Measure any AC current with ACS712 and Arduino + LCD / OLED
PLEASE BE CAREFUL IF YOU’RE USING THE POWER LINE
Hello, and welcome to another tutorial, this one is about measuring Alternating Current (AC), using ACS712 I’m using the 30Amps version which is ACS712 30A, and our lovely Arduino Uno board, I tried to add an OLED screen but unfortunately ended up breaking it while shooting the tutorial so I switched to the LCD, but below you’ll find the wiring and codes for both versions.
And by “Any AC…” I mean that we gonna see a code/library that works for all signal types not only sinewaves one, and our Ammeter will be able to calculate the TRUE ROOT MEAN SQUARE. And note that the sensor uses the Hall Effect (production of a voltage difference across an electrical conductor, transverse to an electric current in the conductor and to an applied magnetic field perpendicular to the current)
You can combine this project with this one: Easy measure of AC Voltage using Arduino and ZMPT101B
Tests will be done on an incandescent light bulb, controlled by a light dimmer in series with a reference multimeter and the ACS712 current sensor module.
Here’s the plan:
- First we need to interface our module with the Arduino board and check the signal shape when the dimmer is ON – Full Cycle – Half Cycle.
- Then we gonna chech a simple code that doesn’t require any library, but it works only with Sinewaves signal (it will be tested).
- After that we gonna see the code that will measure the TRMS of the AC, and use the LCD.
Parts
Please be carfeul when chosing the ACS712, don’t try to play it safe like I did (by purchasing a 30Amps version), this will just give big fluctuation when you try to use it for a domestic use or small amps applications, so here for me a 5A or 10A version would have been fine.
Also note that 30A or 20A … will affect your calibrations too, but it’s explained how to calibrate in video and in codes comments.
Those are the parts I used, you can replace the UNO with any compatible board, or that LCD i²c with an OLED or any display you prefer.
Test 1
Wiring
Code
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 |
/*This code works with ACS712 Current sensor, it permits to read the raw data It's better to use it with Serial Plotter More details on http://www.surtrtech.com */ #define Current_sensor A0 //The sensor analog input pin float i; void setup() { Serial.begin(9600); pinMode(Current_sensor, INPUT); } void loop() { i = analogRead(Current_sensor); Serial.println(i); delay(100); //Modifying or removing the delay will change the way the signal is shown //set it until you get the correct sinewave shap } |
Results
Upload the code and launch the serial plotter, you should be able to see a sinewave like signal, the red line shows when I turned down the dimmer and the current started having that shape that you usually find in a triac.
Test 2
Now if you want to measure the current using the code above only, you’ll get values around 512 – 511, they don’t reflect the RMS value at all. So to measure the signal RMS value we gonna keep the same wiring as above but now we need another code that can calculate the RMS.
Code
Here you can download the second code from Drive: Download code .ino here
(I can’t write all the code here, because it won’t display well, and will give you errors if you try to copy and compile it).
Results
As you can see the values on the left (RMS) are the same as the value measured by the multimeter, on the right those are Peak to Peak values, and note that the dimmer is at full cycle as I’m using 75W bulb and 230VAC/50Hz.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BUT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here I turned all the way down my light dimmer, which means I’m approximately around 1/4 of a cycle, the multimeter is giving me 0.21A but my code gives me 0.36A, the code still measures from Peak to Peak, but as you can see above my signal is not linear when I turn the dimmer all the way down.
And that’s the difference between a TRMS measuring and a measuring that works only with sinewaves signal.
Test 3
Now you see the problem of the code above, but fortunately there’s a library to the rescue, I really appreciate that library for all the work it does because as you know if you want to calculate a RMS value you need to use Integral Calculus, and that’s way difficult to achieve on an electronic development board, you can check the library cpp file to see what methods are used like the “Average” “Sigma”… Things related to statistics/probabilities ….
Library
Here you can download the Filters library: Download the library here.
Wiring
For the wiring we can keep everything the same as above.
Code
Here you can download the Code I used: Download the code here. The code contains a lot of comment to make it easy for you.
Results
The correct results are on the middle, the left ones are without calibration, and the right ones are used to demonstrate how to calibrate (check the video)
As you saw the huge difference between the two codes response to a non linear signal but the second one act as a TRMS multimeter.
Test 4
Here we keep the same things all we do is instead of using the serial monitor we can use LCD or OLED
Wirings
Codes
Here you can download the codes :
Libraries
OLED i²c display Adafruit libraries: – https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_SSD1306
– https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit-GFX-Library
LCD i²c library you can Download it here.
Result
This is the only test I could do because I broke my OLED screen while trying to shoot the video tutorial 🙁
Overall this works the same way as we saw before it just displays it on a LCD i²c screen.
That’s all folks, I hope you like this tutorial don’t forget to like the video tutorial and subscribe to surtrtech channel to show support, thank you very much.
Categories
Yassine View All
Automation and Electrical Engineer, Electronics amateur trying to share my little projects.
Nice bro..
So,what the Conclusion for test 4,
It’s precitions measurement?
Yes it is, it uses the same method as the one before, TRMS.
can we use this non linear value of current to calculate power factor for non linear loads?
I’m really not sure (Didn’t test yet), you can test and check with a reference device.
Can we have the Filters.cpp file? It isn’t there in the Filters Library !!
There is not .cpp file, all you need is already there.
Like you said in this video , i need to combine this code with your voltmeter code and make a watt meter (no need to consider power factor ) , I tried … , Successfully uploaded it to my arduino but the values i get is just too weird . I don’t know what I did wrong , i did change slope to Vslope for voltage sensor and Cslope for current sensor (intersept too). In short i am unable to combine these two programs into a working watt meter program , please help me as soon as possible
Hello, you should put two separate slope/intercept for each element to measure, also put two separate “RunningStatistics” elements with their own parameters and functions… you can do the same thing copy/paste and change the name, first measure the Voltage for example and store it, then call the second function to measure Current… you can obtain the (phi) angle by measuring the duration between the current and the voltage.
