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- Any RC
- ~~~~~~~
-
- by P.E.Marshall
-
-
- Only a finite number of different resistor values are manufactured.
- Low cost ranges in common use have only 12 'preferred' values per
- decade, thus there is a difference between adjacent values of 20%,
- although the resistors themselves may have a tolerance of 5% or
- even 2%.
-
- Virtually any intermediate value can be obtained by using two
- resistors in series or in parallel. A parallel pair is usually more
- convenient for a printed circuit board layout, while series is better
- for high voltage applications.
-
- The value of resistors in parallel is given by R = 1/(1/r1+1/r2) and
- in series simply by R = r1 + r2.
-
- This program calculates the two values required to obtain a given
- target resistance. It may be desirable to keep the two values as
- close to each other as possible to aid power sharing or voltage
- distribution, so the option is provided to acheive this, provided
- the tolerance of the target value can be relaxed.
-
- In 'Highest Accuracy' mode, the results are only displayed when closer
- than 20%, but usually the results are surprisingly accurate.
- Another mode allows one of the values to be chosen by the user. This
- can be faster if you know near enough what one value will be.
-
- The program also the user if a single value would be closer than a pair.
-
- Select the various options, then enter the target value in the 'required'
- box. Press return, or click on the 'Calculate' icon. The displayed
- results can also be altered to see the result of changing one or both
- values.
-
- The algorithm used is rather crude - the program simply tries every
- combination to see which is best and so is therefore rather slow. No
- doubt a proper mathematician could come up with something better!
-
- Capacitors can also be calculated, and 12 or 24 values per decade
- selected. When entering the value to be calculated the suffix K, M,
- n or u (for ยต) may be used. Ohms or pf are used by default. Notice
- I didn't use the omega symbol for ohms because there isn't one! The
- program redefines system font character 191 to omega (normally an
- upside-down question mark!)
-
-
- P.E.Marshall 21/11/94.