ADA-6062 Adafruit INA3221 - Triple 0-26 VDC, ±3.2 Amp Power Monitor - STEMMA QT / Qwiic
This breakout board offers a solution for multi-rail power monitoring. Instead of managing multiple multimeters, you can use the INA3221 chip on this breakout to measure both the high-side voltage and DC current draw of up to three power supplies via I2C with ±1% precision.
Many current-measuring devices, such as standard current panel meters, are designed for low-side measuring, which involves placing the measurement resistor between the target ground and true ground. This can cause issues in circuits since ground references may shift with varying current draw. The INA3221, however, supports both high and low-side current measurement, handling up to +26VDC, even when powered by 3 or 5V. It also reports high-side voltage, useful for monitoring battery levels or solar panel performance.
The chip uses a precision amplifier to measure voltage across built-in 0.05-ohm, 1% sense resistors. With an input difference range of ±163.8mV, it can measure up to ±3.2 Amps, and its 13-bit ADC provides a resolution of 0.4mA at that range. Advanced users can modify the sense resistor to change the range—for instance, swapping in a 0.01-ohm resistor would allow measurements up to 16.4 Amps with a 2mA resolution.
To use the board, simply power it with 3 to 5VDC and connect the I2C pins to your microcontroller. Connect the power supplies to VIN1/2/3+ and the loads to VIN1/2/3-. You can also configure over-current alerts using the warning or critical IRQ pins. Libraries are available for both Arduino and CircuitPython/Python, making it compatible with microcontrollers from basic Arduino boards to Raspberry Pi systems.
For easy connectivity, the breakout comes with pre-attached 3.5mm terminal blocks and SparkFun Qwiic-compatible STEMMA QT connectors for the I2C bus. You can connect to your preferred microcontroller using a STEMMA QT adapter cable (sold separately). The package also includes 0.1" pin headers for breadboard connections.
INA3221 Specifications
- Senses Bus Voltages From 0 V to 26 V
- Reports Shunt and Bus Voltage
- High Accuracy:
– Offset Voltage: ±80 µV (max)
– Gain Error: 0.25% (max) - Configurable Averaging Options
- Default I2C address 0x40, can be set to 0x41 by closing a solder jumper
- Programmable Alert and Warning Outputs
- Power-Supply Operation: 2.7 V to 5.5 V
Product Dimensions: 38.6mm x 22.9mm x 10.5mm / 1.5" x 0.9" x 0.4"
Product Weight: 5.8g / 0.2oz
WARNING
