the meter that doesnt exist for upgrading/replacing old drives

[john_wayne]

I have been upgrading some specialized systems (upgrading the mobo & OS is not an option) from older drives such as pata/ide/DOM to m.2/sata/DOM (with adapters). Often the challenge is getting sufficient power to the original drive (outside of its original equipment) to be able to clone it. Most any connector can be adapted to sata. The only meter that i can find which inline meters the amperage draw of a sata power port is the passmark inline power supply tester for $350. I can pick up a nifty little inline usb meter for $10. Now i realize that the usb meter is only a single pass of 5v, and that a sata meter (or multiple meters on a single cable) would have to meter 12v, 5v, and 3.3v. I have plugged old drives into adapters thinking that I had killed them (spin up yet unresponsive), or had instability during a cloning, or even had instability of the new drive/adapter in the "now upgraded" system post-clone. I am looking to measure amperage, not just voltage, so it will have to be an inline device which is separately powered. I would prefer to meter the draws of equipment rather than blindly throw a secondary power supply inline and just hope for the best, or perhaps I am being overly cautious. Here is an example: pata drive > 44pin to sata adapter > sata extension > inateck fd2002 > sata extension > 44pin to sata adapter > 44pin gender changer > DOM. offline clones have a higher success rate of the new drive booting, and don't get me started on embedded OS.. removing the lock state, cloning, adjusting partitions, reinitiating the lock state. Any direction on meters, or similar success stories would be appreciated.

[mariushm]

You could simply use two or three multimeters with data logging. 

You set the multimeter on current measurement and place the multimeter in series (cut the 5v wire for example, connect the ends of the wires to the multimeter probes).

If you want mA range measurements, that's what tools like uCurrent were invented for : https://www.eevblog.com/projects/ucurrent/

 

 

 

 

[john_wayne]

40 minutes ago, mariushm said:

You could simply use two or three multimeters with data logging. 

You set the multimeter on current measurement and place the multimeter in series (cut the 5v wire for example, connect the ends of the wires to the multimeter probes).

If you want mA range measurements, that's what tools like uCurrent were invented for : https://www.eevblog.com/projects/ucurrent/

 

 

 

 

@mariushm

you understood the posed challenges and offered a perfect solution, thank you!

[artuc]

Meters with logging are expensive but just using meters it's the easiest solution.

 

Hall effect clamp meters can measure without breaking the circuit but often aren't super accurate at low draw.

 

You could go with panel meters for a bespoke setup.

 

Could be some option for switches to connect your meter probes to the different rails, could have a make before break switch setup so you could have your current meter connected in parallel and cut over to it seamlessly.

 

Could use a micro controller with sensors on each rail ?

 

 

[mariushm]

7 hours ago, artuc said:

Meters with logging are expensive but just using meters it's the easiest solution.

 

Hall effect clamp meters can measure without breaking the circuit but often aren't super accurate at low draw.

 

You could go with panel meters for a bespoke setup.

 

Could be some option for switches to connect your meter probes to the different rails, could have a make before break switch setup so you could have your current meter connected in parallel and cut over to it seamlessly.

 

Could use a micro controller with sensors on each rail ?

 

 

They're not that expensive... My Uni-T UT61E was around 60$ ... it can output data for as long as battery lasts (or forever if you mod it to run off an external power supply). It has a relatively slow update rate at 2 readings per second, but for a hobbyist it's good enough. 

There's multimeters with logging (or which output data to serial/usb) for as low as 20-30$... I don't have links handy, I'm at work right now, but they exist..

 

Anyway... in theory you could make your own tool and would cost you less than 20-30$ in total....  basically some higher quality resistors (let's say 0.1%  0.01 ohm resistors ) to measure voltage drop across resistor when current flows, a higher quality opamp to amplify the voltage drop across the resistors, and a microcontroller with a decent ADC to measure the output of the opamp and convert it into a mA value.  Optionally, a separate higher quality (or with higher refresh rate) ADC and 1-8 MB memory chip or  SD card to write the measurements. 

 

Good resistors for current sensing can be 2-3$, a good dual/quad opamp around 5-8$, a decent ADC can be as low as 2-3$, a microcontroller would cost around 2$ and a memory chip / sd card holder around 1-2$ 

 

You could basically get the uCurrent schematic and replicate it but using cheaper opamp and cheaper resistor, giving you less precision but still good enough to have let's say 5-10mA steps 

[artuc]

15 hours ago, mariushm said:

They're not that expensive... My Uni-T UT61E was around 60$ ..

Yeah, not too bad I guess.

 

Think I lost some text or thought I'd typed it. Was going to suggest off the shelf current sensors/shunts and an arduino or similar just for ease of use but obviously greater expense. Say like an INA219 module.