Trying to understand implementation of INA3221

[andyrbarrow]

I've implemented example programs using the INA3221. They seem to work, with one part I don't understand: Currently, when a single INA3221 is connected (using ESP32), it is discovered as 3 devices on address 64. In the DisplayReadings example program, it lists three devices, and it appears that all three devices have the same readings.

How does one differentiate between the three channels of the INA3221?

[andyrbarrow]

Okay, my mistake

[andyrbarrow]

My mistake. I was trying to use one of those breakout boards that has the grounds from all three channels common. It wasn't until I separated them that I was able to see independent voltages on all the channel.

[SV-Zanshin]

Hello Andy - glad you got that sorted out. I had the same board and the same problem for the INA3221 and was pretty disappointed in how they put that board together.

[andyrbarrow]

Yes. The only saving grace is that I ordered a single unit from Amazon and they sent me a bag of 29! So, I have lots to play with.

I have two battery banks to monitor, voltage and current. My plan at this point is to implement two of these INA3221 boards with the traces cut and the shunt resistors removed. Each one will measure separate banks - low-side current with an external 75mV shunt on one channel and battery voltage on a second channel. Then I avoid the work of moving shunts, remounting, rewiring, etc. If anyone asks about this in the future, there is a guy on Tindie who sells INA3221 breakout boards that are wired correctly. If I didn't have so many of the other ones, I'd definitely be buying a few from him.

Thanks for an excellent library and impeccable documentation (both in code and in the external docs). I'll let you know how it goes. Andy Barrow

email: andy@sailor.nu tel (mx): +52 322 104 2189 tel (us): +1 925 270 0473 Skype: abarrow

ᐧ

On Sun, Sep 6, 2020 at 11:34 PM Arnd notifications@github.com wrote:

Hello Andy - glad you got that sorted out. I had the same board and the same problem for the INA3221 and was pretty disappointed in how they put that board together.

— You are receiving this because you modified the open/close state. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/SV-Zanshin/INA/issues/67#issuecomment-688027426, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ADFXNW3XQKH4OREIHN6HDZLSERPF7ANCNFSM4Q4WLJOA .

[SV-Zanshin]

Hello Andy,

How big are your battery banks? I’ve got two really big banks, so I have to get really big shunts (the house bank is 800Ah @ 24V – so 1600Ah @ 12V, the smaller bank is only 200Ah @12V and then there’s the starter battery for the engine @12V). Since I charge at around 28.8 most of the INA devices won’t carry enough voltage for me.

-Arnd.

From: Andy Barrow notifications@github.com Sent: 07 September 2020 15:36 To: SV-Zanshin/INA INA@noreply.github.com Cc: Arnd zanshin_github@sv-zanshin.com; Assign assign@noreply.github.com Subject: Re: [SV-Zanshin/INA] Trying to understand implementation of INA3221 (#67)

Yes. The only saving grace is that I ordered a single unit from Amazon and they sent me a bag of 29! So, I have lots to play with.

I have two battery banks to monitor, voltage and current. My plan at this point is to implement two of these INA3221 boards with the traces cut and the shunt resistors removed. Each one will measure separate banks - low-side current with an external 75mV shunt on one channel and battery voltage on a second channel. Then I avoid the work of moving shunts, remounting, rewiring, etc. If anyone asks about this in the future, there is a guy on Tindie who sells INA3221 breakout boards that are wired correctly. If I didn't have so many of the other ones, I'd definitely be buying a few from him.

Thanks for an excellent library and impeccable documentation (both in code and in the external docs). I'll let you know how it goes. Andy Barrow

email: andy@sailor.nu mailto:*andy@sailor.nu tel (mx): +52 322 104 2189 tel (us): +1 925 270 0473 Skype: abarrow

ᐧ

On Sun, Sep 6, 2020 at 11:34 PM Arnd <notifications@github.com mailto:notifications@github.com > wrote:

Hello Andy - glad you got that sorted out. I had the same board and the same problem for the INA3221 and was pretty disappointed in how they put that board together.

— You are receiving this because you modified the open/close state. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/SV-Zanshin/INA/issues/67#issuecomment-688027426, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ADFXNW3XQKH4OREIHN6HDZLSERPF7ANCNFSM4Q4WLJOA .

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[andyrbarrow]

I'm using 200A shunts, mainly because the last monitor that I installed came with one, so I only had to buy one more. These are fairly cheap shunts that I got on Banggood for $6.50 USD (I think that's right). I 3D printed a holder for them, so I could tie the grounds together.

I have a 12V 400Ah bank and a 12V 100Ah starting battery. I probably could get away with smaller shunts, but at least with these I can still have them in the motor starting circuit.

