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VoltageDividerslearn.sparkfun.com

VoltageDividers
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Introduction
Avoltagedividerisasimplecircuitwhichturnsalargevoltageintoasmallerone.Usingjusttwoseries
resistorsandaninputvoltage,wecancreateanoutputvoltagethatisafractionoftheinput.Voltage
dividersareoneofthemostfundamentalcircuitsinelectronics.IflearningOhmslawwaslikebeing
introducedtotheABCs,learningaboutvoltagedividerswouldbelikelearninghowtospellcat.

CoveredinthisTutorial
Whatavoltagedividercircuitlookslike.
Howtheoutputvoltagedependsontheinputvoltageanddividerresistors.
Howvoltagedividersbehaveintherealworld.
Reallifevoltagedividerapplications.

SuggestedReading
Thistutorialbuildsonbasicelectronicsknowledge.Ifyouhaventalready,considerreadingthese
tutorials:
Whatisacircuit?
SeriesandParallelCircuits
Voltage,Current,Resistance,andOhmsLaw
AnalogvsDigital
HowtoUseaMultimeter
HowtoUseaBreadboard
AnalogtoDigitalConversion

IdealVoltageDivider
Therearetwoimportantpartstothevoltagedivider:thecircuitandtheequation.

TheCircuit
Avoltagedividerinvolvesapplyingavoltagesourceacrossaseriesoftworesistors.Youmayseeit
drawnafewdifferentways,buttheyshouldalwaysessentiallybethesamecircuit.

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Examplesofvoltagedividerschematics.Shorthand,longhand,resistorsatsame/differentangles,etc.
Wellcalltheresistorclosesttotheinputvoltage(Vin)R1,andtheresistorclosesttogroundR2.The
voltagedropacrossR2iscalledVout,thatsthedividedvoltageourcircuitexiststomake.
Thatsallthereistothecircuit!Voutisourdividedvoltage.Thatswhatllendupbeingafractionofthe
inputvoltage.

TheEquation
Thevoltagedividerequationassumesthatyouknowthreevaluesoftheabovecircuit:theinputvoltage
(Vin),andbothresistorvalues(R1andR2).Giventhosevalues,wecanusethisequationtofindthe
outputvoltage(Vout):

Memorizethatequation!
Thisequationstatesthattheoutputvoltageisdirectlyproportionaltotheinputvoltageandtheratio
ofR1andR2.Ifyoudliketofindoutwherethiscomesfrom,checkoutthissectionwheretheequaionis
derived.Butfornow,justwriteitdownandrememberit!

Calculator
Havesomefunexperimentingwithinputsandoutputstothevoltagedividerequation!Below,youcan
pluginnumbersforVinandbothresistorsandseewhatkindofoutputvoltagetheyproduce.
Vin= 5

R1= 1700

R2= 3300

Vout= 3.30

Or,ifyouadjustVout,youllseewhatresistancevalueatR2isrequired(givenaVinandR1).

Simplifications
Thereareafewgeneralizationsthataregoodtokeepinmindwhenusingvoltagedividers.Theseare
simplificationsthatmakeevaluatingavoltagedividingcircuitjustalittleeasier.

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First,ifR2andR1areequalthentheoutputvoltageishalfthatoftheinput.Thisistrueregardlessof
theresistors'values.

IfR2ismuchlarger(atleastanorderofmagnitude)thanR1,thentheoutputvoltagewillbeverycloseto
theinput.TherewillbeverylittlevoltageacrossR1.

Conversely,ifR2ismuchsmallerthanR1,theoutputvoltagewillbetinycomparedtotheinput.Mostof
theinputvoltagewillbeacrossR1

Applications
Voltagedividershavetonsofapplications,theyareamongthemostcommonofcircuitselectrical
engineersuse.Herearejustafewofthemanyplacesyoullfindvoltagedividers.

Potentiometers
Apotentiometerisavariableresistorwhichcanbeusedtocreateanadjustablevoltagedivider.

