Analog-to-digital converters can be controlled by a normal I/O port or with the synchronous serial port of the 80x51 microcontrollers. The synchronous serial port is more efficient, however, there are some pitfalls to be aware of when configuring the 8-pin A/D converters (ADS1286, ADS7816, ADS7817 and ADS7822) from Burr-Brown. This application bulletin describes how to get around these pitfalls and get the best performance out of this combination.