Electronics > Electronics

Build a circuit that shows the current. Any suggestions?

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Botanic:
I need to build something that shows the current going to my two motors on my robot that I am going to build.
So far I have no ideas of how to build it, so I figured that I will ask here before I start searching. Maybe someone has made something similar before.
I am going to drive the motor with 12 V and it's going to need max 500 mA. I've been thinking of having three 7 segment LED displays (I think that's how they are called).
Any suggestions of how to build such a thing? The circuit should not affect the current to the motors in any way.

Admin:
Way ahead of you . . .
http://www.societyofrobots.com/sensors_currentsensor.shtml

When I get off my lazy butt, Ill actually post a pic of what the final product looks like too on that page . . .

Botanic:
Great, thanks!

Unfortunately that MAX471 circuit is not manufactured anymore. It's been replaced by MAX4069, MAX4070, MAX4071 and MAX4072.
I ordered them as samples from Maxim. Hopefully they will send them to me for free. I could't find any retailer here in Sweden that has them.

Botanic:
I got the circuits as samples the other day. They can be used somehow although they are very small...

Anyway, does anyone have any suggestions on how to show the current? The current range goes from -1,7A - 1,7A.
Are there any ready circuits that I could use, instead of a microcontroller?

I know that I oould have a PIC with an analogue pin going to the MAX4070, then from the PIC to a 7-segment LED. But this would require programming of the PIC. Maybe there is a cheaper and smarter solution?

Admin:
Use a simple volt meter to measure the output from the chip. A particular voltage represents a particular current. The spec sheet should give you an equation.

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