Understanding ACS7xx Current Sensor

Oh the reason I use the +/-30A IC is that I got them for free :smiley:

@jonisonvespaa Thanks for posting the layout. I assume you try to minimize the traces surrounding the IC to reduce magnetic field. What capacitors do you use for the RC low pass filters for pin 6 and 7? Are you able to get a nice stable reading? According to page 14 on the data-sheet, it appears that we either put a capacitor on pin 6, or a capacitor on pin 7 and leave pin 6 alone. But I guess having 2 wont hurt.

yes the output is very stable im measuring ac current, pvm out of a frequency inverter, my output is really stable nice sign wave no noise.

im using the suggested circuit in the data sheet, 1nf across pin 5 and 6

All I will point out is the size of the eval pcb heat sink vs what the commercial resellers typically design and sell. The datasheet mentions a typical internal resistance of 1.2 mOhm for the acs712 and a 5x over current survival.

The datasheet also mentions a atypical 2oz copper thickness for the pcb used on the eval board. The FAQ also shows die temperatures assuming optimal conditions (ie eval board) reaching 165 C at 20amps in hot ambient conditions. I expected my device to potentially get hot inside as it did not feature active convection and the enclosure is small.

So, by all means go and use this sensor but between the relatively high error and the heat issues, if was not suitable for me. For those measuring short impulse loads in particular, this chip family features very attractive attributes like small size and relatively low cost. I went for the LTSR series from LEM instead. It's leads are significantly beefier, you get a reference voltage for differential measurements, etc.

Thanks for all the responses. I just begin to make a shield for the Mega with a couple of these ACS714 sensors on board. Hopefully it won't blow up :smiley:

Constantin:
All I will point out is the size of the eval pcb heat sink vs what the commercial resellers typically design and sell. The datasheet mentions a typical internal resistance of 1.2 mOhm for the acs712 and a 5x over current survival.

The datasheet also mentions a atypical 2oz copper thickness for the pcb used on the eval board. The FAQ also shows die temperatures assuming optimal conditions (ie eval board) reaching 165 C at 20amps in hot ambient conditions. I expected my device to potentially get hot inside as it did not feature active convection and the enclosure is small.

So, by all means go and use this sensor but between the relatively high error and the heat issues, if was not suitable for me. For those measuring short impulse loads in particular, this chip family features very attractive attributes like small size and relatively low cost. I went for the LTSR series from LEM instead. It's leads are significantly beefier, you get a reference voltage for differential measurements, etc.

hi, was a little worried when you quoted the internal resistance ive looked at the data sheet many times and never came across this figure, ive been using the acs 712 30amp chip for some time and never noticed a heat issue, im using their suggested circuit.

those internal resistance in the chart marked "Typical Leadframe Resistance at Various Ambient Temperatures"

Are defiantly wrong ive just gone through all my 20amp and 30amp chips and measured this resistance
results as follows, these were measured on the pins nothing attached to them on ip+ (pins 1 and 2) and ip- (pins 3 and 4).

acs 712 20a total 6 ics, all 0.3 ohms
acs 712 30a total 13 ics all 0.3 ohms

maby the figure they quote in their chart has a typo (m?) sould be just (?)

they do mention that the data was made using theAllegro ASEK712 demo board maby this resistance comes from extra circuitry there maby? but looking at it cant see any components that would suggest this

be really great if someone else could also confirm this resistance as well

Are defiantly wrong ive just gone through all my 20amp and 30amp chips and measured this resistance
results as follows, these were measured on the pins nothing attached to them on ip+ (pins 1 and 2) and ip- (pins 3 and 4).

acs 712 20a total 6 ics, all 0.3 ohms
acs 712 30a total 13 ics all 0.3 ohms

maby the figure they quote in their chart has a typo (m?) sould be just (?)

they do mention that the data was made using theAllegro ASEK712 demo board maby this resistance comes from extra circuitry there maby? but looking at it cant see any components that would suggest this

be really great if someone else could also confirm this resistance as well

Are you aware of how difficult it is to accurately measure resistance values down to the milliohm value? It usually takes using a 4 wire Kelvin set-up with a constant current sent through the unknown resistance and then measuring the resulting voltage drop across the unknown resistance. So describe your measurement method.

Lefty

ok im stumped there, will look up 4 wire Kelvin set-up, thanks lefty.

ok i understand now thanks for pointing that out lefty

on a more practacle note ran my acs 712 30amp version, loaded it up to 10amps ran constant for 5 mins, then checked it for its temp, there was absolutely no heat in the ic casing what so ever.

according to the chart id be getting 80 ish dec C, in the chart it mentions Die temperature whatever this is? maby it the core of the ic itself maby? really not sure, but i didnt notice any heat generated at all @ 10 Amps, be nice to know what this die temp is though, i often hear case temp or package temp, but never die temp.

For all I know, this chip puts up a lot less resistance than the manufacturer warrants in their documentation. And 10A through the 30A version may be perfectly safe, generating no heat in your application, etc. I am not criticizing your use of this chip. I was merely constrained by a design that requires high accuracy, low insertion losses, and the ability to withstand long duration exposure to high currents.

This sensor design with its SO8 frame and a mere two leads each carrying that current gave me the willies. That does not mean it doesn't work. I simply wanted something with more meat and some other attributes.

Please also note how the Allegro eval board offers a wide land for the leads going to the sensor and very heavy-duty connecting posts. It also features double-sided high-voltage PCB traces and 'stitched' construction. In other words, Allegro is using the copper on both sides of the board for the power signal and the conductors are thoroughly bonded to each other using lots and lots of vias to reduce insertion losses and improve thermal heat dissipation from the chip.

