Hi all,
I have two rather large Aerial Photography platforms outfitted with Pixhawks. One runs on 6s and the other on 12s. I need to solve the voltage sensing problem.
In both cases, I have no interest in sensing current (partially because it would just blow the AttoPilot 180A or equivalent board), but I would like to be able to read the voltage of my flight packs. I found many 6s capable voltage sensors, but they are all designed to be used as current sensors are well, where all the power flows through that one little PCB. I don't think this is practical in my applications, so I'd just like something to read the voltage and not be responsible for conducting any of the current. Is there an existing product or a (fairly simple) solution to this problem?
Here's a picture to show what I'm trying to say
Thanks in advance for the help!!
Replies
Hello,
I was wondering if you had any luck with this? I'm in the same boat with a very large 50V system which too would simply blow the AttoPilot 180V board.
I use the Futaba 14SG transmitter for operating. My initial thought is to simply use their voltage telemetry sensor (SBS-01V External Voltage Sensor) found here: http://www.futabarc.com/accessories/futm0850.html
It is rated up to 100V, and would at least give a voltage readout on the transmitter itself.
Then, I guess I will just use a BEC to supply power to the flight controller, and bypass the voltage/current sensing PCB altogether. The downside is that I would not have this data in Mission Planner, but at least I have it on the transmitter.
Anyway, I would be interested in knowing if you stumbled upon a better solution?
What I ended up doing is creating a voltage divider and feeding the output of that into the module. This is in parallel (not series!) with the load. You get your voltage sensing capabilities, but no current sensing.
Makes sense.
According to the Attopilot 180A board schematic, it looks like there is already a voltage divider in place, and the current sensing can be bypassed by not connecting this output to the flight controller.
Anyway, I am glad to hear that you found a solution. Maybe one day, someone will create a larger PCB to account for these larger currents.