Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Microcontroller Current Meter : Simple 3A DC Current Meter Using PIC for PowerSupply

This project is in the series of different small projects i did for new learner in mircrocontroller stuff.
In this project i am using PIC16F1459 mcu for no particular reason , any MCU can be used to implement this project. all you need an ADC and Few GPIO to drive LED display .  I am using internal 10 bit ADC of PIC16F1459 MCU .

Though 10bit resolution is quite low , with 3 Amps rage we can only get resolution of about 2.92 mA per bit. I would love to have a least 1mA per bit or better , but for that either we need to limit our range to 1A or have more than 10bit ADC. To get higher bit in ADC require either external ADC chip or use an MCU with has 12 or 14bit ADC.

i just wanted to keep this project simple and low cost . so i am okey with 2.92mA per bit.

Good thing about PIC16F1459 is , that this part has on chip reference , which we can use with our ADC to increase accuracy and stability .

Internal reference can be set to 1.024 or 2.048 or 4.096 volts.  i am setting to 2.048V.