VCP Monitor 4 Click

How does it work?

VCP Monitor 4 Click as its foundation uses the INA239, a digital current sense amplifier with a 4-wire serial digital interface from Texas Instruments. It measures shunt and bus voltage and internal temperature while calculating the power necessary for accurate decision-making in precisely controlled systems. The input stage of the INA239 is designed such that the input common-mode voltage can be higher than the device supply voltage. It operates from mikroBUS™ power rails but can measure voltage and current as high as 85V, making it well suited for high-side and low-side current measurements.

Its integrated 16-bit ADC allows for selectable conversion times from 50μs to 4.12ms and sample averaging from 1x to 1024x, which further helps reduce the noise of the measured data. It also features low offset and gain-drift and low input bias current, which reduces the current consumed in both Active and Shutdown operational states. Another benefit of low bias current is that it allows the use of larger current-sense resistors (in this case, onboard R4 shunt 25MΩ resistor), thus providing accurate, current measurements in the micro-amp range. Besides, it can also measure the temperature through the integrated temperature sensor in a range from -40ºC up to +125ºC.

Its integrated 16-bit ADC allows for selectable conversion times from 50μs to 4.12ms and sample averaging from 1x to 1024x, which further helps reduce the noise of the measured data. It also features low offset and gain-drift and low input bias current, which reduces the current consumed in both Active and Shutdown operational states. Another benefit of low bias current is that it allows the use of larger current-sense resistors (in this case, onboard R4 shunt 25MΩ resistor), thus providing accurate, current measurements in the micro-amp range. Besides, it can also measure the temperature through the integrated temperature sensor in a range from -40ºC up to +125ºC.

This Click board™ can operate with both 3.3V and 5V logic voltage levels selected via the VCC SEL jumper. This way, it is allowed for both 3.3V and 5V capable MCUs to use the SPI communication lines properly. However, the Click board™ comes equipped with a library containing easy-to-use functions and an example code that can be used, as a reference, for further development.

Specifications

Pinout diagram

This table shows how the pinout on VCP Monitor 4 Click corresponds to the pinout on the mikroBUS™ socket (the latter shown in the two middle columns).

Notes	Pin					Pin	Notes
	NC	1	AN	PWM	16	NC
	NC	2	RST	INT	15	ALR	Alert
SPI Chip Select	CS	3	CS	RX	14	NC
SPI Clock	SCK	4	SCK	TX	13	NC
SPI Data OUT	SDO	5	MISO	SCL	12	NC
SPI Data IN	SDI	6	MOSI	SDA	11	NC
Power Supply	3.3V	7	3.3V	5V	10	5V	Power Supply
Ground	GND	8	GND	GND	9	GND	Ground

Onboard settings and indicators

VCP Monitor 4 Click electrical specifications

Software Support

We provide a library for the VCP Monitor 4 Click as well as a demo application (example), developed using MikroElektronika compilers. The demo can run on all the main MikroElektronika development boards.

Package can be downloaded/installed directly from NECTO Studio Package Manager(recommended way), downloaded from our LibStock™ or found on Mikroe github account.

Library Description

This library contains API for VCP Monitor 4 Click driver.

Key functions:

• vcpmonitor4_cfg_setup – Config Object Initialization function.
• vcpmonitor4_init – Initialization function.
• vcpmonitor4_default_cfg – Click Default Configuration function.

Examples description

This example application showcases ability of Click board to be configured for different readings and read temperature, voltage, current and power.

The demo application is composed of two sections :

void application_task ( void )
{
    float read_data;
    vcpmonitor4_get_temperature( &vcpmonitor4, &read_data );
    log_printf( &logger, " > Temperature:t%.2f rn", read_data );
    
    vcpmonitor4_get_vbus( &vcpmonitor4, &read_data );
    log_printf( &logger, " > Vbus[V]:t%.2f rn", read_data );
    
    vcpmonitor4_get_vshunt( &vcpmonitor4, &read_data );
    log_printf( &logger, " > Vshunt[mV]:t%.2f rn", read_data );
    
    vcpmonitor4_get_current( &vcpmonitor4, &read_data );
    log_printf( &logger, " > Current[A]:t%.2f rn", read_data );
    
    vcpmonitor4_get_power( &vcpmonitor4, &read_data );
    log_printf( &logger, " > Power[W]:t%.2f rn", read_data );
    log_printf( &logger, "*************************rn" );
    
    Delay_ms( 500 );
}

The full application code, and ready to use projects can be installed directly from NECTO Studio Package Manager(recommended way), downloaded from our LibStock™ or found on Mikroe github account.

Other Mikroe Libraries used in the example:

• MikroSDK.Board
• MikroSDK.Log
• Click.VCPMonitor4

Additional notes and informations

Depending on the development board you are using, you may need USB UART click, USB UART 2 click or RS232 click to connect to your PC, for development systems with no UART to USB interface available on the board. The terminal available in all MikroElektronika compilers, or any other terminal application of your choice, can be used to read the message.

mikroSDK

This Click board™ is supported with mikroSDK – MikroElektronika Software Development Kit. To ensure proper operation of mikroSDK compliant Click board™ demo applications, mikroSDK should be downloaded from the LibStock and installed for the compiler you are using.

For more information about mikroSDK, visit the official page.