Isabellenhütte Heusler
Isabellenhütte produce a number of high precision DC current measurement devices for use in electric vehicles. These devices read and communicate current and voltage information via CAN messages with a high degree of accuracy. They produce several models with a current measurement with a range of up to ±2500A.
IVT-S Current Measurement Device
The IVT-S current measurement device, often referred to as a current shunt, is one of the most popular current measurement devices for use with open source EVs due to its high precision, modularity and relatively low price point. The IVT-S comes in a number of current ranges to suit the peak usage and budget of your EV - 100A/300A/500A/1000A/2500A.
Programming The IVT-S With an Arduino Due with CAN or DM VCU Control Board
From the factory the ISA shunt does not output many parameters and not in a format that is readable to the library. It defaults to big endian and the arduino is written in little endian. Fortunately, friend Jack at EVTV took care of that and installed a configuration option in the library. To use the shunt the following steps are required;
1) Load up the demo sketch on a due with a can transciever or any of the VCUs.
2) from the menu choose the initialise option.
3) Reboot and normal data should be pumped out.
Download the ISA demo sketch (here)
Download the complete ISA library (here)
Watch this process being carried out using a Nissan Leaf VCU control board (link coming soon)
Programming The IVT-S With an Arduino Uno and CAN Bus Shield
By default, the IVT-S will put a current reading on the CAN bus at 1Mb/s every 20ms. You can read the data with your favourite CAN bus sniffer or build your own with an Arduino Uno and CAN bus shield
Links
IVT-S Current and voltage sensors for battery management systems (here)
IVT-S Datasheet (here)
IVT-S Arduino Library Files from EVTV (here). Note: it's been reported that the header file ISA.h contains several errors.
IVT-S uses Molex DuraClik connectors which can be purchased from RS, Digi-Key and Mouser (among others). Despite what it says in the Isabellenhütte data sheet, the correct part numbers are as shown below.
Note that the DuraClik terminals are absolutely tiny and the official Molex crimp tool is very expensive. However, it is possible to get a decent crimp using a cheap and widely-available SN-28B crimp tool, but you will need a bit of patience and very good eyesight. Make sure you order plenty of spare terminals...
Parts Information
| Description | Molex part number | Mouser part number |
|---|---|---|
| 2-pin DuraClik header | 502351-0200 | 538-502351-0200 |
| 4-pin DuraClik header | 502351-0400 | 538-502351-0400 |
| DuraClik crimp terminal | 50212-8100 | 538-50212-8100 |