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What Is A Shunt

Find out what is a shunt resistor and how it is used in


RE applications
electric circuit | education

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A shunt (aka a current shunt resistor or an ammeter shunt) is a high precision resistor
which can be used to measure the current flowing through a circuit. Using Ohm's Law
we know that the voltage dropped across a resistor divided by the resistance of that
resistor is equal to the current, therefore if we measure the voltage across a shunt
resistor in a circuit, we can easily calculate the current.

For example, pictured above is a typical 100 Amp Shunt Resistor. This can be used to
measure currents of up to 100 Amps - although to prevent overheating it should really

only be used to measure continuous currents of no more than 60-70 Amps.


* If a shunt resistor overheats it can permanently change the resistance of the shunt.
This shunt is calibrated such that the voltage drop across it is 100mV when the current
flowing through it is 100 Amps. Therefore we can calculate the resistance of this shunt to
be voltage divided by current = 0.1 / 100 = 0.001 Ohms (typically to within 0.25%
accuracy). Therefore if a voltage drop of 28mV is measured (using a standard
multimeter or 0-100mV range voltmeter), we know that the current flowing is
0.028/0.001 = 28 Amps.
(The power wasted by the shunt resistor is given by multiplying the voltage by the
current = 0.028 * 28 = 0.78 Watts in this example.)
To save making this calculation manually each time it is possible to re-label a 0-100mV
moving coil voltmeter so it instead reads 0-100 Amps. This would be achieved simply by
sticking the word "Amps" over "mV" on the face of the meter which would now be an
ammeter rather than a voltmeter.

Using a Shunt Resistor in a Renewable Energy System


It is very important to know how much current is flowing in and out of the battery bank
in a renewable energy system. When charging the current flowing into the batteries
should never be more than 10% of the battery capacity - e.g. a 100Ah battery should not
be charged with more than a 10 Amp current or it may be damaged and/or overheat.
It is also very useful to know how much current is being generated by a wind turbine or
solar panel, because that information helps you to calculate how much power is being
generated. For example a 12 Volt 15 Watt PV Solar Panel may produce a voltage of 18
Volts when it is very cloudy and 21 Volts when it is very sunny.
When it is cloudy you may measure a current of just 0.1 Amps and when it is sunny a
current of 0.8 Amps. Power is equal to voltage multiplied by current, so the solar panel is
generating just 2 Watts when it is cloudy and almost 17 Watts when it is sunny.

Make A Shunt Resistor


Make your own rough and ready shunt resistor
electric circuit | education

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A shunt resistor (pictured above) is a high-precision resistor of very low resistance used
by an ammeter to measure the current flowing through an electric circuit. Shunts are
available in a range of sizes from under one Amp to many hundreds and thousands of
Amps, but they can be very expensive.
Fortunately it is possible to make your own shunt resistor from nothing more than a
length of copper wire. While it will only be accurate to within 10%, and its accuracy will
fall with changes in temperature much more so than a real shunt resistor - making your
own shunts is very cheap and easy.

Example DIY Shunt Resistor


In this example we will look at making a 0-10 Amp shunt resistor with a voltage drop of
10mV at 10 Amps. Therefore using a standard multimeter or 0-10 mV voltmeter it will
be easy to read the numerical value of the current (and ignore the units displayed) - i.e. if
the voltmeter reads 6 mV we know this corresponds to 6 Amps of current, 2.4 mV
corresponds to 2.4 Amps and so on.
Therefore, using Ohm's Law it can be seen that since the voltage drop of 10mV divided
by the current of 10 Amps give the required resistance of the shunt = 0.001 Ohms, we
need to make a 0.001 Ohm resistor.

Resistance of Copper Wire


Copper wire has a resistance which depends upon its length and its diameter. The thicker
the wire, the lower its resistance; the longer the wire, the greater its resistance. For
example 24 AWG copper wire (see our wire size converter for more information about
AWGs) has a resistance of 25.67 Ohms per 1000 feet of length at 25 degrees celcius.

