My Wien Oscillator won't oscillate either

I built this Wien Oscillator in my lab with two 2N3904 transistors and it works. With an 11.0V supply, it generates a sinewave signal with a peak-to-peak output of 0.18V at a frequency of 1333 Hz. By my CircuitLab doesn't oscillate. What have I done wrong?

Thanks!

https://www.circuitlab.com/circuit/44t4fq2d996m/practical-wien-oscillator/

by davidtro
February 19, 2021

Hi @davidtro,

As with your ramp generator post, I made two changes, and now this one oscillates:

  1. Added SW1 time-controlled switch to turn on power at t=0, preventing the circuit from getting stuck in a metastable DC operating point solution.
  2. Changed Stop Time to 30m and Time Step to 20u. (Your original times actually worked fine here; I just made these changes so the simulator would finish faster.)

Try it out:

Thanks for sharing these circuits! Very cool.

by mrobbins
February 20, 2021

Thank you so much, Michael. I need to remember to add switches to my oscillator circuits. Now I can try to adjust resistors and capacitors to produce a more sinusoidal output from my Wien oscillator.

by davidtro
February 21, 2021

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