Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange
Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [high-current]

Say how much current is required, high-current means different things to different people.

424 questions
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High PCB copper thickness: What are the pitfalls?

We need to carry high currents on a PCB (~30Amps sustained), so we are likely to order our PCBs with high copper thickness. So far we've only used 35 microns (1 oz) in our designs, so 'high thickness' for us means, 70 (2 oz) or 105 (3 oz). We do not…
SomethingBetter
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6 answers

How can the contact points of jumper cables handle the hundreds of amps required to start a car?

When jumpstarting a car, you connect those big alligator clamps to the terminals of the batteries. The cables themselves can handle the current just fine, but the contact points between the alligator clamps and the battery is extremely small. I'd…
Daffy
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How to carry high current on PCB

I need to pass high current on some part of my circuit. I used an online PCB track width calculator to see that required track width is about 5mm and minimum clearance is 1mm, which makes it about 7mm width at total just for one track. I need…
hkBattousai
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Finding a faulty chip that draws too much current

Note that this is a theoretical question - there is no schematic I can show. I will show some schematic, but it will be a very simplified version of an actual circuit, only for illustration purposes. Assume I have a voltage converter that takes as…
nettek
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7 answers

Is there a downside to using multiple relays simultaneously to increase relay capacity

I want to install a relay to my fusebox which is controlling whole basement with machinery. Relays that I have have got 2A limit each, and I have 32 relays. Can I just use all of them for the same line and assume the relay's limit is 64A ? Is there…
user2102266
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5 answers

How many MOSFETs can we safely parallel for very high currents? I had problems with a motor application at 48 V, 1600 A

I tried with some configurations in which 16+16 MOSFETs of 240 A each (really they are case limited to 80-90 A because of source terminal, but I doubled this termminal with a very thick copper wire for each of them) were configured in a very…
addysoftware
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Safety when experimenting with large currents

I am experimenting with large currents from ultra capacitor discharge. For example with 500 A (at 2.8 V) you get a very impressive demonstration of the magnetic field of a straight conductor using compass needles or iron chips (compare:…
Julia
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6 answers

How to measure current up to 1000A and not go bankrupt

I need to measure current going through my PCB, which can be anything between -1200A to +1200A. Accuracy within 1-2% with bandwidth of anything higher than 50kHz. The conductor is decided by now - I will use a copper bar. The original plan was to…
TQQQ
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Creating a high-current bus on a PCB

I'm planning a custom power-distribution / fuse-board for in-car application, but that requires carrying high currents (50A+ @12v*) on a PCB trace. Since I'd like to keep the board cost, and physical size down, can anyone suggest efficient (as in…
John U
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Should I ground my body when working with 200V+?

I was working on a project converting 220V AC to 5V DC and I accidentally touched the underside of the transformer which gave me a big shock and I was wondering if it's a good idea to ground my self like with a wrist band or something like that to…
DeadSec
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How can the ACS712 pin handle 20 A?

I am searching for some current measuring ICs and found the ACS712, but what I can't figure out is how the seemingly small pins can handle the 20 A current since the trace width calculators say that I need a trace that is almost an inch thick to…
Lucas Alexandre
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5 answers

High Voltage PWM Motor Controller - Mosfets Explode

I've searched every post for an answer to this problem. I've built a motor controller circuit as shown in this diagram. I made the diagram as accurate as possible. The diodes on the mosfets were added so that the mosfet symbol would look just like…
Doctor Circuit
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4 answers

Square Wave input into Transformer

Can a square wave generated using an astable NE555 be used as input of a transformer instead of AC? Say, I generate a square wave of 60Hz using NE555 and a 24V at 6A supply and feed it into a transformer with 50:1 turns ratio, will I get 0.48V at…
AvZ
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Automotive ground shift phenomenon

I'm working on the integration of a sensor into an automotive platform, using a standard 12v negative chassis setup. I am trying to understand a somewhat mythical phenomenon that is experienced known as "ground shift". I haven't been able to explain…
Henry
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Alternatives to breadboards for high-current applications

I've read that solderless breadboards cannot handle more than 1 A of current or so. What kinds of alternatives exist to a solderless breadboard? Would a soldered board make a difference if I want to handle something like 5 A of current? What other…
Mason
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