I am not convinced that many of the commercially-available boards out there go to the same lengths to ensure a wide, thick path or use the same extra-heavy copper trace thickness (2oz copper is uncommonly used, costs extra) as the Allegro board. Just something to keep in mind as you source your gear. Relying on conductors attached to the terminals to dissipate heat (as some design apparently expect to) seems like bad engineering practice.

On the other hand, if the chip stays super cool no matter what currents are being passed, then so much the better for you.

I wouldn't recommend using Polou's board for anything above 50V - the missing isolation on the board is not too clever.

Running 230V on those pads would be very dangerous

// Per.

There are a couple of designs out there that I find odd. This one, features no on-board caps and filters, a tiny land, etc. The adjustable Sparkfun board features a tiny load path and a giant nearby GND path nearby. I don't get it for safety reasons. The pololu board at least features some serious high-voltage lands though the distance to the low-voltage components seems questionable.

yes i agree those designs are poor, not sure if those tracks are man enough for their intended currents tough, it took me about 6 attempts to get to this this design, i did a few versions where i had ground fill didnt work well, either. not a good idea to place tracks under the ic either, you have to isolate the pins either side.

the current path pins are as close as possible to the connector as possible and i then fill that track with solder from the connector to the 2 pins both sides to be sure

Hey guys, sorry for digging up this old post. I am making the PCB right now and I am wondering what is the purpose of the 0.1uF cap.

Let say I am going to include 10 ACS714 on a single board. According to the data sheet, a 0.1uF cap is suppose to be connected from VCC to GND. Can I just use one cap for all the ACS714? Should it be 0.1uF or 1uF? Thank you so much!

dominicfhk:
Hey guys, sorry for digging up this old post. I am making the PCB right now and I am wondering what is the purpose of the 0.1uF cap.

Let say I am going to include 10 ACS714 on a single board. According to the data sheet, a 0.1uF cap is suppose to be connected from VCC to GND. Can I just use one cap for all the ACS714? Should it be 0.1uF or 1uF? Thank you so much!

It's the typical .1ufd bypass chip that all ICs should have mounted as close to each IC as possible. Don't try to skimp or combine into one or few caps.

Lefty

Got it, thanks! :slight_smile:

Hello guys,
@jonisonvespaa: it is absolutely not possible to measure resistances around 0.001 Ohm with any standard multimeter. Even the resistance of the multimeter wires is much higher (~200 times!) than the measured value.

In this case

a) just believe the datasheet, the internal resistance should be around 0.0012 ohm

b) make a simple test - solder one precise value 0.001 ohm resistor as close as possible in parrallel to the ACS7xx current sensor and check the reported current value. You can then calculate the internal chip resistance precisely. For example with 10A current the reported current should be 4.55 A after the modification, if the internal chip resistance is really 0.0012 ohm. (for ACS715 0-30A sensor)

@to this topic: I was experimenting with many current sensors lately, and no one met my expectations:

a) ACS7xx based hall sensors : highly sensitive to magnetic fields, very high noise. Not usable for measuring precise values under 1 Amp.

b) AMPLOC hall current sensors (amploc.com) : not suitable for DC currents - the core gets magnetized and zero value shifts by +-0.5 Amps after each day of measurement. Zero internal resistance. Not usable for measuring precise values under 2 Amps. So the error of this sensor may be over 0.5 Amp in any moment, that is not good at all. To be used in cars or such equipment, where it's enough to know the result with +- 1 Amp error.

c) ATTOPILOT current sensor (45A) : shunt resistor type sensor. Not isolated from the measured circuit! Stable zero value. Does not measure currents under 0.22 A (reports zero). All reported values are lower by this 0.22A offset (you have to add 0.21-0.22 Amps to all results). Internal resistance 0.001 Ohm.

d) LTC6102 based shunt current sensor (I haven't seen any sensor using it, I had to make my own). Same as ATTOPILOT, but the offset error is lower - around 0.1 A. Internal resistance 0.0005 Ohm.

So if you do not care about currents under 0.1 resp. 0.2 Amps and you do not care about the electrical isolation, use the ATTOPILOT 45 or LTC6102 based sensor. The LTC6102HV is able to measure on voltages up to 105 Volts or something like that (see the datasheet). Main advantage is, that the results are very precise (above the offset mentioned), low noise and not influenced by any magnetic fields.

If you have a bench power supply with a current control its easy to measure small
resistances in combination with a multimeter:

Set the PSU to 1A limit, connect to the resistor under test (it is a small resistor so I-squared-R
will be small and thus won't fry).

Measure the voltage directly across the resistor right on the terminals (not along the wires),
this forms a 4-wire Kelvin measuring setup.

Since the current is known to be 1A, the resistance in milliohms = the voltage in millivolts,
easy!

You can separately calibrate the current setting on your PSU using the amps range on
the multimeter if you want to check its accuracy.

Remember just ordinary bits of wire lying around will have resistances of from a
few milliohms (thick cables) to 100's of milliohms (small signal wires). Oxidation on
plug and sockets can add tens to hundreds of milliohms too...

How are you sure that the 2 amp current you are measuring, is not noisy ?

hi

how can i use ACS712 current sensor with 220 volt
i tested it with dc and it works well, nut with ac it didn't give any response :confused:
regards ty

hi
can some one helps me to measure AC current with ACS712 sensor
it just worked fine with dc but with ac i cant find a solution
ty