3 Tricks for getting a Better ADC for FREE! (Arduino)

3 tricks to improve your Arduino ADC for free!
Trick 1: use a better reference (don't use the default unless you REALLY have to!)
Trick 2: Calibrate your reference value!
Trick 3: Take a lot of samples and take the average!
Hope you find this video informative AND entertaining!
Got a question or comment? Let me know in the comment section!

[@SimjetAU]

Great informative video. You need to make many more. Your style of explanation really makes sense. Certainly better than most I have seen. I am a newb at arduino programming and your 4-20ma video and this one just make sense now

[@werewolfwu]

Much appreciated!

[@mennims]

Excellent video, valuable contribution thank you. Straight to the point and easy to understand. The one thing in my opinion - not a big fan of the werewolf character thing. In my opinion it'd be better if you didn't show your face as a werewolf, it's a bit jarring. Either no face or your real face. Your character and voice is enthusiastic enough that you don't need to show your face to your audience

[@werewolfwu]

But I spent hours doing python coding to put that face in..... OK....

[@mhavock]

good stuff! 😃

[@werewolfwu]

Thanks!

[@TheUnofficialMaker]

or use a precision voltage ref ic!

[@werewolfwu]

If I were to spend that kind of money, I won't use the cheap internal ADC :-)

[@inductr]

Thanks alot for spaghetti -wittiness and superb explanations!! Now I will try some ESP32 scaling ADC, avoiding top-end and hoping for the best, man that ADC_was_dissapointingly bad and I try to avoid bying alot of 16bit ADCs 😉 Have you any hints here?

[@werewolfwu]

Glad you found the video to be useful! Usually I wouldn't condone paying extra for ADCs unless the following two conditions are met: 1: the application ACTUALLY calls for it. 2: the signal conditioning / amplification / power supply quality etc... can actually truly support a 16 bit ADC. But that's just the personal opinion of a cost-conscious person.

[@jenniferw8963]

Wow, I really love your informative video! Thank you. I have been trying to make a multimeter with Arduino and it wasn't very accurate.. But I wasn't using AREF , no filtering caps, no averaging . WOuld an external dac chip be better? Like an MCP3204?

[@werewolfwu]

Hello Jennifer: glad you found the video useful for you! External DAC/ADCs CAN be better in terms of total resolution (people in the industry call that "count", e.g. 10,000 count). I would guess for a multimeter project, your switching network and the corresponding conversion and calibration for each switch position will be where you spend the majority of your time, IF you care about pin-point accuracy.

[@jenniferw8963]

@@werewolfwu using a 4051 to scan 8 reference resistors. Actually thinking of perhaps using four 4051's to scan 32 reference resistors , if that'd help :) Would like for i to be as accurate as a bench meter. Somehow. Or perhaps buy a multimeter controller chip.. i have no idea. I really want RS-232 communication with Arduino. The UT61e+ has USB connection but Arduino isn't a usb host. I want to log ohm measurements triggered by arduino, within an arduino circuit.

[@werewolfwu]

That sounds like a VERY serious project with that many analog switches!

[@jenniferw8963]

@@werewolfwu I wish my Instek GDM-8251A Bench Multimeter supported sending readings over RS-232.. they only send over TRUE or FALSE on compare tests :( So dumb.