Click here to view a comprehensive table of copper wire resistance values.

Using Copper Wire to make a 0.001 Ohm Shunt


Resistor
10 AWG copper wire (2.59mm diameter) for example has a resistance of 0.9989 Ohms
per 1,000 feet. Therefore our 0.001 Ohm resisitor would require 1000 * 0.001/0.9989 =
1.001 feet of 10 AWG copper wire.
12 AWG copper wire (2.05mm diameter) has a resistance of 1.5883 Ohms per 1,000 feet
and so 1000 * 0.001/1.5883 = 0.63 feet of 12 AWG wire would be required for the 0.001
Ohm resistor.
1000 * Target Resistance (Ohms)
Wire Length (feet) =
Ohms per 1,000 feet

Basic Shunt Resistor


In the simplest case copper wire of the calculated length is simply soldered in series into
the circuit to be measured and the postitive and negative leads of the voltmeter
connected to those joints. Unfortunately this would not be a very accurate ammeter
because the resistance of the soldered joints can affect the results.

Calibrated Shunt Resistor


The shunt resistor will be much more accurate if it is calibrated by comparing the results
it gives to those given by a precise ammeter. An ammeter should be connected into the
circuit so the true value of the current flowing through it can be measured and this
reading compared to that given by the voltmeter and copper wire shunt combination.

A length of copper wire a good 25% longer than calculated above should be joined in
series with the circuit to be measured as shown in the above schematic. One of the leads
of the voltmeter should then be soldered near to one end of the copper wire. The
remaining voltmeter lead can then be moved along the length of copper wire until the
voltmeter reading is the same as that of the ammeter. The voltmeter lead can then be
soldered into place leaving a calibrated relatively accurate homemade shunt resistor.
Thick wire has lower resistance than thin wire therefore a more accurate shunt can be
made with thick wire, but it will be more expensive. To measure large currents thick wire
must be used as thin wire will overheat.
SHUNT TRIP:
A shunt trip circuit breaker is just a low voltage molded case circuit breaker fitted with an
extra trip solenoid to allow external control logic trip the breaker.
The standard molded case circuit breaker does not have any means for an external control
or protection system to trip the breaker, other than via the operator handle. The shunt trip
solenoid plunger pushes activates the mechanical trip release, just like the internal
thermal and/or magnetic protection units in the breaker cause it to trip.
The shunt trip circuit breaker DOES NOT connect the circuit to earth to somehow clear a
fault.
SHUNT TRIP BREAKER:
It works just like a normal circuit breaker with one additional function. A shunt-trip
breaker also has a built-in magnetic coil that can be energized externally to trip the
breaker.
For instance, fire sprinklers are sometimes required in the top of elevator shafts in case of
a fire in the shaft. If the sprinklers were to spray water on the electric controls in the
elevator cab, people could be hurt or killed, either from electrocution or from the elevator
malfunctioning. In these cases, a shunt-trip breaker is installed in the circuit feeding the
elevator controls, and the fire alarm system sends a trip signal if it detects waterflow from
the sprinkler system. This trips the breaker and removes power from the elevator cab.

Once tripped, shunt-trip breakers require a person to manually reset them.

SHUNT TRIP IN MCCB:


Shunt trip is easy if the breaker is intended to accept field added accessories. If not you'll
have to buy breakers with shunt trip from the factory. Check with the manufacturer of
your breakers for more information. You won't find a shunt close so you won't get the
equivalent operation of an ACB.
SHUNT TRIP IN MCCB:
Shunt trip is a method of opening the breaker only; it does not close it. Many MCCBs
now come with "Push-to-Trip" buttons on the front of them that can open the breaker, but
it is in the Tripped position afterwards, not the Open position, which is different as far as
auxiliary contacts go.
Siemens offers an external accessory on their VL Series MCCBs which is essentially the
same as the charged energy closing system on ACBs that can close the breaker remotely.
It has a pull handle to charge the spring or it can be done with a small motor.

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