Unlock the potential of precise energy monitoring using PAC1934 and MKV42F64VLH16

The key to precise energy monitoring and analysis

Published Sep 30, 2023

Click board™

PAC1934 Click

Dev Board

Fusion for ARM v8

Compiler

NECTO Studio

MCU

MKV42F64VLH16

Efficiently manage your energy resources with confidence using our DC power and energy monitoring solution, offering unparalleled accuracy and insights

Hardware Overview

How does it work?

PAC1934 Click is based on the PAC1934, a four-channel DC power/energy monitor from Microchip. The click is designed to run on either a 3.3V or 5V power supply. It communicates with the target microcontroller over an I2C interface. Four 4-Terminal current sense shunt resistors are connected to the current sense amplifier (in the chip). Electricity is brought to shunts via screw terminals. The middle screw connector is GND which can be used for bus voltage monitoring. This Click enables energy monitoring with

integration periods from 1ms up to 36 hours or longer. Bus voltage, sense resistor voltage, and accumulated proportional power are stored in registers for retrieval by the system master or Embedded Controller. The PAC1934 is a four-channel bi-directional high-side current-sensing device with precision voltage measurement capabilities, DSP for power calculation, and a power accumulator. It measures the voltage developed across an external sense resistor (VSENSE) to represent the high-side current of a

battery or voltage regulator. The PAC1932/3/4 also measures the SENSE1+ pin voltages (VBUS). This Click board™ can operate with either 3.3V or 5V logic voltage levels selected via the PWR SEL jumper. This way, both 3.3V and 5V capable MCUs can use the communication lines properly. Also, this Click board™ comes equipped with a library containing easy-to-use functions and an example code that can be used as a reference for further development.

Features overview

Development board

Fusion for ARM v8 is a development board specially designed for the needs of rapid development of embedded applications. It supports a wide range of microcontrollers, such as different ARM® Cortex®-M based MCUs regardless of their number of pins, and a broad set of unique functions, such as the first-ever embedded debugger/programmer over WiFi. The development board is well organized and designed so that the end-user has all the necessary elements, such as switches, buttons, indicators, connectors, and others, in one place. Thanks to innovative manufacturing technology, Fusion for ARM v8 provides a fluid and immersive working experience, allowing access anywhere and under any

circumstances at any time. Each part of the Fusion for ARM v8 development board contains the components necessary for the most efficient operation of the same board. An advanced integrated CODEGRIP programmer/debugger module offers many valuable programming/debugging options, including support for JTAG, SWD, and SWO Trace (Single Wire Output)), and seamless integration with the Mikroe software environment. Besides, it also includes a clean and regulated power supply module for the development board. It can use a wide range of external power sources, including a battery, an external 12V power supply, and a power source via the USB Type-C (USB-C) connector.

Communication options such as USB-UART, USB HOST/DEVICE, CAN (on the MCU card, if supported), and Ethernet is also included. In addition, it also has the well-established mikroBUS™ standard, a standardized socket for the MCU card (SiBRAIN standard), and two display options for the TFT board line of products and character-based LCD. Fusion for ARM v8 is an integral part of the Mikroe ecosystem for rapid development. Natively supported by Mikroe software tools, it covers many aspects of prototyping and development thanks to a considerable number of different Click boards™ (over a thousand boards), the number of which is growing every day.

Microcontroller Overview

MCU Card / MCU

Type

8th Generation

Architecture

ARM Cortex-M4

MCU Memory (KB)

Silicon Vendor

NXP

Pin count

RAM (Bytes)

16384

Used MCU Pins

mikroBUS™ mapper

Reset

PE16

RST

SCK

MISO

MOSI

Power Supply

3.3V

Ground

GND

PWM

Alert Interrupt

PC4

INT

I2C Clock

PC6

SCL

I2C Data

PC7

SDA

Power Supply

Ground

GND

Take a closer look

Schematic

Step by step

Project assembly

Fusion for PIC v8 front image hardware assembly

Start by selecting your development board and Click board™. Begin with the Fusion for ARM v8 as your development board.

NECTO Output Selection Step Image hardware assembly

In the advanced settings, pay special attention to the Redirect standard output field. By default, it is set to Application output as the method of displaying final results. To show results via a UART terminal, select the “UART” option in that field and click the “SAVE” button. You will be returned to the Compiler field, and now you can move on to the next step by pressing the “NEXT” button.

