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Your cart is empty. Odometers are extremely useful for cars, they tell you how far you have gone, wouldn’t it be nice if you were able to have a device that does the same for electrical current?
The LTC4150 Coulomb Counter Breakout is here to be your odometer for current. If you are wondering: a coulomb is defind as, to put it simply, one amp for one second.
This breakout is capable of constantly monitoring the current your sensor is using, is able to add it up, and will give you a pulse each time a given amount of amp-hours have been used.
When used effectively and if you start with a full battery, you’ll always know exactly how much of it is left!
At one end of the Coulomb Counter Breakout are headers labeled IN and OUT. Connect your battery or power supply to the IN header or JST battery connector (they’re identical),
and connect the OUT header to your project. At the other end of the Coulomb Counter you’ll find a header with six pins.
These are the pins you’ll need to connect to your microcontroller and include VIO (Voltage Input), INT (Interrupt), POL (Polarity), GND (Ground), CLR (Clear), and SHDN (Shutdown).
Simply install this breakout out between your power source and your circuit, that way all the current your circuit uses needs to pass through the Coulomb Counter to be measured.
Package Included :
1* LTC4150 Coulomb Counter Current Detection Sensor
John B.
Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2023
SparkFun makes good products and has great documentation. When SparkFun designs a product and makes PCB details public, it doesn't surprise me that other companies copy it. As long as the others use real Linear Tech parts, there's no reason to think it won't work. And at half the cost. SparkFun products are usually red in color and have their logo on it. All 13 of mine work.SparkFun ships its version with the SJ1 jumper shorted, these arrived with it open. SJ2 and SJ3 are open on both. Here's an important note. With SJ1 open, you can control when the interrupt line is cleared by asserting the CLR control line. Unfortunately, removing S1J also removes a pullup from the CLR line, but there is still a pulldown. If you have a weak port, such as on an I2C expander chip, you might not be able to pull the line high enough. Therefore add a 3.3K pullup of your own on the CLR line.If you want to put a connector on the "OUT" location, look at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07V69GRZ2?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details. Its a JST 2.0 PH 2-Pin connector. You may not need 50 of them but you get the idea.I couldn't find a mechanical drawing, even from SparkFun. So I've attached one based on my own measurements and then making my own PCB. Its a good fit.The Linear Tech part can consume up to 140 uA by itself. You can quickly calibrate this out by connecting a stable, clean source to "IN", and a known load on OUT. For instance an 18650 lithium battery (3.7V), followed by a 3.3V LDO and a 33-ohm load. This will consume around 100 mA. Take accurate measurements on the 3.3V and the 33-ohms to obtain an accurate current calculation. Measure the durations between many consecutive pulses, then do the math to obtain the mA/Hr number. Subtract out the 100mA/H and the Linear Tech current is what remains.But if you have time, you don't need to put a load on "OUT". The Linear Tech's Vdd is connected to the "OUT" side of the sense resistor. If you wait long enough, it will generate a pulse that represents its own current consumption. You should measure the time between a few or more pulses to get a better figure.
allan
Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2021
very disappointed in no documentation.I finally found good info from SparkFun (identical board, higher price). Is this one a design rip-off?
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