Cursed circuits: charge pump voltage halver

A simulator will certainly not like the floating center terminal.

I just threw it into Micro-Cap and it surprisingly didn't throw any errors with the floating node. https://imgbox.com/riKCyWI5

	▲	magicalhippo 28 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		I can't recall if it was Falstad or which other simulator code I read, but it had "connect this one terminal to ground via multi-Gigaohm resistor for stability" sprinkled throughout the code for capacitors and similar components.

▲

ajross an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

I think I (a long time software nerd) am finally getting over the hump with analog stuff. The article says the circuit is complicated and hard to understand, yet I got it instantly. Feels sort of like learning a musical instrument and realizing that one of the early pieces you struggled with is easy now.

FWIW: the didactic trick of imagining the floating capacitor "carrying" charge from one "place" to another was really good. That's not the way most treatments talk about charge pumps, and I think it's a lot cleaner.

	▲	jacquesm 42 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		It's not complicated. It's just very basic capacitor behavior. If there is a tricky part here then it is in the bit that is glossed over: the switches. But congrats on getting it! Analog is fun, you can get incredibly complex behavior out of a handful of components.