MetaShunt V2 is an electronic instrument designed for high-bandwidth, very high dynamic range measurements of the instantaneous current and power and accumulated energy use of low-power, ultra-low power and IoT devices between 50 nanoamps and 500 milliamps.

MetaShunt V2 takes all that is good about the original MetaShunt, significantly improves performance across the board, simplifies calibration, and improves its aesthetics! The MetaShunt V2 version with LCD display also adds a significant new capability. Unlike its competitors, MetaShunt V2 with LCD display can act as a long term energy monitor for your system. As long as USB power is provided, MetaShunt V2 will calculate and display total on time (in seconds), and total "current X time" used during that time (in nAh, uAh, or mAh, depending on the system). These calculations are done with the same high precision and fast update rates that MetaShunt V2 uses when streaming measurement data to your computer!

The original MetaShunt and MetaShunt V2 leverage a simple idea - by quickly and accurately measuring the voltage across a current shunt resistor and engaging additional shunt stages when needed, MetaShunt V2 ensures that it can provide accurate current measurement across a range of approximately 10,000,000:1 (from 50nA to 500 mA) without providing significant voltage burden. This range of current is specifically targeted for use with ultra-low power and IoT systems. By measuring current rapidly over time, the total energy use during a given portion of your code can be determined. MetaShunt V2 acts as a virtual ground for your system, so that you can use your battery. Or, MetaShunt V2 can provide 3.3V or 5V to the system under test if desired.

Q: Why do you need this tool?

• You are developing low power electronic projects, and need to know how much power you are using during short wake-up cycles
• You develop IoT systems, and the power consumption changes drastically during data transmission and you want to measure it
• You are testing components to validate them against the datasheet, and the current is lower than your multi-meter can measure reliably

Open source Python scripts are available for interfacing with MetaShunt V2. MetaShunt V2 can stream measurement data over USB at more than 5k samples/second, or can burst read over 127k samples/second with onboard buffering. MetaShunt V2 measures and changes gain stages at >700kHz to ensure the DUT does not brown out as its current requirements rapidly change.

NOTE: The User Guide for MetaShunt V2 is available on the GitHub repository here.

NOTE: The prior version of MetaShunt is available while supplies last at a lower price here.