Using a resistor to messure power consumption of a circuit.

[fritz]

Hi MarkE,

I didn´t propose nor mention a filter (because a proper driver stage must have one anyway;-)))

Cynical people connect the rise of OU with the availability of cheap DMMs.....

Anyway, if a setup meant to be used to measure efficiency of something hooked up to a generator - the efficiency of the generator should be part of the loop.

rgds.

[MarkE]

Hi MarkE,

I didn´t propose nor mention a filter (because a proper driver stage must have one anyway;-)))

Cynical people connect the rise of OU with the availability of cheap DMMs.....

Anyway, if a setup meant to be used to measure efficiency of something hooked up to a generator - the efficiency of the generator should be part of the loop.

rgds.

The dream of something for nothing is much older than DMMs.  I suppose that having a numeric readout may may measurements seem more legitimate to some than dancing needles.

[fritz]

I suppose that having a numeric readout may may measurements seem more legitimate to some than dancing needles.

Some day (1995)  I attended a conference hosted by power companies with presentations of master thesis projects of the local university.
Some guy presented a mock up to measure photovoltaic networks. Obviously his approach to measure current ended up in an almost unusable noisy signal.
2/3ds of his thesis covered the clever ways he invented to smooth and integrate this noisy signal in the digital domain.
I didn´t even dare to ask why he didn´t use low noise opamps or appropriate circuitry - because he explained to me that on measuring a signal - the last digit of the DMM jumps anyway - so there is too much noise on any signal - and thats the legitimation why his master thesis is so important. OMG.

[tinman]

One step at a time. The end goal is to have an onboard SG, so as to get an accurate P/in measurement-probably just a fet fed by a cap and triggered by the SG. Then we just measure the DC power flowing into the cap.