Asmatteringofpotentiometers.Fromtopleft,clockwise:astandard10ktrimpot,2axisjoystick,softpot,
slidepot,classicrightangle,andabreadboardfriendly10ktrimpot.
Internaltothepotisasingleresistorandawiper,whichcutstheresistorintwoandmovestoadjustthe
ratiobetweenbothhalves.Externallythereareusuallythreepins:twopinsconnecttoeachendofthe
resistor,whilethethirdconnectstothepotswiper.

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Apotentiometerschematicsymbol.Pins1and3aretheresistorends.Pin2connectstothewiper.
Iftheoutsidepinsconnecttoavoltagesource(onetoground,theothertoVin),theoutput(Voutatthe
middlepinwillmimicavoltagedivider.Turnthepotallthewayinonedirection,andthevoltagemaybe
zeroturnedtotheothersidetheoutputvoltageapproachestheinputawiperinthemiddleposition
meanstheoutputvoltagewillbehalfoftheinput.
Potentiometerscomeinavarietyofpackages,andhavemanyapplicationsoftheirown.Theymaybe
usedtocreateareferencevoltage,adjustradiostations,measurepositiononajoystick,orintonsof
otherapplicationswhichrequireavariableinputvoltage.

ReadingResistiveSensors
Manysensorsintherealworldaresimpleresistivedevices.Aphotocellisavariableresistor,which
producesaresistanceproportionaltotheamountoflightitsenses.Otherdeviceslikeflexsensors,
forcesensitiveresistors,andthermistors,arealsovariableresistors.
Itturnsoutvoltageisreallyeasyformicrocontrollers(thosewithanalogtodigitalconvertersADCsat
least)tomeasure.Resistance?Notsomuch.But,byaddinganotherresistortotheresistivesensors,we
cancreateavoltagedivider.Oncetheoutputofthevoltagedividerisknown,wecangobackand
calculatetheresistanceofthesensor.
Forexample,thephotocellsresistancevariesbetween1kinthelightandabout10kinthedark.Ifwe
combinethatwithastaticresistancesomewhereinthemiddlesay5.6k,wecangetawiderangeout
ofthevoltagedividertheycreate.

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Photocellmakesuphalfofthisvoltagedivider.Thevoltageismeasuredtofindtheresistanceofthelight
sensor.
LightLevel

R2(Sensor)

R1(Fixed)

RatioR2/(R1+R2)

Vout

Light
Dim

1k
7k

5.6k
5.6k

0.15
0.56

0.76V
2.78V

Dark

10k

5.6k

0.67

3.21V

Aswingofabout2.45Vfromlighttodark.PlentyofresolutionformostADCs!

LevelShifting
Morecomplicatedsensorsmaytransmittheirreadingsusingheavierserialinterfaces,likeaUART,SPI,
orI2C.Manyofthosesensorsoperateatarelativelylowvoltage,inordertoconservepower.
Unfortunately,itsnotuncommonthatthoselowvoltagesensorsareultimatelyinterfacingwitha
microcontrolleroperatingatahighersystemvoltage.Thisleadstoaproblemoflevelshifting,whichhas
anumberofsolutionsincludingvoltagedividing.
Forexample,anADXL345accelerometerallowsforamaximuminputvoltageof3.3V,soifyoutryto
interfaceitwithanArduino(assumeoperatingat5V),somethingwillneedtobedonetostepdownthat
5Vsignalto3.3V.Voltagedivider!Allthatsneededisacoupleresistorswhoseratiowilldividea5V
signaltoabout3.3V.Resistorsinthe1k10krangeareusuallybestforsuchanapplicationlets

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3.3kresistors(orange,orange,red)aretheR2s,1.8kresistorsaretheR1s.Anexampleofvoltage
dividersinabreadboard,levelshifting5Vsignalsto3.24V.(Clicktoseealargerview).
Keepinmind,thissolutiononlyworksinonedirection.Avoltagedivideralonewillneverbeabletostepa
lowervoltageuptoahigherone.

