Great video! This is why it's important to learn circuit fragments like comparators, voltage dividers, etc. Makes it a lot easier to understand integrated circuits when you see the schematics of the internals, and how to add other circuit fragments to the pins while looking at the circuit diagrams.
Nice you show a schematic. You make me buy stuff (used the christmas holiday to practice ne555’s) and a schematic helps next to a breadboard example. Best wishes !
This is the best explanation video of these types of chips i've seen. Crystal clear. I'm currently building a VU meter using a lm 3915 I'm following the diagram which is fine but I don't really know why things are the way they are. This has provided some real clarity. thank you.
I used to use these a lot. I ever made a pump down controller with one of these combined with an SCR and a photo triac, and power triac to torn the pump on and off. At the time it was simple, cheap, and reliable. Now they're so expensive vs a microcontroller it doesn't make sense anymore. But I still like the part. 🙂
One of the IC's used on school for showing leves in electronic projects such as water , VU meter, temperature, only were analog circuits are allowed :P Thanks for bringing this must have IC
That is a pretty cool chip I’m going to add it to my shopping list. I may actually have some I got a chip grab bag awhile back that I need to go through. Great video Paul, I love these small circuits that can be added to other circuits pretty easily.
Even though LM3914 is kind of...obsolete one can still buy it on like from various places such as E-Bay and is a real fun to do projects with, perhaps if you need to build your own for example : an lux meter, air flow tester, liquid level in a tank, a VU-audio meter, a humidity tester, a thermometer etc, ...(and the list is endless), this IC would be a great replacement for a needle based analog instrument. Great job....and thumbs up for this nice practical demonstration I really like it. Keep up the good work. Ta
I like your videos, but as new guy to electronics, I would like to see more videos on a visual of how current flows and why? Why we use certain components to control the flow of current and control voltage. Not the basics of things like npn or pnp, but how those things influence the circuit and results of the circuit . thanks Steve
I did not know this chip existed until now. You could easily use this as a battery indicator in bar mode and if the last led goes off just switch the power to your circuit of and you’re done.
3 in the 'family': LM3914, LM3915, LM3916. Having never looked closely at the datasheets, I was now surprised to read the pin-5 input (with a 39K resistor in series) can handle up to +/- 100v. Wow, didn't know that. Looks like in 1979 Forrest Mims created an LED matrix oscilloscope with LM3914, LM4017 and supporting chips. Crude by today's standard, but pretty amazing at the time... FWIW.
iv paused at the start to write this coz i all ready know this is going to be one cool video!!!! EDIT: OK just watched the whole video &.. thats the sort of things we beginners like to see coz thats stuff we/I look at buying but dont know how to use.. thanks Paul, you have made my decision to get one of these (which i wanted to get for ages) much easier...& for anyone else looking whos more adapt then i am please look at my other post on WINDOWS 7??? need help....
Please tell me-Hi, would I be able to hook this up to an audio jack, and plug into a headphone socket? It's work -tell me please.! R1=10k, R2=5k it,s good?
This is very nice. I could see building it into my grandson's busy board. Leads me to think it would be nice to be able to use a rotary encoder with an Arduino for him to play with. Paul, do you think you could fit this one into your schedule?
@@learnelectronics Thanks you Sir, I will Look it up. You have such a large number of videos, I should have searched first. Grandson is too young to get into electronics, but I hope to plant a seed of curiosity in his mind.
Nice video! But I still have a couple of (dumb) questions. Can you set the voltage range or is it strictly set by what voltage you put on Vcc? I would have guessed you do that with some combination of RLo, RHi, and Vref. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
I think it is possible to combine two of those LM3914 IC's to make a display of a 20 segment bargraph. Then finally there is a bargraph for very loud music, normally it goes up to 10, but then also eleven and twelve can be shown. Turning load music up to 20 would be foolish though.
kudos on the video! i did the blynk project in my house. i was wondering if u can do a tutorial of the same project but without the blynk app. what im imagining is to control the D1 wifi board through linux command line. or pointing me in the right direction. thank you very much
i have a query not to do with the video but i dont know where esle to turn to... windows 7 is been discontinued on the 14th of jan.. in 8 DAY'S.. can anyone tell my if i can upgrade for free to any other software except windows 10????? ?
btw i recognised an unstable behavior. The Status jumpes between 2 and 8 leds randomly if i (slowly/normaly) disconnect and reconnect the circuit. Its very unreliable indicator at the moment, did you noticed that too or do you have a fix for that?
