ADC0804 Interfacing with AVR Microcontroller From Rikipedia Embedded Wiki
ADC0804 Pin-out and Typical Connections
As shown in the typical circuit, ADC0804 can be interfaced with any microcontroller. You need a minimum of 11 pins to interface ADC0804, eight for data pins and 3 for control pins. As shown in the typical circuit the chip select pin can be made low if you are not using the microcontroller port for any other peripheral (multiplexing).

ADC0804 Pin Diagram
There is a universal rule to find out how to use an IC. All you need is the datasheet of the IC you are working with and take a look at the timing diagram of the IC which shows how to send the data, which signal to assert and at what time the signal should be made high or low etc.
Note: Keep this in mind that whenever you are working with an IC and you want to know how to communicate with that IC, then simply look into the timing diagram of that IC from its datasheet. It gives you complete information that you need regarding the communication of IC.

Start Conversion Timing Diagram

End of Conversion Timing Diagram
The above timing diagrams are from ADC0804 datasheet. The first diagram (FIGURE 10A) shows how to start a conversion. Also you can see which signals are to be asserted and at what time to start a conversion. So looking into the timing diagram FIGURE 10A. We note down the steps or say the order in which signals are to be asserted to start a conversion of ADC. As we have decided to make Chip select pin as low so we need not to bother about the CS signal in the timing diagram. Below steps are for starting an ADC conversion. I am also including CS signal to give you a clear picture. While programming we will not use this signal.
- Make chip select (CS) signal low.
- Make write (WR) signal low.
- Make chip select (CS) high.
- Wait for INTR pin to go low (means conversion ends).
Once the conversion in ADC is done, the data is available in the output latch of the ADC. Looking at the FIGURE 10B which shows the timing diagram of how to read the converted value from the output latch of the ADC. Data of the new conversion is only avalable for reading after ADC0804 made INTR pin low or say when the conversion is over. Below are the stepts to read output from the ADC0804.
- Make chip select (CS) pin low.
- Make read (RD) signal low.
- Read the data from port where ADC is connected.
- Make read (RD) signal high.
- Make chip select (CS) high.
AVR Assembly Program for ADC0804
.include "8515def.inc" .equ rd = PORTB0 ;Read signal PortB.0 .equ wr = PORTB1 ;Write Signal PortB.1 .equ cs = PORTB2 ;Chip Select PortB.2 .equ intr = PORTB3 ;INTR signal PortB.3 .equ adc_port = PINA ;ADC data pins PortA .def adc_val = r16 ;To store ADC value .def temp = r17 ;Temporary register .org 0x00 start: ldi temp,low(RAMEND) ;Load stack with out SPL,temp ;RAMEND - highest value ldi temp,high(RAMEND) ;of internal SRAM out SPH,temp sbi DDRB,rd ;Make RD as o/p sbi DDRB,wr ;Make WR as o/p sbi DDRB,cs ;Make CS as o/p again: rcall conv ;Start ADC Conversion rcall read ;Read ADC conversion ldi temp,0xFF out DDRC,temp ;Make PORTC as o/p Port out PORTC,adc_val ;Move the read value to PORT C rjmp again ;Do it again conv: ;Start conversion cbi PORTB,cs ;Make CS low cbi PORTB,wr ;Make WR low nop sbi PORTB,wr ;Make WR high sbi PORTB,cs ;Make CS high wait: sbic PINB,intr ;Wait for INTR signal rjmp wait ret ;Conversion done read: ;Read ADC cbi PORTB,cs ;Make CS low cbi PORTB,rd ;Make RD low in adc_val,adc_port ;Read ADC data sbi PORTB,rd ;Make RD high sbi PORTB,cs ;Make CS high ret ;Reading done
AVR C program for ADC0804
#include <avr/io.h> #define adc_port PINA //ADC data pins PORTA #define rd PB0 //Read signal PORTB0 #define wr PB1 //Write signal PORTB1 #define cs PB2 //Chip Select PORTB2 #define intr PB3 //INTR signal PORTB3 void conv(); //Start Conversion void read(); //Read ADC value unsigned char adc_val; int main(){ DDRB = (1<<rd)|(1<<wr)|(1<<cs); //RD, WR, CS as output DDRC = 0xFF; //PORTC as output PORTC = 0xFF; while(1){ //Forever loop conv(); //Start of conversion read(); //Read converted ADC PORTC = adc_val; //Move it to PORTC } return 0; } void conv(){ PORTB = PORTB & (~((1<<cs)|(1<<wr))); //Make CS and WR low PORTB = PORTB | ((1<<cs)|(1<<wr)); //Make CS and WR high while(PINB&(1<<intr)); //Wait for INTR signal } void read(){ PORTB = PORTB & ( ~((1<<cs)|(1<<rd))); //Make RD and CS low adc_val = adc_port; //Read ADC port PORTB = PORTB | ((1<<cs)|(1<<rd)); //Make RD and CS high }
Further Reading
- Analog to Digital Converter
- ADC0804 Interfacing with 8051 Microcontroller
- ADC0808 Interfacing Tutorial
- ADS1115 ADC Interfacing Tutorial
Help & Queries
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