I suppose you could put in a voltage divider to bring the voltage down to something that the INA would be able to monitor. Andy Barrow

email: andy@sailor.nu tel (mx): +52 322 104 2189 tel (us): +1 925 270 0473 Skype: abarrow

ᐧ

On Mon, Sep 7, 2020 at 10:41 AM Arnd notifications@github.com wrote:

Hello Andy,

How big are your battery banks? I’ve got two really big banks, so I have to get really big shunts (the house bank is 800Ah @ 24V – so 1600Ah @ 12V, the smaller bank is only 200Ah @12V and then there’s the starter battery for the engine @12V). Since I charge at around 28.8 most of the INA devices won’t carry enough voltage for me.

-Arnd.

From: Andy Barrow notifications@github.com Sent: 07 September 2020 15:36 To: SV-Zanshin/INA INA@noreply.github.com Cc: Arnd zanshin_github@sv-zanshin.com; Assign < assign@noreply.github.com> Subject: Re: [SV-Zanshin/INA] Trying to understand implementation of INA3221 (#67)

Yes. The only saving grace is that I ordered a single unit from Amazon and they sent me a bag of 29! So, I have lots to play with.

I have two battery banks to monitor, voltage and current. My plan at this point is to implement two of these INA3221 boards with the traces cut and the shunt resistors removed. Each one will measure separate banks - low-side current with an external 75mV shunt on one channel and battery voltage on a second channel. Then I avoid the work of moving shunts, remounting, rewiring, etc. If anyone asks about this in the future, there is a guy on Tindie who sells INA3221 breakout boards that are wired correctly. If I didn't have so many of the other ones, I'd definitely be buying a few from him.

Thanks for an excellent library and impeccable documentation (both in code and in the external docs). I'll let you know how it goes. Andy Barrow

email: andy@sailor.nu mailto:*andy@sailor.nu tel (mx): +52 322 104 2189 tel (us): +1 925 270 0473 Skype: abarrow

ᐧ

On Sun, Sep 6, 2020 at 11:34 PM Arnd <notifications@github.com <mailto: notifications@github.com> > wrote:

Hello Andy - glad you got that sorted out. I had the same board and the same problem for the INA3221 and was pretty disappointed in how they put that board together.

— You are receiving this because you modified the open/close state. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/SV-Zanshin/INA/issues/67#issuecomment-688027426, or unsubscribe < https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ADFXNW3XQKH4OREIHN6HDZLSERPF7ANCNFSM4Q4WLJOA

.

— You are receiving this because you were assigned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub < https://github.com/SV-Zanshin/INA/issues/67#issuecomment-688330713> , or unsubscribe < https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AFT5DRAQFA4VB6UJW4HRXL3SETOTVANCNFSM4Q4WLJOA> . < https://github.com/notifications/beacon/AFT5DRB24RVA4S7KHUEKZ7DSETOTVA5CNFSM4Q4WLJOKYY3PNVWWK3TUL52HS4DFVREXG43VMVBW63LNMVXHJKTDN5WW2ZLOORPWSZGOFEDRPWI.gif>

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[yesyesuk]

... there is a guy on Tindie who sells INA3221 breakout boards that are wired correctly.

I'm that guy. ;-)

[andyrbarrow]

Cool! In my case, I removed the shunt resistors completely, as I wanted to use my 200 A shunts. So, on the the "bad" boards, two trace cuts to separate grounds (as your boards do), and pull the resistors off. I know you have a couple of versions of that board - it might be worth offering them without shunt resistors.

On Sat, Sep 19, 2020, 16:25 yesyesuk notifications@github.com wrote:

... there is a guy on Tindie who sells INA3221 breakout boards that are wired correctly.

I'm that guy. ;-)

— You are receiving this because you modified the open/close state. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/SV-Zanshin/INA/issues/67#issuecomment-695357551, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ADFXNW55OMEZVLWSYJEJUD3SGUOTHANCNFSM4Q4WLJOA .

[SV-Zanshin]

Do you have a URL for the boards?

[yesyesuk]

Yes, I do. I just didn't want to barge in here advertising my boards. ;)

0.01 Ohm version: https://www.tindie.com/products/yesyes/improved-ina3221-breakout-3-power-supplies-001ohm/

0.1 Ohm version: https://www.tindie.com/products/yesyes/improved-ina3221-breakout-3-power-supplies-01ohm/

I'll consider having some made without shunt resistor with the next batch.

[SV-Zanshin]

Awesome - thanks for the link. Once I get my things sorted out here I think I might order some!

[yesyesuk]

it might be worth offering them without shunt resistors.

