Microchip Halves the Power Required to Measure How Much Power Portable Devices Consume

Battery-operated devices and energy-restricted applications must track and monitor power consumption without wasting power in the process. To solve this challenge, Microchip Technology announces two digital power monitors that consume half the power of comparable solutions based on typical operating conditions at 1024 samples per second. The PAC1711 and PAC1811 power monitors achieve this efficiency milestone while also providing real-time system alerts for out-of-limit power events and a patent-pending step-alert function for identifying variations in long-running averages.

The 42V, 12-bit single-channel PAC1711 and 16-bit PAC1811 monitors are housed in 8- and 10-pin Very Thin Dual Flat, No-Lead (VDFN) packages, respectively, that are pin- and footprint-compatible with the popular Small Outline Transistor (SOT23)-8 package. This compatibility simplifies second-sourcing for developers, while streamlining upgrades and integration into existing systems.

The PAC1711 and PAC1811 power monitors’ step-alert capability keeps a running average of voltage and current values. If there is a significant, user-defined variation, it will notify the MCU to act on it. The devices keep a rolling average, and any new sample can trigger an alert. A slow-sample pin option is available, which can delay the power usage sampling to every eight seconds and further conserve power (more info).

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