SmartElex Current Sensor Breakout – INA169

The INA169 is a “high-side current monitor,” which means that you place a resistor (a “shunt resistor”) on the positive power rail and the INA169 measures the voltage drop across that resistor. The INA169 outputs a small current based on the measured voltage drop. If you place a resistor from the output of the INA169 to ground, you can measure the voltage at the output.

Input common-mode and power supply voltages are independent and can range from 2.7V to 60V on the INA169 and quiescent (sleep) current is only 60uA.

IMPORTANT: The INA169 is configured to measure DC only. The VIN+ pin must be at a higher potential than the VIN- pin, which means that the INA169 cannot measure AC.

IMPORTANT: Be careful with the power rating on the resistor! If you choose a 0.1Ω resistor for RS and expect to see 3.5A through it, this can result in 1.2W of heat being generated – way too much for your average ¼W resistor! You will need a resistor that can handle at least 2W. The following power resistors are recommended:

Ohmite 1Ω 1% 3W

Ohmite 0.1Ω 1% 3W

With RL at 10kΩ, changing RS gives us the following ranges:

RS
Current Sense Range

10Ω
3.5mA – 35mA

1Ω
35mA – 350mA

0.1Ω
350mA – 3.5A

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Features:

1. Model – INA169
2. Supply voltage – 3.3V, 5V(can be anywhere from 0 to 75V)
3. VOUT range depends on the voltage supplied by VCC
4. Current range of about 3.5mA to 35mA(for default setup)

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Package Includes:

1 x SmartElex Current Sensor Breakout – INA169