On Apr 26, 11:11*am, Winston wrote:
wrote:

(..)

Winston - thank you for the link, what a truly amazing device that IC
is....wonder if its available here in less than tube quantities...

Can you buy from any of these vendors, Andrew?http://service.stkcheck.com/Default.aspx

I see they are available in single quantities from my second -
favorite vendor:http://search.digikey.com/scripts/Dk...ng=en&site=US&...

Digikey will sell in single unit quantities for U$ 5.18.
They only have 1273 of them left though.

--Winston

Notice that the noise level equals about a quarter of an amp. and the
total error can be 5% of 50A for the X050 over the Commercial
temperature range, so you need a way to calibrate or at least zero it.
The simple way to use it would be to connect a 1 - 5K pot across the
supply ( 3 x AA cells) and meter between the device output and the pot
wiper. Use the pot to zero the meter when current = 0. I would add a
shorting switch to zero the meter reading without disconnecting the
circuit.

That ought to be enough to check a truck electrical system.

Sears sells a DC clamp-on meter which may use that device or one
similar. I tried one in their parking lot on a cold day and found it
was unusable because the reading drifted so fast, 300 mA in less than
a minute as it cooled down.

Jim Wilkins