That chip works neat for things you need to take actions on or at various voltage levels. Not just for driving LED displays. Say you need a load to kick in at 10V, 20V and 30V . You can implement that using this chip. Like on my Wind Turbine creating a variable voltage between 9 and 50v. 0 - 24v can be directed to charge the battery. Any thing above 24V directed via relays to a Dump load or alternate purpose like a heater element. Why am I so damn Cold ? Did you know today 05 Jan is the day the Earth is the closest to the Sun we are all year long ? Answer : It's the Angle of the Dangle. What does that have to do with Electronics's ya say ? NOT a dang thing. I just remembered that tid bit.
Thanks for demonstrating this IC, i wonder if the input voltage is raised (say 12V) the offset will decrease proportionally? Could also use for battery voltage monitoring.
VU meters are using a similar approach but their scales are logarithmic instead of linear. As such, you would need the LM3915 instead of the LM3914. Have fun!
Hi great Video and very informative. I've just ordered the LM3914 off eBay to make a car battery monitor. Sorry to hear about your heart condition. Are you suitable for Heart Transplantation? I underwent one in 2017 so I know what you're going through. Take things easy ☺
I was hoping for a little advice from the type of people who regularly watch these kind of videos: I'm making a prop replica (a phaser from Star Trek) using this chip and bar graph, and I want to be able to press a button and increment the graph by one - and vice-versa on another button. I'm thinking I need to find some kind of Digital Variable Resistor. And so that I don't fry the chip, I guess some kind of fail-over circuit with a resistor the right strength should run parrallel to the DVR... oh wait, no - that would mean the current goes through the DVR only when it's higher... Can I put it in-line, do something with a diode? I obviously have no idea what I'm talking about, so help is appreciated.
Nice chip, but the video for me seems incomplete (i dont know the correct word for it). I need the breadboard for starters so I wont have to see 4 minutes of nonsense before I understand what you are brilliantly up to. I also need explanation on that signal (which trimpot and why) and how to pass the signal on to another function which I suppose you would have also as the bar doesnt have any function by itself.
7:30 " you cant use that microphone because it has an offset of 2.5v" Youd think with your 30years of experince youd know you could remove that offset with a capacitor & all electret microphones have a bais offset voltage! They have to have this in order to be able to swing negative.
You can make anything work with enough parts. But if you would have Listened to what I said instead of making a smart-ass comment you would have heard me say you cant use THIS microphone due to the offset and 5V range. Do you really expect me to cover every possible permiatation of every single circuit in an 8 minute video? Why dont you go and troll somewhere else. You have now used your minute of my time. Bye.
@@learnelectronics hahaha i wasnt trolling i was making a serious point, you could use that mircophone in that circuit, its just the same as any other electret microphone! The fact that someone has put it on a board with a couple bais resistors to make it easy to use with an aurduino means nothing! Simply add a capacitor to remove the off set and feed that signal into a peak dectector circuit, then the output of that into the LM3914.
@@lacey-mariegreen6112 I think there is a mic circuit with a peak detector in the datasheet if I remember.....mind you the log chip would be better for the mic. I have to confess I haven't looked at this chip for many years, last time was in college when I was a teenager!
Great video! This is why it's important to learn circuit fragments like comparators, voltage dividers, etc. Makes it a lot easier to understand integrated circuits when you see the schematics of the internals, and how to add other circuit fragments to the pins while looking at the circuit diagrams.
Had so much fun with these sorts of parts sourced from the local Radio Shack when I was a kid. LM3914. LM3915, LM3916, LM3909.
The nostalgia of high-school electronics class. Thank you, Mr. Banfield.
Nice you show a schematic. You make me buy stuff (used the christmas holiday to practice ne555’s) and a schematic helps next to a breadboard example. Best wishes !
This is the best explanation video of these types of chips i've seen. Crystal clear. I'm currently building a VU meter using a lm 3915 I'm following the diagram which is fine but I don't really know why things are the way they are. This has provided some real clarity. thank you.
This is brilliant, please keep this up. Maybe we could build up to a bigger project?
I used to use these a lot. I ever made a pump down controller with one of these combined with an SCR and a photo triac, and power triac to torn the pump on and off. At the time it was simple, cheap, and reliable. Now they're so expensive vs a microcontroller it doesn't make sense anymore. But I still like the part. 🙂
Best video yet; you have nailed down an excellent teaching format. Crystal clear and interesting. Thank you
One of the IC's used on school for showing leves in electronic projects such as water , VU meter, temperature, only were analog circuits are allowed :P Thanks for bringing this must have IC
Fun project, I have this chip and a bar graph. Thank you for the video, Paul.
You can also use these IC's in a VU meter application too if you are building an amplifier
That is a pretty cool chip I’m going to add it to my shopping list. I may actually have some I got a chip grab bag awhile back that I need to go through. Great video Paul, I love these small circuits that can be added to other circuits pretty easily.
