Cheap and cheerful current sensor for Rx with an analog port

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost.php?p=43266005&postcount=33970
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost.php?p=43273903&postcount=33973

this might be useful for people wanting a very lightweight and compact readout of current on the receivers that have A1 and/or A2.

It's one of these things.

https://www.banggood.com/FullSpeed-FSD-AMASS-XT60-Current-Sensor-Current-Meter-2-6S-80A-For-RC-Drone-FPV-Racing-Multi-Rotor-p-1302133.html

It replaces the XT60 connector on the speed controller so adds virtually no additional weight or bulk. Not bad for about US$8. The sense resistor appears to have an opamp to amplify the sense voltage. It puts out about 1.3V at 80 Amps which is well within. the 3.3V limit of the A1/A2 ports.

In answer to the questions:

1) The display resolution when displaying current values up to 80 Amps appears to be +/-0.2Amps. There is a bit of fluctuation at all values of about +/-0.4 Amps around the reading. I suspect there might be a bit of drift at constant high current caused by heating in the sense resistor.

2) The actual shunt resistor is 0.5mOhm so the dissipation at 80 Amps is 3.2 watts which is well within its 5W rating.

Attached is a calibration test.

Currents from 5 to 80 Amps at 5 Amp intervals were created using an adjustable 220Amp constant current load and a 12V 100Watt power supply.

The discharger was calibrated against a Medusa wattmeter at 10A using an accurate 10A FSD digital meter and then used the Medusa to calibrate the discharger up to 100A. The maximum observed error in the discharger was about 0.3% error. In practice the current values on the x axis are probably better than 0.5%.
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It looks like this little sensor will give you a reasonable result for mAh consumed as well as the current.

I did a calculated consumption field in Companion but used A2 as the sensor source instead of the usual Curr.

I have attached a picture of the Taranis screen. At this particular instant, the load was a nominal 50 Amps but the Taranis and EmeterII were in close agreement at 48.3A and 2167mAh consumed.

I have also added a plot of the Taranis display vs. EmeterII measurement over the range 0-80Amps.

I suspect consumption is fairly sensitive to the Offset Value you chose when setting up the A2 telemetry field. With a bit of patience and mucking about with Ratio and Offset I think you would be able to get it even more accurate than this as the sensor seems quite linear. The secret I suspect is that once you have found a value of Scale that gives the correct slope you adjust Offset for a zero reading when there is no load. And of course you can set up a Logical Switch to have a Special Function play an alarm or track when the consumption exceeds a certain value.

On most of my models I have a voice reminder every 10% of pack capacity below 50% and then am brusquely reminded "It is time for you to land" when I have used 80% of the pack. 
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XT60 sensor update 2

It looks like this little sensor is a bit more sophisticated than I gave it credit for. It doesn't just use a simple Op Amp to amplify the 0.5mOhm shunt resistor voltage.

The Package is hard to read but it is marked "B38" and it will be a Texas Instruments INA 138 current shunt monitor. I have attached the data sheet if anyone is interested.

The only question I have is whether the input impedance of the FrSky A2 analog pin is sufficiently high to avoid any need for buffering. I'm guessing by the linearity in the graphs that I plotted that it is.

ERC TimSav DIY CNC Foamboard Cutter Notes

announcement on rcg:
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost.php?p=43223183&postcount=302

buy here:
https://www.edwardrc.com/

parts here:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3951161

videos:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCW0ubQtQul7xEwgTJe5M4Jw

parts list:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zTNSittC1sCufzYuYdqd8FPCVIePndh7tBC4QH7mYQI/edit#gid=0

FB Group:
"ERC TimSav"

DeoxIT Notes

Everything you need to know about cleaning and maintaining tiny linear servos from RCGroups:

Questions:

1) CAIG Laboratories, Inc. make DeoxIT in a number of formulations. I've seen mention of D-series and Fader F-series on RCG. Can somebody please tell me what to buy, exactly?

2) Other than cost, is there any down side to using DeoxIT of any formulation? Will it attract and hold dust?

3) Will any formulation of DeoxIT attack foam?

4) How careful must I be with DeoxIT of any formulation regarding the servo motor? Will it soak into the motor housing and strip lubricant from the shaft?

5) Does it evaporate or must it be wiped away?

6) I saw an old video (2015) wherein the gentleman removed the actuator from the PCB to perform a thorough cleaning. Is it necessary to remove the actuator if I use the correct formulation of DeoxIT?

Answers:

1. D5 to clean. F5 to lubricate. 

2. Nope

3. Nope

4. Spray it on there liberally

5. Put a paper towel around the servo to catch the black gunk that comes out

6. Not necessary

• Yes, I spray the D5 and work the servo back and forth a bunch. I usually don't do so with the F5, just when every other servo's cleaned up, I give each a quick shot of F5 and place the plane back on its rack.

• That's how I discovered it! Spent 40 years in the music industry as an audio engineer - both live mixing & studio recording. Hundreds of sliders & pots....

• After using regular old "TV tuner cleaner" & finding that the noise soon returned & the stuff actually caused more problems - I stumbled upon DeoxIT products. For decades, D5 & F5 are the only things I've used for cleaning pots & sliders, sliding contacts, commutators, etc.  Back when the first UMs came out, I tried it on a jittery UM linear actuator & it worked perfectly! I've been spreading the news ever since!