Quasar Project Kit # 3089: - Stereo Vu Meter

QUASAR PROJECT KIT # 3089 - STEREO VU METER
This VU (volume-unit) meter is capable of monitoring and comparator is connected to an accurate ten-step voltage
displaying power levels present at the speaker terminals of divider network. Each comparator will therefore trigger on
an stereo audio power amplifier. The levels are displayed a different comparison level. The inverting (-) inputs of
in ten discrete steps. This meter is not designed to give an each comparator are commoned together and connected to
accurate display of the power levels produced by the an incoming DC signal via a high impedance input buffer.
connected equipment. It is designed to give an approximate The resistance values of the voltage divider network are
visual indication of the audio power output of each such that the comparators progressively turn on their LEDs
channel. For many situations - disco, parties - this is all for each 3dB increase of input signal level. There are ten
which is required: the flashing LED's add atmosphere to LEDs so the total range indicated is 30dB.
the situation. No calibration is required.
The output of each comparator drives an LED via a
The kit is constructed on single-sided printed circuit board. current-limited npn transistor. Outputs may be run in
It contains two identical circuits, one for each channel of saturation so that logicinputs on other IC's may be direct
the amplifier. It is based on the LM3915 IC. Protel driven.
Autotrax & Schematic were used to design it.
Current. LED This is given by the equation:
LM3915. This is a monolithic Dot/Bar Display Driver IC
made by National Semiconductor. It takes an analog ILED = 12.5V/R1 + Vref/2K2.
voltage input on pin 5 then drives 10 LED's providing a
logarithmic 3dB/step analog display. When measuring This works out to about 9.4mA.
power, a 3dB increase means that the power input has
doubled. As the power doubles, an additional LED will be The signal to be measured is fed to the input of IC1 (pin 5)
lit until the maximum is reached. The display can be bar or via a voltage doubling network consisting of C1, C2, D1
moving dot depending on the connection of pin 9 to the and D2. This gives the circuit more sensitivity to low level
positive supply. The LED drive current is regulated which input signals.
eliminates the need for current limiting resistors. The
supply voltage can be between 3V to 25V. You can Capacitor C2 is charged towards twice the peak-to-peak
download the data sheet from the National Semiconductor value of the input signal (less 1.2V for the drop across D1
website at: & D2). However, resistor R1 tends to discharge C2
between the signal peaks. Hence the DC voltage at pin 5 is
http://www.national.com/ equal to approximately twice the RMS value of the input
signal.
The IC is suited to signals with a wide dynamic range such
as audio, power, light intensity. In many applications a bar- The actual value of the power level displayed depends not
graph meter is faster, more rugged and has higher visibility only on the voltage across the speakers but also the
than an analog (moving coil) or LCD meter. resistance of the speakers themselves. The equation for
calculating power is P = E2 / R. The following gives the
Vref. The IC contains an adjustable voltage reference. A range of power levels displayed for common speaker
nominal 1.25V is developed across pins 7 and 8. Two resistances:
external resistors (R2 & R3 below) programs the full scale
from between 1.2V and 12V applied to pin 5. We have 8 ohm speakers 5.6 milliwatts to 2.87 watts
chosen 10.5V to turn on all 10 LED's. The voltage required 4 ohm speakers 11.2 milliwatts to 5.75 watts
to turn on all the LEDs is set by R2 and R3. The IC 2 ohm speakers 22.4 milliwatts to 11.48 watts
develops a nominal 1.25V reference voltage (Vref) across
pins 7 and 8. Since this voltage is constant then the current Note that the combination of R1 and C2 makes the circuit
through R3 is also constant. This current also flows non-linear. The power values given above are for a
through R2. The total voltage across R2 and R3 is given by frequency of 1 Khz. Frequencies below 1 Khz tend to be
displayed lower than their actual level while frequencies
V = Vref. ( 1 + R2/R3) + Iadj.R2 above 1 Khz tend to be displayed higher.
The last term is due to a small adjust current (75-120uA) Construction.

flowing out of pin 8. For the values shown the voltage is Add the lowest height components to the board first - the
approximately 10.5 volts. Since pins 6 and 7 are joined resistors, diodes and the two links. The links are indicated
then this is the voltage applied across the internal voltage by a white line next to pin 9 of each IC. For the four diodes
divider network. Therefore when the voltage on pin 5 make sure that the bar on the diode corresponds to the bar
equals 10.5V all ten LEDs will be lit. Vref is independent printed on the overlay at each diode position. Then add the
of the supply voltage. two IC sockets. Be careful to get the four electrolytic
capacitors in the correct way around.
Resistor Chain. Internally this chip consists of ten voltage
comparators. The non-inverting (+) input of each
LED's. We have supplied 7 green & 3 red LED's per audio COMPONENTS
channel.We suggest you use the three red LED's to indicate Resistors, 5%, 1/4W:
when the power is at its highest. This is at positions L8 L9 18K brown grey orange R2 R5 2
& L10 for IC1, and L18 L19 & L20 for IC2. Before you 2K7 red violet red R3 R6 2
solder the LED's into place you must do three things: first 10K brown black orange R1 R4 2
decide how high you need to have the LED's above the 1uF 50V ecap C1 C2 C3 C4 4
PCB for the particular application or case you have in Green rectangular LED 14
mind. Red rectangular LED 6
LM3915 IC1 IC2 2
Secondly, you must determine which lead of the LED is the 18 pin IC socket 2
cathode & which is the anode. The short lead of the LED 3089 PCB 1
indicates the cathode. This is the lead which corresponds to
the bar on the LED symbol on the overlay.
Thirdly, & very important: you want the LED's to all be

in a nice neat line, correct. Well soldering by hand will not
give this result. Use a piece of sticky tape to hold the
LED's securely in place while you solder. This will also
help you get the desired height above the PCB. After the
LED's are in place add the IC sockets & the IC's. Solder
the power and audio cables to the pads as indicated. After a
final check turn on the power and the audio input. If you
have an audio frequency generator set it up to deliver about
6V on a sinewave of 1kHz. Eight or nine of the LED's
should turn on. If this is not the case check that all
components are in their correct positions and with the right
orientation. Are the two links in the board? Are the IC's
around the correct way.
Prescaling. Higher power levels can be displayed by

adding a voltage divider network at the input to the meter.
For example, a 2-to-1 voltage divider means that the
maximum power able to be displayed would be increased
by four times. A 3-to-1 divider means an increase of 9
times, etc. (See Reference 3 for a circuit to do this.)
References:
1. The full data sheets on the LM3915 can be found in the
SpecialPurpose Linear Devices, data book from National
Semiconductor,page 5-240. Better still download it from
their website as given above.
2. Optoelectronics Circuits Manual by R. M. Marston,

published by Newnes. Pages 52 - 65.
3. Build This Audio Power Meter & Worry No More, by

Darren Yates. Silicon Chip, April 1993, pages 22 - 25.

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QUASAR PROJECT KIT # 3089 - STEREO VU METER

The last term is due to a small adjust current (75-120uA) Construction.

Thirdly, & very important: you want the LED's to all be

Prescaling. Higher power levels can be displayed by

2. Optoelectronics Circuits Manual by R. M. Marston,

3. Build This Audio Power Meter & Worry No More, by

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