I now have a model without shunt resistors available. ;-) https://www.tindie.com/products/yesyes/improved-ina3221-breakout-3-power-supplies-no-res/

[andyrbarrow]

Thank you! I just ordered 4! Andy Barrow

email: aXXy@sXiXoX.nX tel (mx): +52 3X2 X0X X1X9 tel (us): +1 XX5 27X 0X7X Skype: abarrow

On Tue, Jan 12, 2021 at 8:09 PM yesyesuk notifications@github.com wrote:

it might be worth offering them without shunt resistors.

I now have a model without shunt resistors available. ;-)

https://www.tindie.com/products/yesyes/improved-ina3221-breakout-3-power-supplies-no-res/

— You are receiving this because you modified the open/close state. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/Zanduino/INA/issues/67#issuecomment-759156038, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ADFXNWZAGZQE7JCTDISC7HTSZT6GXANCNFSM4Q4WLJOA .

[SV-Zanshin]

@yesyesuk And I just ordered 2. I only need one, but I adhere to the maxim "one is none" and believe that breadboards tend to release magic smoke once in a while. @andyrbarrow I obfuscated your details in the previous post - it is better to not broadcast too much information for those screen-scrapers to harvest

[yesyesuk]

@andyrbarrow @SV-Zanshin That's odd, I did not receive any orders.

[SV-Zanshin]

I ordered at 06:45 this morning and have received confirmation “Processing Order #240740 | Tindie”

From: yesyesuk notifications@github.com Sent: 13 January 2021 11:12 To: Zanduino/INA INA@noreply.github.com Cc: Arnd zanshin_github@sv-zanshin.com; Mention mention@noreply.github.com Subject: Re: [Zanduino/INA] Trying to understand implementation of INA3221 (#67)

@andyrbarrow https://github.com/andyrbarrow @SV-Zanshin https://github.com/SV-Zanshin That's odd, I did not receive any orders.

— You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/Zanduino/INA/issues/67#issuecomment-759347538 , or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AFT5DRFXM6ZVNIJ4K5KG4V3SZVWXZANCNFSM4Q4WLJOA . https://github.com/notifications/beacon/AFT5DRGRRSAJIL47XPS6IATSZVWXZA5CNFSM4Q4WLJOKYY3PNVWWK3TUL52HS4DFVREXG43VMVBW63LNMVXHJKTDN5WW2ZLOORPWSZGOFVBLSUQ.gif

[yesyesuk]

hmmm, maybe it takes a while for them to process the order. I've never been told outside Tindie when someone ordered. So I don't know what the normal delay is.

I will keep an eye on it.

[andyrbarrow]

Thanks for removing my signature, sometimes I forget!

I did get a confirmation from Tindie for the 4 that I ordered as well. Even though I paid using PayPal, there was a comment in the order confirmation about waiting a few days for the payment provider to confirm the payment.

One minor suggestion on the description of the part - in my case I'm using it with an external high current shunt. While that sort of usage is clearly implied in your description, it might help you sell units if you are more explicit about that usage mode.

Heck, if you are feeling like expanding your line, why not sell a i2c-enabled high current shunt? ᐧ

On Tue, Jan 12, 2021 at 11:50 PM Arnd notifications@github.com wrote:

@yesyesuk https://github.com/yesyesuk And I just ordered 2. I only need one, but I adhere to the maxim "one is none" and believe that breadboards tend to release magic smoke once in a while. @andyrbarrow https://github.com/andyrbarrow I obfuscated your details in the previous post - it is better to not broadcast too much information for those screen-scrapers to harvest

— You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/Zanduino/INA/issues/67#issuecomment-759221935, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ADFXNW7MS5VL45RS7Y3ELELSZUYB3ANCNFSM4Q4WLJOA .

[yesyesuk]

@andyrbarrow Great idea regarding mentioning external shunts. I have added that to the Tindie product description (will take a few minutes to update publicly) and to the longer description on my website.

I have contacted Tindie support regarding these 2 orders. Could you please tell me your order number? I can add this to the ticket so they can have a look.

[andyrbarrow]

240730

ᐧ

On Wed, Jan 13, 2021 at 8:01 AM yesyesuk notifications@github.com wrote:

@andyrbarrow https://github.com/andyrbarrow Great idea regarding mentioning external shunts. I have added that to the Tindie product description (will take a few minutes to update publicly) and to the longer description on my website.

I have contacted Tindie support regarding these 2 orders. Could you please tell me your order number? I can add this to the ticket so they can have a look.

— You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/Zanduino/INA/issues/67#issuecomment-759467379, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ADFXNW3CRMPCWCFP3UMGHT3SZWRT3ANCNFSM4Q4WLJOA .

[yesyesuk]

OK, all good. Tindie support said that these orders were caught by their filters and needed to be approved manually (by them). I guess because it was just a few hours after the new product went live. I have received the orders now and will ship tomorrow (sorry, too late for today).