good discussion here...also a problem that I am struggling with! Can someone please shed some light on what IC ON is in the schematic? I'm assuming on current value required to run the counter??? My counter (Sestos model: http://www.sestos-hk.com/english/download/C2E-EN.pdf) does not specify this in the datasheet so how do I know what the typical value is? The input is 12V DC (and the model shows max input current as 50mA).
Ta!

[Jazz P Bass]

Some good discussion here...also a problem that I am struggling with! Can someone please shed some light on what IC ON is in the schematic? I'm assuming on current value required to run the counter??? My counter (Sestos model: http://www.sestos-hk.com/english/download/C2E-EN.pdf) does not specify this in the datasheet so how do I know what the typical value is? The input is 12V DC (and the model shows max input current as 50mA).
Ta!

What are you asking?
What schematic are you refering to that indicates an "IC ON"?

[David King]

The pdf indicates that the counter counts with either an on-off switch (no external voltage present) or by an external voltage fluctuating between low and high states. The low state must be between 0V and +2V, the high state needs to be between +4.5V and +30V.

[Jazz P Bass]

So in other words, the counter input recognzes a High/ On or a Low/ Off state.
And that can be accomplished in a multitude of ways.

[ivkovicp]

Thanks Guys. I was looking at the schematic from the classic amplification website (http://classicamplification.net/wind...OPTEK-CUB4.pdf) with the Optec OPB4 switch and the CUB4 counter. There are a couple of formulae there to work out the resistor size to manage the voltage drop. I was (am) still unsure about how to work out the resistor R2 size...? While I'm here, Vcc in this case would be 12V...is that correct? Thanks

[Jazz P Bass]

Now I see what you meant by IC On.
IC is the Collector current.
I as in current
C as in collector.
IF is the forward current through the LED in the package.
It limits the LED current draw so it doesn't burn up.