OK, electrically let's talk about exactly what is going on here. Basically 
a phototransistor is like mounting a small solar cell to the gate of a 
transistor and running the transistor in a switching (rather than 
amplifying) mode. With the LED butted right up against the photosensitive 
gate it provides more than enough light energy to provide the switching 
effect we are seeking. Switching can be looked at as merely amplification 
past the limits of the transistor...the transistor merely becomes 
conductive, like a switch.

So you just hook up the input like you would any other LED (because it IS 
an LED) that part is easy, however what you do is you set up the output 
like in the schematic, by connecting the appropriate leg to VCC (in the 
case of TTL +5V) determined by which way the diode effect goes (you don't 
want the voltage to go against it, or it just won't switch...just logically 
figure it out, or breadboard it first). And then the other output leg 
becomes your isolated, voltage-converted output.

Sorry I'm overexplaining this, but for the newbies I think it good to 
explain it operation thoroughly and logically.

OK, now in this schematic, you'll notice its got like a zener or something 
and its multistage. I don't think you need this sophisticated a set up 
necessarily (assuming you are selecting one from mouser or somewhere). You 
can use just a regular phototransistor (1 stage) optoisolator. Why? Because 
the driving LED has more than enough juice to saturate the gate on the 
phototransistor single stage or not.

On Tuesday, November 8, 2016 at 7:39:33 AM UTC-7, mzimmers wrote:
>
> Hi, all - I thought I posted something about this last week, but a search 
> doesn't turn it up, so here goes again.
>
> I'm working through Molloy's book, and trying to build the opto-coupler 
> circuit in chapter 6. I'm not a hardware guy, so I'm feeling my way along 
> here. The diagram doesn't show specifically how to wire up the four 
> connectors. I looked at the data sheet for the device, which was helpful, 
> but still doesn't get me home.
>
> I could trial and error, but I've already fried one component, and they're 
> not easy to come by in my area. Can anyone help clarify this configuration?
>
> This is the specific device: opto-coupler 
> <http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/2050347.pdf?_ga=1.151569401.1989118912.1477330330>
>
> Thanks...
>

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