I was reading this article:

http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_4/chpt_11/3.html

when I started looking for pre-configured binary counters (that's a lot of discrete components to put on a circuit board...) and discovered that a typical 4 bit binary counter is around 40 cents while 8 bit binary counters are like 10 bucks... Is it possible to chain a couple of binary counters together (sorta how shift registers are chained together)?

http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/CD4029BE/296-2046-5-ND/67275

 

It is certainly possible. It's how things were done before there was an 8 bit part. A typical example would be the the 74LS161 synchronous counter.

 

It is certainly possible. It's how things were done before there was an 8 bit part. A typical example would be the the 74LS161 synchronous counter.

Great though is this a up/down counter?

 

Lol, man, so this synchronous counter takes 4 input data lines? You wouldn't happen to have a tutorial handy that would explain how to use this thing would you? Going through the data sheet right now.

 

Check out the eBook associated with this site.
http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_4/chpt_11/3.html

 

Check out the eBook associated with this site.
http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_4/chpt_11/3.html

yea... not sure if you read the first post, but I actually linked to that exact page... the page doesn't explain how a binary counter accepts 4 data lines...

 

Here's one way to connect 2x 74HC161 to become an 8 bit binary counter.

The preset inputs are used to start counting up from any 8 bit value eg 0-255. You can leave them out and just connect /load pin to logic high so it would always start counting from zero.



Allen

 

yea... not sure if you read the first post, but I actually linked to that exact page... the page doesn't explain how a binary counter accepts 4 data lines...

You're right I did not follow the link to see what you were reading. I tried to answer the cascade question in the affirmative, and I was looking for material on preloading. Thing is, you may or may not be aware of the datasheet which exists for almost every part you can imagine. They are just chock full of useful pictures, diagrams, graphs, and charts. In the not so distant past engineers would collect libraries of databooks. Nowadays we just google them as in:
"74LS163 datasheet"
http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/sn54163.pdf
Notice the diagram on page 4 which shows how the DATA inputs can be routed to the J K inputs of the flip-flops conditiond by LOAD-bar. The short answer is that the data inputs are routed to the JK inputs by using a multiplexer.

 

You're right I did not follow the link to see what you were reading. I tried to answer the cascade question in the affirmative, and I was looking for material on preloading. Thing is, you may or may not be aware of the datasheet which exists for almost every part you can imagine. They are just chock full of useful pictures, diagrams, graphs, and charts. In the not so distant past engineers would collect libraries of databooks. Nowadays we just google them as in:
"74LS163 datasheet"
http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/sn54163.pdf
Notice the diagram on page 4 which shows how the DATA inputs can be routed to the J K inputs of the flip-flops conditiond by LOAD-bar. The short answer is that the data inputs are routed to the JK inputs by using a multiplexer.

Yea... I already mentioned that I was reading the counter's datasheet... In the future, can you not respond to a question or comment until you've actually read what I said? Thanks