Was gonna use my laptop soundcard output as a signal generator, just wondering if its okay to do, and what kind of input impedance should i use on my circuitry.
Just had a thought, the earphones that you connect to an audio output are about 8-16 ohms. So i guess this is the nominal input impedance i should use for maximum power transfer right.
Just had a thought, the earphones that you connect to an audio output are about 8-16 ohms. So i guess this is the nominal input impedance i should use for maximum power transfer right.
You don't want maximum POWER transfer, you want to feed the lowish impedance output of the sound card to a higher impedance to give maximum SIGNAL transfer. The earphones you connect are most probably higher than 8-16 ohms, older ISA sound cards could feed normal speakers, later (ATX onwards) sound cards require amplified speakers, they are far too quiet with passive speakers.
I suggest you are EXTREMELY careful, it would be a shame to destroy your laptop?.
You should know that the low impedance of the sound card's output has enough power to destroy itself or a load. If the load is an electronic circuit and the output level from the sound card is too high then something will probably be destroyed.