Sunday, September 7, 2025

GENSET Control Card with PIC16F683 (8 PIN)

In this specific ATS control card, you will see implementation of some good electronics and PCB designing techniques regarding its schematic design and will learn a lot. Primarily, this effort was aimed at designing a robust PCB with less functions but with a small size and very low-cost.


Terminal blocks: in this circuit we decided to move 220VAC signal away from other terminals thats why we gave separate three pin terminal at upper side, as you can see in the pictures and other two terminals at the bottom side, for the RELAYS. We connected only the COM and OPEN points of the RELAYS with the terminals, as this circuit only controls the switch and crank function of the GENSET.


Ceramic Caps: in this PCB, instead of using step-down transformers we used another low cost electronics design technique for sensing the 220VAC power lines from mains and the GENSET by using ceramic electrostatic capacitors and resistors of 2Watts, as you can see in the pictures. Two Red colored LEDs are also present to show the signal received by this circuitry. This technique essentially made us able to control the cost of the PCB for the mass production. This technique has also been proven itself after testing in industrial applications.

Rectifiers: we used two rectifiers of 1Amp to convert the signal from 5VAC to 5VDC for further conditioning, each line has a separate rectifier on it after ceramic capacitors.

Optocouplers: after rectifiers sensing lines also have two Optocouplers on them, which isolate the signal from controller side yet provide clean logic signal at the inputs of microcontroller being used in this circuit.

Regulators: we have only one 7805 voltage regulator in this circuit being used for regulating the 12VDC to 5VDC to provide power to the PCB and microcontroller.

Microcontroller: in this PCB we used PIC16F683 microcontroller which senses the presence of mains or GENSET power signal on its selected input GPIOs and performs the following functions.

--> If mains is present and GENSET is not present just make sure to keep all output RELAYS in off position.

--> If mains is off and GENSET is also off, controller waits for 30 seconds and then energizes the switch RELAY, waits for another 2 seconds and then energizes the crank RELAY for 4 seconds, looks for input power signal from GENSET if it is not present for 10 consecutive seconds, controller again energizes the crank RELAY for 4 seconds and repeats the same "check and do" process for 6 times if it senses the power signal from GENSET is present then keeps the switch RELAY on, keeps the crank RELAY off. You can also observe this circuit doesn't has changeover RELAY in it.

--> in third case when mains supply is restored, the controller senses its presence via one of its selected input GPIO and waits for 10 seconds and then turns off the switch RELAY which causes the GENSET to turn off, again it has no changeover control function in it.

--> if both supplies are off the controller tries to start the GENSET via same process described above in case two.

Two Relays: we used only two RELAYS in this design, aiming for a most cost-effective design this time, for a reputed customer. One RELAY controls the switch and second controls the crank.

Transistors: instead of using ULN2003, we used two separate transistors for driving the RELAYS and also for effectively controlling the cost of miniature circuit.

LED indicators: along with two nos. of Red colored LEDs for power lines indication, we also have one Green colored LED for switch function and one Orange colored LED for crank function of GENSET.

IC sockets: only one 8-Pin i.c socket is present on the circuit board for mounting the PIC16F683 microcontroller which is performing well programed functions.

Note: Specifically, a variable POT was also added in this design, for externally changing the delay of cranking time period of the GENSET, as some generators do start quickly but some take a longer cranking time. Therefore we decided to control the cranking time externally.




















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