Accurately Measuring High Currents With A Precision Current Sense Amplifier

Focus:

Digital multimeters can measure up to 10 A with high precision, while Hall effect sensors can measure up to 200 A (with precision and isolation). Still higher current levels can be measured using current sense resistors but with a tradeoff. The voltage across the sense resistor should be small enough to provide the maximum voltage to the load and to minimize heat dissipation, but large enough to enable the voltage to be measured with a high accuracy. A current sense amplifier IC discussed here—the LTC6102—facilitates the measurement of a low voltage across the sense resistor and produces an amplified, ground-referenced output voltage with a high level of accuracy. This article presents the current sense circuit and discusses dc and ac current measurement, calibration, and example buck converter and car battery applications.

What you’ll learn:

• How to accurately measure currents from amps to hundreds of amps (800 A) using a current sense resistor and the LTC1602 current sense amplifier
• How to implement a small form factor solution for measuring high currents

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Author & Publication:

Simon Bramble, Analog Devices, Hayes, U.K., How2Power Today, Dec 15 2025

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