DS18S20
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POWERING THE DS18S20
The DS18S20 can be powered by an e xter nal supply on the VDD pin, or it ca n o perat e in “paras ite power ”
mode, which allows the DS18S20 to function without a local external supply. Parasite power is very
useful for applications that require remote temperature sensing or those with space constraints.
Figure 1 shows the DS18S20’s parasite-power control circuitry, which “steals” power from the 1-Wire
bus via the DQ pin when the bus is high. The stolen charge powers the DS18S20 while the bus is high,
and so me o f t he charge is st ored on t he parasite po wer capacit or (CPP) to pro vide power when t he bus is
low. Whe n t he DS18S 20 is used in parasite power mo d e, t he VDD pin must be conne cte d to g r ound .
In parasite power mode, the 1-Wire bus and CPP can provide sufficient current to the DS18S20 for most
operations as long as the specified timing and voltage requirements are met (see the DC Electrical
Characteristics and the AC Electrical Characteristics). However, when the DS18S20 is performing
t emper atu re convers io ns o r copying data fro m the scrat chpad me mo r y to EEPROM, the oper at ing cur rent
can be as high as 1.5mA. This current can cause an unacceptable voltage drop across the weak 1-Wire
pu llup res ist or and is more cur r ent than can be supplied by CPP. T o assure that t he DS18S 20 ha s suf fi cient
supply current, it is necessary to provide a strong pullup on the 1-Wire bus whenever temperature
conversions are taking place or data is being copied from the scratchpad to EEPROM. This can be
accomplished by using a MOSFET to pull the bus directly to the rail as shown in Figure 4. The 1-Wire
bus must be sw it ched to t he strong pullup w it hin 1 0µs (ma x) a fter a Convert T [44h] or Copy Scratchpa d
[48h] comma nd is issued, and t he bus must be held high by t he pu llup for the duration of t he conve rsion
(tCONV) or data transfer (tWR = 1 0ms). No o ther act iv ity ca n t ake place on t he 1-Wire bu s w h i le the pullup
is enab le d.
The DS18S 20 can also be powered by the conventional metho d of connecting an exter nal power supp ly to
the VDD pin, as shown in Figure 5. The advantage of this method is that the MOSFET pullup is not
requir ed , and the 1-Wire bus is free t o car r y other traffic during the temperat u r e conver sion time.
The use of parasite po w er is not recommended for temp er atur es above 1 00 °C since the DS18S20 may not
be able to sust ain communicat io ns due t o t he higher leakage cur rents t hat can e xist at t hese te mperat ur es.
For applicat ions in which suc h t emperat ures are likely, it is strongly reco mmended that the DS18S20 be
po wered by an ext er nal power supply.
In so me sit uat ions t he bu s ma st er ma y no t know whet her t he DS 18S2 0s o n t he bus ar e par asit e p ow er ed
o r powere d by ext ernal sup plies. The mast er need s t his in fo r mat ion t o det er mine if t he st ro ng bus p u llup
shou ld be used during temperat ur e co nversions. To g et t h is information, the mast er can issue a Skip ROM
[CCh] command followed by a Read Power Supply [B4h] command followed by a “read-time slot”.
During the read-time slot, parasite powered DS18S20s will pull the bus low, and externally powered
DS18S20s will let the bus re main hig h. I f t he bus is pu lled lo w, t he master knows t hat it must supp ly the
strong pullup o n t he 1-Wire bus dur ing temperat ure conversions.