Project Summary

Objective -

• Construct circuit that utilizes Arduino, MOSFET, and OP-AMP to measure Thevenin voltage of a power source up to 12V.

• Learn about ADCs, DACs, buzzers, and smart LEDs.

• Design a 4-layer board according to best practices.

Strategy -

• To maximize signal integrity of four-layer board, the two inner layers should be ground, and the two outer layers should be power/signal layers.

• To maximize signal integrity, place ground vias near any signal vias routed through the two inner ground layers.

• Place decoupling capacitors closest to Vcc leads of ICs.

• To maximize signal integrity, use as few cross-unders as possible to keep return plane continuous.

• All return paths should be to seperate ground vias.

Conclusion -

• You can never use too much flux when soldering.

• PCB was able to measure Thevenin Voltage as expected.

• Manually soldering components on PCB caused hard errors. Solderless breadboard version of circuit "worked" as expected.

• To reduce risk, components should only be soldered on one side of the PCB if possible.