Even though LM3914 is kind of...obsolete one can still buy it on like from various places such as E-Bay and is a real fun to do projects with, perhaps if you need to build your own for example : an lux meter, air flow tester, liquid level in a tank, a VU-audio meter, a humidity tester, a thermometer etc, ...(and the list is endless), this IC would be a great replacement for a needle based analog instrument. Great job....and thumbs up for this nice practical demonstration I really like it. Keep up the good work. Ta
Thanks
I like your videos, but as new guy to electronics, I would like to see more videos on a visual of how current flows and why?
Why we use certain components to control the flow of current and control voltage. Not the basics of things like npn or pnp, but
how those things influence the circuit and results of the circuit . thanks Steve
Hey man aweason vídeo!! Me and my friend really appreciate that cause help us a lot on our university project Hugo thanks !!
hello, Great video, you dont use any coding for this right. Do you think you can also use an FSR?
You had a project a while ago where you turned up a 5k tone or something. These would be easy to combine
You're the best f*&king electronics teacher ever.
I did not know this chip existed until now. You could easily use this as a battery indicator in bar mode and if the last led goes off just switch the power to your circuit of and you’re done.
great video... i have some of these LM3914s on order and i cannot wait to get started... thanks...:)
3 in the 'family': LM3914, LM3915, LM3916. Having never looked closely at the datasheets, I was now surprised to read the pin-5 input (with a 39K resistor in series) can handle up to +/- 100v. Wow, didn't know that. Looks like in 1979 Forrest Mims created an LED matrix oscilloscope with LM3914, LM4017 and supporting chips. Crude by today's standard, but pretty amazing at the time... FWIW.
iv paused at the start to write this coz i all ready know this is going to be one cool video!!!!
EDIT: OK just watched the whole video &.. thats the sort of things we beginners like to see coz thats stuff we/I look at buying but dont know how to use.. thanks Paul, you have made my decision to get one of these (which i wanted to get for ages) much easier...& for anyone else looking whos more adapt then i am please look at my other post on WINDOWS 7??? need help....
4:43 that resistor is 100K not 10K (brown 1, black 0, yellow 4x0 = 100000 Ohm = 100K)
Liked and subscribed. Do you think you could combine a linear Hall Effect sensor to your
So will this read the full 5v indicator?
I have the 3914s and the LED bars
And I will have 8 of these for 0-5v analog inputs.
Ok so if my signal will be 0-5v
Then
My input needs to 6.5v
You said 1.5v lower on the signal?
I see you didn't use any resistors to the led bargraph, and I wired mine the same, and have blown the leds inside it.
Please tell me-Hi, would I be able to hook this up to an audio jack, and plug into a headphone socket? It's work -tell me please.! R1=10k, R2=5k it,s good?
This is very nice. I could see building it into my grandson's busy board. Leads me to think it would be nice to be able to use a rotary encoder with an Arduino for him to play with. Paul, do you think you could fit this one into your schedule?
I covered rotary encoders in my Arduino basics playlist.
@@learnelectronics Thanks you Sir, I will Look it up. You have such a large number of videos, I should have searched first. Grandson is too young to get into electronics, but I hope to plant a seed of curiosity in his mind.
The resistor you're calling 10K looks like 100K, and the one you're calling 20K looks like 10K.
Nice video! But I still have a couple of (dumb) questions. Can you set the voltage range or is it strictly set by what voltage you put on Vcc? I would have guessed you do that with some combination of RLo, RHi, and Vref. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
I think it is possible to combine two of those LM3914 IC's to make a display of a 20 segment bargraph. Then finally there is a bargraph for very loud music, normally it goes up to 10, but then also eleven and twelve can be shown. Turning load music up to 20 would be foolish though.
Can each of these be used separately?
where did you connect the aligator clip?
Hi! great video!. Do you think is going to work if the signal is a PWM from an arduino?
It works on voltage.
Love the new line of vids. I know the 4017 is a very different chip but also similar in many ways. How about a vid on it?
Look in my basic electricity and electronics playlist. I've done multiple videos on the 4017
Since it saturates at 3.7V, could it be possible to use it as 18650 battery charge indicator?
Yes
Yeah I like those, thanks for sharing.
kudos on the video! i did the blynk project in my house. i was wondering if u can do a tutorial of the same project but without the blynk app. what im imagining is to control the D1 wifi board through linux command line. or pointing me in the right direction. thank you very much
Thank you
Hi, would I be able to hook this up to an audio jack, and plug into a headphone socket?, and, if I had two circuits, would this show stereo?
i have a query not to do with the video but i dont know where esle to turn to... windows 7 is been discontinued on the 14th of jan.. in 8 DAY'S.. can anyone tell my if i can upgrade for free to any other software except windows 10????? ?
