What is it?

This is a high-current, shunt-based, DC current sensor, capable of sensing up to 200A, possibly higher in short bursts. It's output is a voltage that is proportional to the sensed current, at 0.1V/A. Or in other words, for every 10A of current sensed, 1V will be presented at the output. It's bandwidth is about 7.5kHz, so mostly useful for average/DC current measurements.

Why did you make it?

We originally made this for in-house testing of a very high current power supply, and since then have found them immensely useful to have in the lab for testing currents higher than we're comfortable putting through our DMM's and with a lower burden voltage, too.

What makes it special?

This current sensor is a simple device, with a single job, but it does it very well. It enables easy metering of current up to 200A or more while only needing to read voltage with a DMM or other data acquisition device.

Notes:

The output of this device is not isolated/floating. It's referenced to the ground of the power supply you use to power it. We haven't found this to be a big limitation, but if you don't carefully implement this sensor, you might have a bad day. Just pay attention to which power domains in your system are floating with-respect-to others, and you should be fine. if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out!