Hall Sensor Question

[kearney]

Hi

I am wondering what a Hall sensor would sense if it was attached to two different wires each with a different current load. For example a wire with 5 A and a wire with 8 A. Would it sense 13 A or something different?

 

[BobTurner]

Of course you don’t ‘attach’ the current carrying wires, they go thru the donut. The Hall sensor measures the magnetic field around the wires. So yes, in your example, it would measure 13 amps, assuming the current is running in the same direction in both wires. If one wire’s current was reversed, you would measure 3 amps or -3 amps, depending on what current was reversed.

 

[kearney]

Of course you don’t ‘attach’ the current carrying wires, they go thru the donut. The Hall sensor measures the magnetic field around the wires. So yes, in your example, it would measure 13 amps, assuming the current is running in the same direction in both wires. If one wire’s current was reversed, you would measure 3 amps or -3 amps, depending on what current was reversed.

Thanks Bob. That's the answer I was hoping for. Correct about the "attach" - I was being a bit loose with my terminology.

 

[johnbright]

Hi Les,

And if current range of the Hall sensor is an issue you can loop a feeder through the sensor twice to increase output.
.