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INA260: INA260 Interface

Kyle Swezey
Prodigy 20 points

Part Number: INA260

Hello,

I am a EE student working on a small scale wind and solar generator for a senior design project. The device will have a small LCD display which I would like to display many things, one of which is the total power generated. According to its data sheet the INA260 would be a good fit and greatly simplify my PCB design with its integrated shunt resistor. I am having a hard time finding out how I can interface with the chip in order to program the calibration values. Is there an interface communicator that I will need to purchase separately? I have a freedom board which has I2C communication capability is there a way I can use this? I have read the user manual for the INA260EVM PDK but not sure if this is a validation simulator or calibration and set-up device or all of the above. I feel like I have spent a lot of time but cannot find a definitive answer of this question.

Thank you in advance for your support.

Kyle Swezey 

  • 0
    TI__Mastermind 24265 points

    Dear Kyle,

    The primary communication standard for the INA260 is I2C. I'm assuming you mean an NXP freedom dev board? If so, you should be able to interface the Kinetis MCU on this board to the INA260 via I2C.

    The INA260EVM is a standalone design that allows users to quickly evaluate and prototype for their own needs and learn all the functionalities of the device. I think your confusion is probably coming from the USB-DIG device interfaced in the middle? The software included with INA260EVM for evaluation purposes is Labview based, and runs through a graphic user interface via laptop. The I2C signals generated by the INA260 are sent and converted to USB for easier interfacing with laptops, as your typical laptop doesn't have an I2C input port. I don't know what your plan for your senior design project is, but typically, you won't need to purchase an intermediary device such as this. You can feed your I2C signals directly into whichever MCU you wish to process the data, provided it has SDA and SCL inputs. In case you want to read up on the USB-DIG interface, I've included the link below:

    http://www.ti.com/lit/ug/sbou180/sbou180.pdf

    Hope this helps,

    Carolus

  • 0 in reply to Carolus Andrews
    TI__Mastermind 24265 points

    Kyle,

    Also, have you purchased an INA260EVM? I would recommend it for senior design to help understand all the learnings of the chip, and I would recommend them for any other devices you plan to use, as they are instrumental during protoyping. It will come with a USB-DIG adapter if/when you order it.

    Carolus

  • 0 in reply to Carolus Andrews
    Prodigy 20 points
    Thanks Carolus for the support!
    This will be a learning process for sure. I did not purchase the INA260EVM, I did however purchase the chip alone. I am a little strapped for cash so I won't be able to afford the EVM but hopefully with enough study and experimentation I will be able to get a good working knowledge of the device and how it will interface with the rest of the system. Yes, I will be connecting it to a NXP Freedom Board. Reading the data sheet again I see that the only configurable features of this chip is ALARMs which I won't be using for this project. Once I get the chip and dive in I will keep you up to date on my progress. Thanks again for the help!

    Kyle