Post by tmg1962 on Jan 29, 2018 14:38:45 GMT -8
I'm fascinated by this INA3221, what a fantastic device. I've purchased two of them and have them monitoring both supply side and usage side of a remote Solar Weather station. Unfortunately, after 4 days of operation at the remote location, the IN1- apparently blew out. I'm running a 50W 12v panel (which outputs upwards of 20V on a sunny day). On the 4th day, and it was sunny, the IN1- side went blank. The 'current' measurement was 1638mA before it died. Afterward it died, the Input side would pop between +1632.8mA and – 1632.8mA as the sun came up and went down, but no charging of the battery though, because IN1- was dead.
I went to the remote location last weekend, bypassed the IN3221 IN1 and routed the panel directly to the solar controller, obviously losing visibility/monitoring, but everything came back up and is running great. I'm not an ACE at analog circuit math, but shouldn't the INA3221 been able to handle that voltage/current? If I'm reading the specs right, it says 2A and I was only running at 1.6A.
I was watching it today (Monday) and I've just lost contact with it again and I'm thinking that INA2+/- might have just blown out. It's a clear sunny day and the "current" railed at 1632.8mA, charging the battery perfectly then poof, lights out (as far as I can tell remotely). When I left the remote area Saturday (2 hrs away) I was wondering, am I going to have the same issue with IN2?? Walla, I think i just did.
I think I'm safe with IN3, total consumption of the subsystem is just 4.7 watts peek (12v at 390mA).
Am I making any sense here?
Did I blow out IN1 and IN2, and if so, where is my math wrong?
I've read a TON of articles about how to increase the amp tolerance of the device by swapping the shunt resistors, but it's apparently over my head. I can't see where to cut the trace that exists, or where to get a replacement shunt resistor of the correct spec. I went to a local electronics store and the guy thought I was nuts. I asked for a 0.05ohm resistor and he showed my one that was as big around as your thumb. is that right? Is there a place online to buy them?
I'm lost and would love some advice.
ps: Here's a link to the chart that shows the incident:![]()
link
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I went to the remote location last weekend, bypassed the IN3221 IN1 and routed the panel directly to the solar controller, obviously losing visibility/monitoring, but everything came back up and is running great. I'm not an ACE at analog circuit math, but shouldn't the INA3221 been able to handle that voltage/current? If I'm reading the specs right, it says 2A and I was only running at 1.6A.
I was watching it today (Monday) and I've just lost contact with it again and I'm thinking that INA2+/- might have just blown out. It's a clear sunny day and the "current" railed at 1632.8mA, charging the battery perfectly then poof, lights out (as far as I can tell remotely). When I left the remote area Saturday (2 hrs away) I was wondering, am I going to have the same issue with IN2?? Walla, I think i just did.
I think I'm safe with IN3, total consumption of the subsystem is just 4.7 watts peek (12v at 390mA).
Am I making any sense here?
Did I blow out IN1 and IN2, and if so, where is my math wrong?
I've read a TON of articles about how to increase the amp tolerance of the device by swapping the shunt resistors, but it's apparently over my head. I can't see where to cut the trace that exists, or where to get a replacement shunt resistor of the correct spec. I went to a local electronics store and the guy thought I was nuts. I asked for a 0.05ohm resistor and he showed my one that was as big around as your thumb. is that right? Is there a place online to buy them?
I'm lost and would love some advice.
ps: Here's a link to the chart that shows the incident:
