Hi, I've read through a bunch of threads here, and either I am failing in my search, or this is a weird one. I'm very green on this stuff, apologies up front if this is super simple, or if I completely miss something.
I have a 5V sensor circuit(analog DC), and I am looking to vary the signal from it to the computer monitoring it. I want to be able to take the voltage coming out of it, and shift it an amount, +/- 0.5V or so. The sensor itself changes it's output based on a mechanical change, and the shift needs to be the same without regard to the signal voltage.
I spent some time looking into op amps, because I think this is easily done, and think I can come up with a way to raise the output a varying amount by altering the Rf value on a simple non-inverting amplifier circuit, just enough to have a slight gain. But, I don't see how I could use that to drop the signal voltage. Can that be setup to have a positive gain less than 1? Or am I looking at needing something completely different.
Application: Manipulate signal input of height sensors on a vehicle, 4 in total, if possible a quad op amp would be ideal. Each signal is separate and has a positive slope of position to voltage(higher mechanical height, higher voltage output) Sensors read in neighborhood of 0.5-4.5V, and signal varies during operation. The 'new' signal, needs to maintain the voltage profile during operation, however with a variable shift to either raise or lower voltage by around +/- 0.5V. In operation this would perform the task of allowing for minor ride height changes on the fly based on voltage shift of the signals, so that a voltage increase of 0.2V shows the computer it is sitting high and lowers it accordingly. I have the means to do this, both mechanical changes to the sensors and altering the calibrated values, but neither can be done on the fly, where as a shift in the signal would result in an immediate compensation by the system.
Thanks for any insight on this,
Dave
I have a 5V sensor circuit(analog DC), and I am looking to vary the signal from it to the computer monitoring it. I want to be able to take the voltage coming out of it, and shift it an amount, +/- 0.5V or so. The sensor itself changes it's output based on a mechanical change, and the shift needs to be the same without regard to the signal voltage.
I spent some time looking into op amps, because I think this is easily done, and think I can come up with a way to raise the output a varying amount by altering the Rf value on a simple non-inverting amplifier circuit, just enough to have a slight gain. But, I don't see how I could use that to drop the signal voltage. Can that be setup to have a positive gain less than 1? Or am I looking at needing something completely different.
Application: Manipulate signal input of height sensors on a vehicle, 4 in total, if possible a quad op amp would be ideal. Each signal is separate and has a positive slope of position to voltage(higher mechanical height, higher voltage output) Sensors read in neighborhood of 0.5-4.5V, and signal varies during operation. The 'new' signal, needs to maintain the voltage profile during operation, however with a variable shift to either raise or lower voltage by around +/- 0.5V. In operation this would perform the task of allowing for minor ride height changes on the fly based on voltage shift of the signals, so that a voltage increase of 0.2V shows the computer it is sitting high and lowers it accordingly. I have the means to do this, both mechanical changes to the sensors and altering the calibrated values, but neither can be done on the fly, where as a shift in the signal would result in an immediate compensation by the system.
Thanks for any insight on this,
Dave