Electronic – Simple DC voltage scaling with two ranges, lower range voltage limited

scalingvoltage

I am attempting to monitor DC voltages that can range from 0 to 250V with a micro controller. A simple voltage divider should be suitable for the broad range up to 250V, with somewhat coarse resolution. A second voltage divider for when the voltage is not more than 25V will give me improved resolution at the lower voltage levels. I have no problem using two distinct A/D ports on the micro for each of the dividers. Output of both dividers should be 0 – 5V. I've estimated the values of resistors for the two dividers.

Two voltage dividers for high and low range.

My question is:
How can I limit the voltage seen by the second divider so it never exceeds 25V even though it is monitoring the same potential source? I've attempted to utilize a zener in the circuit to clamp the voltage to not exceed 5V but it always seems to effect the linearity of the divider on both the very low end and high end of the ranges.
I'm new to designing hardware circuits… as a software guy, I'm really starting to appreciate what's involved in developing analog hardware. Thanks for the help!

Best Answer

A zener isn't really the answer here, but that doesn't mean diodes aren't the way:

enter image description here

I'm assuming your 5V inputs are going into an ATmega (e.g. arduino) or similar device, where the 5V limit isn't really exactly 5V, but rather "enough above 5V to turn on the protection diodes". In this case, the circuit shown above will work fine.

Caveats are:

  1. Your 5V device needs to be able to sink a ~4.5 mA into the 5V rail (an arduino will do this fine), or the voltage divider will actually cause the 5V rail to increase.

  2. You must use schottky diodes for the diodes. You need your diodes to turn on before the MCU's internal diodes.

  3. The lower two diodes are really extra. They prevent the ADC inputs from going below ground if the input voltage goes below 0V. I don't know if that's a possibility in you application, but it's cheap insurance.