Really interesting circuit, dude! Thanks! 😃
i bought 8x Chips&parts of them and thought: fuck its dot mode xD,
video saved my day
btw i recognised an unstable behavior. The Status jumpes between 2 and 8 leds randomly if i (slowly/normaly) disconnect and reconnect the circuit.
Its very unreliable indicator at the moment, did you noticed that too or do you have a fix for that?
Thank you for the vid 👍 and instead of a pot, can you put a pwm signal instead to move the led bar graph 🤔
Cool! Thanks. Will have to try myself!
That chip works neat for things you need to take actions on or at various voltage levels. Not just for driving LED displays. Say you need a load to kick in at 10V, 20V and 30V . You can implement that using this chip. Like on my Wind Turbine creating a variable voltage between 9 and 50v. 0 - 24v can be directed to charge the battery. Any thing above 24V directed via relays to a Dump load or alternate purpose like a heater element.
Why am I so damn Cold ?
Did you know today 05 Jan is the day the Earth is the closest to the Sun we are all year long ?
Answer : It's the Angle of the Dangle.
What does that have to do with Electronics's ya say ? NOT a dang thing. I just remembered that tid bit.
Great video, well explained. Thank you !
Anyone know what "Exclamation Point" mode is?
Could I use a cheap sound sensor for this .cool.
Thanks for demonstrating this IC, i wonder if the input voltage is raised (say 12V) the offset will decrease proportionally? Could also use for battery voltage monitoring.
Yes and yes. It's just a bunch of comparitors.
could I use this to show battery level?
Thank you so much!!!!
So the LM3914 could be use as a part of a Vu meter?
VU meters are using a similar approach but their scales are logarithmic instead of linear. As such, you would need the LM3915 instead of the LM3914. Have fun!
SimpleEnough2k9 Oh! I see. Thank you :)
Hi great Video and very informative. I've just ordered the LM3914 off eBay to make a car battery monitor. Sorry to hear about your heart condition. Are you suitable for Heart Transplantation? I underwent one in 2017 so I know what you're going through. Take things easy ☺
Thanks Karl. Not quite at that point yet.
Good to know :) Thank you!
I was hoping for a little advice from the type of people who regularly watch these kind of videos:
I'm making a prop replica (a phaser from Star Trek) using this chip and bar graph, and I want to be able to press a button and increment the graph by one - and vice-versa on another button. I'm thinking I need to find some kind of Digital Variable Resistor. And so that I don't fry the chip, I guess some kind of fail-over circuit with a resistor the right strength should run parrallel to the DVR... oh wait, no - that would mean the current goes through the DVR only when it's higher... Can I put it in-line, do something with a diode? I obviously have no idea what I'm talking about, so help is appreciated.
Hmm nice vid, good explanation.
Cool! thanks for sharing.
it looks like it probably doesn't matter ,,, but you use a 100k instead of a 10k
nice vid , thanx
Nice chip, but the video for me seems incomplete (i dont know the correct word for it). I need the breadboard for starters so I wont have to see 4 minutes of nonsense before I understand what you are brilliantly up to. I also need explanation on that signal (which trimpot and why) and how to pass the signal on to another function which I suppose you would have also as the bar doesnt have any function by itself.
It's an easy lil chip... so is the lm3915....
7:30 " you cant use that microphone because it has an offset of 2.5v" Youd think with your 30years of experince youd know you could remove that offset with a capacitor & all electret microphones have a bais offset voltage! They have to have this in order to be able to swing negative.
You can make anything work with enough parts. But if you would have Listened to what I said instead of making a smart-ass comment you would have heard me say you cant use THIS microphone due to the offset and 5V range.
Do you really expect me to cover every possible permiatation of every single circuit in an 8 minute video?
Why dont you go and troll somewhere else. You have now used your minute of my time. Bye.
@@learnelectronics hahaha i wasnt trolling i was making a serious point, you could use that mircophone in that circuit, its just the same as any other electret microphone! The fact that someone has put it on a board with a couple bais resistors to make it easy to use with an aurduino means nothing! Simply add a capacitor to remove the off set and feed that signal into a peak dectector circuit, then the output of that into the LM3914.
@@lacey-mariegreen6112 I think there is a mic circuit with a peak detector in the datasheet if I remember.....mind you the log chip would be better for the mic. I have to confess I haven't looked at this chip for many years, last time was in college when I was a teenager!
first