Ammeter Click

The main component of the Ammeter click board is the AD8616, single, dual and quad rail-to-rail input and output single supply amplifier. produced by Analog Devices. Two onboard screw terminals (probe+ and probe-) are bringing in the current, which then passes through a shunt resistor. A voltage proportional to the strength of the current is generated across the resistor. This voltage passes through an amplifier before it’s fed into MCP3201 a 12-bit ADC, from Microchip which then outputs a digital value through the mikroBUS SPI interface.

The firmware processes the digital value to determine the exact amperage between 1mA and 1A for DC current. It’s also possible to measure AC current by deriving the value from peak to peak measurements. At the same time, the voltage can be directly monitored through the AN pin.

The board uses either a 3.3V or 5V power supply (it’s important not to power the board from the same power source you wish to measure).