Current Sense Module

The following describes the Current Sense module used with Power Monitoring.

The MPLAB ICE 4 analog front-end for the current sense module contains two channels, referred to as Channel A and Channel B. Although they operate on similar mechanisms, the two channels are not symmetrical and are used for different purposes.

Both channels are fed into independent ADC channels of MCP3464. This ADC module allows only +ve current measurements on both the channels and at maximum sampling rate of 1kHz (1000sps).

Figure 1. Current Sense Connector on MPLAB ICE 4

Table 1. Channel Specifications
Channel Current and Voltage	Resolution	Full Scale
Channel A - Current	0.6086 uA/step	20mA*
Channel A - Voltage	0.2087 mV/step	6.8V
Channel B - Current	3.043 uA/step	100mA
Channel B - Voltage	0.2087 mV/step	6.8V
* Channel A is limited to 20mA max on units with assembly #10-10203-R5. To increase the overall current range on Channel A to 1A, place an external shunt resistor (0.01 Ω) across the CS+ A and CS- A terminals. When using MPLAB Data Visualizer for range measurements, you could alternatively use channel B.