GNSS2 Click front image hardware assembly

SiBRAIN for PIC32MZ1024EFK144 front image hardware assembly

GNSS2 Click complete accessories setup image hardware assembly

v8 SiBRAIN Access MB 1 - upright/background hardware assembly

NECTO Compiler Selection Step Image hardware assembly

Track your results in real time

Application Output

After pressing the "FLASH" button on the left-side panel, it is necessary to open the UART terminal to display the achieved results. By clicking on the Tools icon in the right-hand panel, multiple different functions are displayed, among which is the UART Terminal. Click on the offered "UART Terminal" icon.

Once the UART terminal is opened, the window takes on a new form. At the top of the tab are two buttons, one for adjusting the parameters of the UART terminal and the other for connecting the UART terminal. The tab's lower part is reserved for displaying the achieved results. Before connecting, the terminal has a Disconnected status, indicating that the terminal is not yet active. Before connecting, it is necessary to check the set parameters of the UART terminal. Click on the "OPTIONS" button.

In the newly opened UART Terminal Options field, we check if the terminal settings are correct, such as the set port and the Baud rate of UART communication. If the data is not displayed properly, it is possible that the Baud rate value is not set correctly and needs to be adjusted to 115200. If all the parameters are set correctly, click on "CONFIGURE".

The next step is to click on the "CONNECT" button, after which the terminal status changes from Disconnected to Connected in green, and the data is displayed in the Received data field.

Software Support

Library Description

This library contains API for PAC1934 Click driver.

Key functions:

pac1934_write_byte - Write one byte function
pac1934_read_byte - Read one byte function
pac1934_send_command - Send command function.

Open Source

Code example

This example can be found in NECTO Studio. Feel free to download the code, or you can copy the code below.

/*!
 * \file 
 * \brief Pac1934 Click example
 * 
 * # Description
 * This application measures the voltage.
 *
 * The demo application is composed of two sections :
 * 
 * ## Application Init 
 * Initalizes device, enables the device and makes an initial log.
 * 
 * ## Application Task  
 * This is an example that shows the most important
 * functions that PAC1934 click has, it mesures voltage, current, power and energy.
 * 
 * \author MikroE Team
 *
 */
// ------------------------------------------------------------------- INCLUDES

#include "board.h"
#include "log.h"
#include "pac1934.h"

// ------------------------------------------------------------------ VARIABLES

static pac1934_t pac1934;
static log_t logger;

// ------------------------------------------------------ APPLICATION FUNCTIONS

void application_init ( void )
{
    log_cfg_t log_cfg;
    pac1934_cfg_t cfg;

    /** 
     * Logger initialization.
     * Default baud rate: 115200
     * Default log level: LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG
     * @note If USB_UART_RX and USB_UART_TX 
     * are defined as HAL_PIN_NC, you will 
     * need to define them manually for log to work. 
     * See @b LOG_MAP_USB_UART macro definition for detailed explanation.
     */
    LOG_MAP_USB_UART( log_cfg );
    log_init( &logger, &log_cfg );
    log_info( &logger, "---- Application Init ----" );

    //  Click initialization.

    pac1934_cfg_setup( &cfg );
    PAC1934_MAP_MIKROBUS( cfg, MIKROBUS_1 );
    pac1934_init( &pac1934, &cfg );
}

void application_task ( void )
{
    float read_value;
    
    pac1934_dev_reset( &pac1934 );
    pac1934_write_byte( &pac1934, PAC1934_CHANNEL_DIS, PAC1934_CHANNEL_DIS_ALL_CHA );
    pac1934_write_byte( &pac1934, PAC1934_CTRL_REG, PAC1934_CTRL_SAMPLE_RATE_8 | PAC1934_CTRL_SINGLE_SHOT_MODE );
    Delay_ms( 100 );
    pac1934_send_command( &pac1934, PAC1934_REFRESH_CMD );
    
    read_value = pac1934_measure_voltage( &pac1934, 1 );
    log_printf( &logger, "Voltage : %.2f V\r\n", read_value );

    read_value = pac1934_measure_current( &pac1934, 1 );
    log_printf( &logger, "Amperage :  %.2f mA\r\n", read_value );

    read_value = pac1934_measure_power( &pac1934, 1 );
    log_printf( &logger, "Power : %.2f W\r\n", read_value );
    
    read_value = pac1934_measure_energy( &pac1934, 1, 8 );
    log_printf( &logger, "Energy :  %.2f J \r\n", read_value );
    log_printf( &logger, "--------------------- \r\n" );
    Delay_ms( 1000 );
}

void main ( void )
{
    application_init( );

    for ( ; ; )
    {
        application_task( );
    }
}

// ------------------------------------------------------------------------ END