I have recently bought a Raspberry Pi, and I would like to be able to measure the current flowing through the circuit in our Greenpower electric racing car. It would also be useful to record this for future analysis, ideally using Python. I have looked at using an 4 channel 16-bit ADC but I am not clear on how to use it and whether it would actually do what I want. It could be measuring up to 60 Amps and 24 Volts.
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You are talking about quite a lot of power. I doubt this is the right forum to answer the question. – joan Nov 12 '14 at 18:12
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Refer to electronics.stackexchange.com for the hardware part to get more and better answers. Feel free to discuss issues of the python scripting back here. – Ghanima♦ Nov 12 '14 at 20:25
Use 10-bit 2-channel ADC, MCP 3002. It's quite easy:
In this tutorial, he uses it to measure battery, but with a bit of creativity it can be used to measure other things too. Here it is: http://raspi.tv/2013/controlled-shutdown-duration-test-of-pi-model-a-with-2-cell-lipo
Note that ADC is only a part of the solution, and not really specific to the problem. Measurements of currents exceeding hundreds of milliamperes are typically done using Hall sensors:
These sensors react to magnetic field near the current-carrying conductor which is proportional to the current.
For currents exceeding 50A, you're going to need something like an ACS758:
answered Nov 21 '16 at 14:08
