Question about power analyzer

[AaronOM]

Hi everyone,

I was hoping to ask a quesetion about a power analyzer. I am trying to build in a system into my next robotics project so that I can measure the inflight power consumption. I was wondering if someone had a schematic or any input on the design of the power analyzers like the astro or medusa ones.

Part of the reason I need to rebuilt the circuit is to keep the system compact and light.

The only problem is I am not quite sure what components to select to measure the high currents. The current measuing chips I have seen all use an Rsense resistor which would need to be able to handle at leastk 2kwatts.

Ideas would be apprecaited :)

[zik]

Try these - they're very accurate and have a very low series resistance.

http://www.allegromicro.com/en/Products/Part_Numbers/0755/index.asp

[AaronOM]

Thanks zik,

I am gonna check that part out for sure.

Do you know if its possible to wire these in parallel to protect again failure?

[zik]

Do you know if its possible to wire these in parallel to protect again failure?
I imagine you could but I doubt they'd ever fail in a catastrophic way - the main conductor is just a massive great chunk of metal and so isn't like to go open circuit. But I guess if you wanted to be careful about potential solder joint failures it might be worth putting two in parallel. Better still since they're quite a heavy component it might be worth qualifying your board for vibration and being careful how it's mounted.