{"id":153,"date":"2025-10-19T12:00:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T12:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/togo-lab.io\/?p=153"},"modified":"2025-10-19T14:56:31","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T14:56:31","slug":"pc817-optocoupler-tester-lazy-sunday-afternoon-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/togo-lab.io\/?p=153","title":{"rendered":"PC817 Optocoupler Tester \u2013 Lazy Sunday Afternoon Project"},"content":{"rendered":"

For some upcoming projects, I\u2019ll use the PC817 optocoupler family<\/strong><\/a>. But sadly, you don\u2019t always get what you think you\u2019ve bought. So how can you simply check if they work as described in the datasheet? I wanted a quick way to verify parts before building them in. <\/p>\n

This small tester consists of two independent circuits, runs on 5 V<\/strong>, and does two simple things:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Quick Test<\/strong> \u2013 Push the switch, and if the LED lights, the optocoupler basically works. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \"OptoCoupler_CheckCircuit_QuickManual\"<\/a><\/figure>\n
      \n
    1. Frequency Test<\/strong> \u2013 Based on the circuit from the datasheet. Input impedance is 50 \u03a9, and the output can be pulled up with 100 \u03a9<\/strong>, 1 k\u03a9<\/strong>, or 10 k\u03a9<\/strong> to see how the device behaves at different frequencies.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \"OptoCoupler_CheckCircuit_ParameterCheck\"<\/a><\/figure>\n

      Simple stripboard:\n

      \"0002-PC817-Series-PhotoCoupler-Tester_SB\"<\/a><\/figure>\n

      That\u2019s it.
      \nIt\u2019s not meant to be fancy\u2014just a tiny 2-hour project<\/strong> to get reliable data and a feel for how different PC817 batches respond.
      \nThe project data will be on       Gitea \u2013 ToGo-Lab, Project ID 0002<\/a>,<\/p>\n

      As working proof, some simple scope screenshots:<\/p>\n

      \n
      <\/div>\n
      \"Optocoupler_final\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n
      \"Optocoupler_final_Test\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n
      \"OptoCoupler_Test_Measurement\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

      If you\u2019re into optocouplers or small test circuits, feel free to build along or suggest tweaks.
      \nAlways happy to hear what others find useful in their own setups. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      For some upcoming projects, I\u2019ll use the PC817 optocoupler family. But sadly, you don\u2019t always get what you think you\u2019ve bought. So how can you simply check if they work as described in the datasheet? I wanted a quick way to verify parts before building them in. This small tester consists of two independent circuits, … Continue reading “PC817 Optocoupler Tester \u2013 Lazy Sunday Afternoon Project”<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[6,9,19,29,28,13,23],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-diy","tag-hw","tag-lab","tag-optocoupler","tag-pc817","tag-test","tag-workbench"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/togo-lab.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/togo-lab.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/togo-lab.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/togo-lab.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/togo-lab.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=153"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/togo-lab.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":159,"href":"https:\/\/togo-lab.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions\/159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/togo-lab.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/togo-lab.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/togo-lab.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=153"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/togo-lab.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fpost_folder&post=153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}