Power Monitoring Sensor

Updated: 6/28/2025 Words: 0 words Reading time: 0 minutes

An ammeter is an instrument used to measure the magnitude of current in a circuit. Measuring current is very important in electronic products, such as in battery management systems, where real-time monitoring of charge and discharge current prevents overcurrent/short circuit. Monitoring the current of electrical appliances can monitor energy consumption, achieve energy saving or fault early warning. Car light monitoring is achieved by detecting current: current is stable during normal operation, and zero when open-circuited, thereby judging the status of car lights.

Preparation

Hardware

Hardware	Description	Image
Creative Box Platform
INA219	Taobao Purchase Link, shunt resistor-based power monitoring sensor.
Dupont Wires	Taobao Purchase Link, please select male-to-female type

Appliance preparation:

Note

Besides using LED strips, you can also use other electrical devices, such as motors, etc.

Hardware	Description	Image
Power Signal Module	Included with Creative Box purchase
WS2812 LED Strip	Taobao Purchase Link, you can control the color of each LED on the strip

Software

Software	Link	Description
Power Monitoring App	Link	Official frontend application, can be loaded and used directly through the console.
LED Strip Controller	Link	Official frontend application, can be loaded and used directly through the console.

Connection

Connection
▀ Connect INA219's power pin to the platform's 3.3V power supply.
▀ Connect INA219's ground pin to the platform's ground.
▀ Connect INA219's SDA pin to any pin on the platform, here it's pin 4.
▀ Connect INA219's SCL pin to the next pin on the platform, here it's pin 5.

For LED strip connection methods, please refer to: LED Strip

Usage

Note

The following step screenshots are from mobile web, please use a computer browser for better results.

Open the Creative Box console and load the Current Monitoring application from the sensor applications. Enter the application, select the measurement module ASC712, the pin number connected to the Creative Box for signal output, and the range of the ASC721 module used. Clicking the start button will...

Creative Box Console	Load Application	Select Measurement Module, Pin Number, Shunt Resistor Size, and Range	Start Current Monitoring	Light up 100 LEDs in the LED Strip App, select blue.

Light up 100 LEDs in the LED Strip App, select blue.

Principles

INA219 Power Monitoring Module

INA219 uses a shunt resistor to measure current. Shunt resistors have extremely low resistance, typically between 0.1mΩ and 100mΩ, and offer high accuracy. INA219 indirectly obtains current intensity (I=V/R) by measuring the voltage drop across the shunt resistor.

INA219 is usually used with 0.1 ohm or 0.01 ohm shunt resistors. In the middle of the module, R100 or R010 indicates the shunt resistor. R100 is 0.1 ohm, and R010 is 0.01 ohm.

Reference Datasheet Download

Datasheet Download	Link
INA219	Link

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