Clamping output to gnd at very low threshold?

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pavjayt

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I have a digital potentiometer setup as voltage divider that doesn't quite go down to 0V and can only go as low as 30mV. Is there any logical way to clamp this to GND when it is at this level, for example, using a combination of analog switch / comparator or likewise? Would like it to be adjustable since these DACs have quite a bit of tolerance.

thanks
 
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You mean like a giant sub-mohm MOSFET wired to pull down the output of the digital pot whose gate is driven by a comparator whose output fires whenever the input falls below ~30mV? If so, I kind of wonder how you would ever get out of that state since you have a feed forward loop where the MOSFET drives the output to zero and stays at zero if the output is driven to zero.
 
A rather broad question with not much supporting information.

Which digital potentiometer? A link to its datasheet would be useful.

How are you using the digital pot? A schematic would be useful.

JimB
 
I am not sure how this can be done or if it is even possible, but you never know.
 
pavanbabut said:
I am not sure how this can be done or if it is even possible, but you never know.
Click to expand...

Well, it's a digital pot so your processor should know when it's trying to get 0V out of the pot. In which case, drive the MOSFET gate directly with the processor and use software to coordinate the MOSFET and the pot.
 
JimB said:
A rather broad question with not much supporting information.

Which digital potentiometer? A link to its datasheet would be useful.

How are you using the digital pot? A schematic would be useful.

JimB
Click to expand...
I am using AD5292 with a 5V reference connected to it A terminal while B is connected to GND. W is connected as reference voltage to a 10BIT DAC.

Hope that helps
 
dknguyen said:
Well, it's a digital pot so your processor should know when it's trying to get 0V out of the pot. In which case, drive the MOSFET gate directly with the processor and use software to coordinate the MOSFET and the pot.
Click to expand...
Actually, thats a good idea. Now you got me thinking that I can use one of the GPIO pins on my SPI interface to drive a switch.

Thanks a bunch
 
pavanbabut said:
Actually, thats a good idea. Now you got me thinking that I can use one of the GPIO pins on my SPI interface to drive a switch.

Thanks a bunch
Click to expand...
What MOSFET are you planning on using? MOSFETs take a finite amount of time to turn on because the gate capacitance needs to be charged. Especially very low RDson MOSFETs (high gate capacitance/charge) being driven by the weak, low-current GPIO of a regular IC. Don't forget to use a logic level MOSFET.

Of course, if you needed speed then you could drive the gate with a a dedicated low-side gate driver IC triggered from the GPIO. Which also releases you from the bounds of a logic level MOSFET since gate driver ICs have a separate supply voltage input used to drive the gate. But you probably don't need speed. Just putting it out there in case you did.
 

I am guessing like a simple analog switch like ADG1219 should work fine for my purpose.
 
Something doesn't add up. Your maximum error should be 10mV (5V/1024 * 2) - the 2 is the max error at position zero. Your normal error should be zero!!

A schematic would help.

Mike.
 
I just had a look at the datasheet to see if I could find the minimum resistance of the potentiometer, but I could not see it.

Rather than trying to short circuit the output at zero output, why not insert an offset adjustment, maybe using an op-amp, to take the residual output to zero.

JimB
 
pavanbabut said:
5V reference connected to it A terminal while B is connected to GND. W is connected as reference voltage to a 10BIT DAC.
Click to expand...
Is the B terminal really connected to the ground reference of the 10 bit DAC?
If you short out the W terminal to ground of the "pot" what is the reading on the DAC?
----edited----
It is easy to have 30mV drop in ground in a bread board.
 
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ronsimpson said:
Is the B terminal really connected to the ground reference of the 10 bit DAC?
If you short out the W terminal to ground of the "pot" what is the reading on the DAC?
----edited----
It is easy to have 30mV drop in ground in a bread board.
Click to expand...
Just tested this and the DAC output is Zero when I short it. When I remove the short it goes back to 30mV. This setup is on a PCB. B terminal is connected to GND layer.
 
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