ApplicationDonts
Astemptingasitmaybetouseavoltagedividertostepdown,say,a12Vpowersupplyto5V,voltage
dividersshouldnotbeusedtosupplypowertoaload.
AnycurrentthattheloadrequiresisalsogoingtohavetorunthroughR1.Thecurrentandvoltage
acrossR1producepower,whichisdissipatedintheformofheat.Ifthatpowerexceedstheratingofthe
resistor(usuallybetweenWand1W),theheatbeginstobecomeamajorproblem,potentiallymelting
thepoorresistor.
Thatdoesntevenmentionhowinefficientavoltagedividerpowersupplywouldbe.Basically,dontusea
voltagedividerasavoltagesupplyforanythingthatrequiresevenamodestamountofpower.Ifyou
needtodropdownavoltagetouseitasapowersupply,lookintovoltageregulatorsorswitching
supplies.

ExtraCredit:Proof
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Ifyouhaventyetgottenyourfillofvoltagedividers,inthissectionwellevaluatehowOhmslawis
appliedtoproducethevoltagedividerequation.Thisisafunexercise,butnotsuperimportantto
understandingwhatvoltagedividersdo.Ifyoureinterested,prepareforsomefuntimeswithOhmslaw
andalgebra.

Evaluatingthecircuit
So,whatifyouwantedtomeasurethevoltageatVout?HowcouldOhmslawbeappliedtocreatea
formulatocalculatethevoltagethere?LetsassumethatweknowthevaluesofVin,R1,andR2,solets
getourVoutequationintermsofthosevalues.
LetsstartbydrawingoutthecurrentsinthecircuitI1andI2whichwellcallthecurrentsacrossthe
respectiveresistors.

OurgoalistocalculateVout,whatifweappliedOhmslawtothatvoltage?Easyenough,theresjustone
resistorandonecurrentinvolved:

Sweet!WeknowR2svalue,butwhataboutI2?Thatsanunknownvalue,butwedoknowalittle
somethingaboutit.Wecanassume(andthisturnsouttobeabigassumption)thatI1isequivalentto
I2.Alright,butdoesthathelpus?Holdthatthought.Ourcircuitnowlookslikethis,whereIequalsbothI1
andI2.

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WhatdoweknowaboutVin?Well,VinisthevoltageacrossbothresistorsR1andR2.Thoseresistorsare
inseries.Seriesresistorsadduptoonevalue,sowecouldsay:

And,foramoment,wecansimplifythecircuitto:

Ohmslawatitsmostbasic!Vin=I*R.Which,ifweturnthatRbackintoR1+R2,canalsobewrittenas:

AndsinceIisequivalenttoI2,plugthatintoourVoutequationtoget:

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Andthat,myfriends,isthevoltagedividerequation!Theoutputvoltageisafractionoftheinputvoltage,
andthatfractionisR2dividedbythesumofR1andR2.

ResourcesandGoingFurther
Nowthatyouvegotthegistofoneofthemostcommoncircuitsinelectronics,theresaworldofnew
stufftolearn!
Wouldyouliketolearnhowamicrocontroller,likeanArduino,couldreadtheanalogvoltageproduced
byavoltagedivider?
AnalogtoDigitalConverters
WiththepowerofthevoltagedividerandtheADC,youcanaccomplishalotintheworldofelectronics.
Checkouttheseothergreattutorials.
Somevarietiesofaccelerometersandgyroscopeshaveanlogoutputsthatmustbereadinonan
ADCtogetusablevalues.
PulsewidthModulation(PWM)islikeananalogoutput,whichistheoppositeofanaloginput.
TheINA169allowsyoutosensecurrentusingADC.
UsingavoltagedividerandtheADC,youcanreadinallsortsofsensorsandvariablecomponents
suchastrimpots,joysticks,sliders,andforcesensitiveresistorsamongstmany,manymore.
TheArduinomap()function
ArduinoAnalogPins
TheUhOhBatteryIndicatorHookupGuideusesavoltagedividertotellyouifyourbatteryis
gettingtoolow.

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