Microchip Technology has introduced the PAC1711 and PAC1811 digital power monitors for battery-operated and energy-constrained systems that need continuous power measurement with minimal measurement overhead. Microchip states the devices consume about half the power of comparable solutions under typical operating conditions at a 1024 samples-per-second rate, while providing alert functions to reduce how often a host processor must wake to evaluate power behavior.
The PAC1711 is a single-channel, 12-bit power monitor, and the PAC1811 is a 16-bit power monitor. Both devices sense bus voltages from 0 V to 42 V and communicate over an I2C interface. Real-time alert functions provide notification of out-of-limit operating conditions, and a step-alert feature is intended to detect user-defined changes in a long-running average of voltage and current, enabling event-driven monitoring instead of constant polling by the host MCU.
The monitors maintain rolling averages, and new samples can trigger alerts when thresholds are crossed. A slow-sample pin option can reduce sampling activity to once every eight seconds to further reduce system power. An internal accumulator register can track energy and usage history to support functions such as battery-aging estimation, recharge tracking, and other time-based power metrics that can be processed by the host when needed.
For hardware integration, the parts are offered in 8- and 10-pin Very Thin Dual Flat No-Lead (VDFN) packages and are pin- and footprint-compatible with SOT23-8 layouts to simplify upgrades and second-sourcing in existing designs. Target applications include computing and networking equipment, edge AI/ML systems, and e-mobility platforms where power telemetry is needed without increasing idle drain.
Development support includes an evaluation board compatible with the mikroBUS standard and Click board sockets, along with a Linux driver and a generic C library with register access and examples for Microchip MCUs. The PAC1711 and PAC1811 devices are available now, with PAC1711 pricing starting at $0.58 in 10,000-unit quantities for the VDFN-8 option. The PAC1711-Click evaluation board is listed at $15.00.
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