Experiments with a hall effect current sensor

2009-09-02 21:58:00 +00002009-09-02 21:58:00 +0000 Trystan Lea
1 minute reading time

energy monitor
DC
hall effect

Comments

Thought Id have a go at using a hall effect sensor to measure current. A hall effect sensor can measure DC and AC current, Ive had a go at the DC and it seems to work quite nicely, its also quite a bit cheaper than the other DC current measuring method I detail here, which is always good!

Here's a pic of the setup:

I bought the hall sensor from farnell here.

It requires a supply voltage of between 6 and 12. Its output is centred around Vcc/2. The output voltage increases about 50mV per Amp when the supply voltage is 12V. When measuring DC current the output looks like this:
0.0A - 6.0V
1.0A - 6.05V
2.0A - 6.10V
...

I've used an inverting amplifier to invert the signal about a set voltage so that the voltage going to the Arduino's analog in is between 0 and 5V. I will upload the circuit diagram and further details soon when I get a chance.

So far it looks like a promising method. To engage in discussion regarding this post, please post on our Community Forum.