I’ve never did this before, you can try, just be careful.
i changed input stats to vinputStats and cinputStats for voltage and current respectively. now the program is working BUT, the while loop for voltage measurement comes inside the while loop for current measurement. so the program is revolving around the second while loop and not exiting to the main while loop.
in short, please tell me how to write the while loops for current and voltage measurement inside void loop.
this is the problem :
void loop() {
RunningStatistics CinputStats; // create statistics to look at the raw test signal
CinputStats.setWindowSecs( windowLength ); //Set the window length
while( true ) {
ACS_Value = analogRead(ACS_Pin); // read the analog in value:
CinputStats.input(ACS_Value); // log to Stats function
if((unsigned long)(millis() – previousMillis) >= printPeriod) { //every second we do the calculation
previousMillis = millis(); // update time
Amps_TRMS = Cintercept + Cslope * CinputStats.sigma();
Serial.println( ” Amps: ” );
Serial.println( Amps_TRMS );
Serial.println( ” ” );
lcd.setCursor(2,0);
lcd.print(Amps_TRMS);
lcd.setCursor(9,0);
lcd.print(“A”);
}
// }
/* This code works with ZMPT101B AC voltage sensor module and 128×32 OLED display
*/
RunningStatistics VinputStats; //Easy life lines, actual calculation of the RMS requires a load of coding
VinputStats.setWindowSecs( windowLength );
while( true ) {
Sensor = analogRead(A0); // read the analog in value:
VinputStats.input(Sensor); // log to Stats function
if((unsigned long)(millis() – previousMillis) >= printPeriod) {
previousMillis = millis(); // update time every second
Serial.print( “\n” );
current_Volts = Vintercept + Vslope * VinputStats.sigma(); //Calibartions for offset and amplitude
current_Volts= current_Volts*(40.3231); //Further calibrations for the amplitude
Serial.print( “\tVoltage: ” );
Serial.print( current_Volts ); //Calculation and Value display is done the rest is if you’re using an OLED display
lcd.setCursor(5,1);
lcd.print(current_Volts);
lcd.setCursor(11,1);
lcd.print(“V”);
}
}
}
}
It’s not exiting the first loop because of the while loop… please learn about loops in the Arduino references first.
As I told you, you better put each measuring in a function that the code will execute separately each time… maybe I used an example of the funtion with the ESP8266 and ZMPT101B, you can check the other article because this one is meant for measuring one current signal only.
Hello, thank you very much for this project. I need help with the filter library. Download the Filters library, but it shows an error when compiling. The type_traits library is missing, but I only find ArxTypeTraits and I can’t get it to work either.
In Helper.h I have changed #include to #include
And it keeps showing errors when compiling:
error: ‘RunningStatistics’ was not declared in this scope
error: ‘inputStats’ was not declared in this scope
Where do I find type_traits that works with this project?
Thank you
Diego.
Is there a way around the while(true) loop?
I’m using the code on a nodemcu and sending the data to firebase, if I include the firebase.setfloat command in the while loop wrong values are recorded.
Hello, please check my other tutorial about using the ZMPT101B with the NodeMcu, they are pretty much the same, you can check there how to put the measuring sequence into a function and get rid of the while loop… it’s easy.
https://surtrtech.com/2020/04/08/measure-any-ac-voltage-250vac-with-zmpt101b-and-esp8266-12e-with-android-app-adafruit-io-mqtt/
Thanks, it worked.
Good evening, I’m using your code I set slope and intercept to 0 and my output was 0, how do I get my intercept
I know it’s output/ expected but my output is 0
Hello, if you set the slope to 0 you’ll always get 0 (+intercept) as output, at first the intercept should be 0 and the slope at 1 to get the raw value then you can adjust as shown in the tutorial.
Kindly explain code to measure 3 phase current and give fault signal for phase unbalanced more than settable limit
Hi. I will use 4pcs of AC712 5A sensors. Some variable is named according to analog input. But how about inputStats.sigma() ? It is use for 4 differen sensor input?
Thanks for reply.
Hi, you could either use the same variables and you’ll have to switch between pins and storing every value alone, or you could declare other “RunningStatistics” entities…
How do we use these codes with 5A version or 20A version
Same thing, you’ll have different calibration values.
Hi! It sems that you use DC current switch in multimeter instead of AC current switch, Is that possible? I will do the same thing because there is no AC curent option in my multimeter. Thank you 🙂
Hi! It seems that you use DC current switch in multimeter instead of DC current switch. Is that possible? My multimeter (Cellkit CK83OL) has only DC current switch. I am afraid if I use it, it will break my multimeter. Thank you 🙂
Hi bro. Great Tutorial. The code works perfectly fine for me. My problem is this; I want to use 3 Current sensors at the same time, what do I need to change in the RunningStatistics? Or how else can I go about this. Hoping to hear from you soon.
Hi if I may ask what will the code be if you’re using 2.42 inch 7pin oled
Hi, where can I find LiquidCrystal_I2C.h used for this project, none of the standard libraries seem to work with this code. Thanks and good job with this project.
Hello
!! huge job!!
I would prefer to avoid studying the library so I have this question: the measurement interval of 1s is too long for my application, it would take three or four measurements per second.
Is changing only printPeriod completely stupid?
hello, my without calibartion value is 1.55, how do i calibrate it to zero? I cannot understand how to change the intercept value
bravo and many thanks. Works perfectly with ACS712s. And…
Good to know :
after many attempts to operate a ZMCT103C in AC, this is the only code that worked fine !