INSTRUMENTATION TOOLS

Basics of 4-20mA Current Loop

Basics September26,2015

Basicsof420mACurrentLoop
The420mAcurrentloopisaveryrobustsensorsignalingstandard.Currentloopsareideal
for data transmission because of
their inherent insensitivity to
electrical noise. In a 420 mA
current loop, all the signaling
current
flows
through
all
components the same current
flowsevenifthewireterminations
are less than perfect. All the
components in the loop drop
voltage due to the signaling
current flowing through them. The signaling current is not affected by these voltage drops as
longasthepowersupplyvoltageisgreaterthanthesumofthevoltagedropsaroundtheloop
atthemaximumsignalingcurrentof20mA.
Figure 1 shows a schematic of the simplest 420 mA current loop. There are mainly four
components:
1. ADCpowersupply
2. A2wiretransmitter
3. Areceiverresistorthatconvertsthecurrentsignaltoavoltage
4. Thewirethatinterconnectsit

ThetwoRwiresymbolsrepresenttheresistanceofthewiresrunningouttothesensorsand
backtothepowersupply(PowersupplymeansIOcardsorbarriers).

InFigure1,currentsuppliedfromthepowersupplyflowsthroughthewiretothetransmitterand
thetransmitterregulatesthecurrentflowwithintheloop.Thecurrentallowedbythetransmitter
is called the loop current and it is proportional to the parameter that is being measured. The
loopcurrentflowsbacktothecontrollerthroughthewire,andthenflowsthroughtheRreceiver
resistor to ground and returns to the power supply(IO card or barrier). The current flowing
throughRreceiverproducesavoltagethatiseasilymeasuredbyananaloginputofacontroller.
Fora250resistor,thevoltagewillbe1VDCat4mAand5VDCat20mA.
420mACurrentLoopComponents:
1.ThePowerSupply
Powersuppliesfor2wiretransmittersmustalwaysbeDCbecausethechangeincurrentflow
represents the parameter that is being measured. If AC power were used, the current in the
loopwouldbechangingallthetime.Therefore,thechangeincurrentflowfromthetransmitter
would be impossible to distinguish from change in current flow caused by the AC power
supply. For 420 mA loops with 2wire transmitters, common power supply voltages are 36
VDC,24VDC,15VDCand12VDC.
Currentloopsusing 3wire transmitterscanhaveeitherACor DC powersupplies.Themost
commonACpowersupplyisthe24VACcontroltransformeror230AAc.Besuretocheckany
transmittersinstallationliteratureforthepropervoltagerequirements.
For a 2 wire transmitter the power supply is a IO card in System Cabinet or a Barrier in
MarshallingCabinet.
2.TheTransmitter
Thetransmitteristheheartofthe420mAsignalingsystem.Thisisthedeviceusedtotransmit

datafromasensoroverthetwowirecurrentloop.TherecanbeonlyoneTransmitteroutputin
anycurrentloop.Itactslikeavariableresistorwithrespecttoitsinputsignalandisthekeyto
the420mAsignaltransmissionsystem.Thetransmitterconvertstherealworldsignal,suchas
flow, speed, position, level, temperature, humidity, pressure, etc., into the control signal
necessary to regulate the flow of current in the current loop. The level of loop current is
adjusted by the transmitter to be proportional to the actual sensor input signal. An important
distinction is that the transmitted signal is not the current in the loop, but rather the sensor
signalitrepresents.Thetransmittertypicallyuses4mAoutputtorepresentthecalibratedzero
inputor0%,and20mAoutputtorepresentacalibratedfullscaleinputsignalor100%
Generallythepowertotransmittersasarange,12to36VDCThelowervoltageistheminimum
voltage necessary to guarantee proper transmitter operation. The higher voltage is the
maximumvoltagethetransmittercanwithstandandoperatetoitsstatedspecifications.
A common misconception about Transmitters is that they source the loop current, but the
transmitter is not the source of the current. Rather, it is a series connected currentsinking
circuitthatwillattempttodrawcurrentfromapowersupplywiredtoitsoutputterminals.The
currentintheloopisthemediumviawhichthesensorsignalistransmitted.Thecurrentflowing
through the transmitter is proportional to the input signal being measured. When calibrated
properly, this current will vary from 4 to 20mA over the range of its sensor input signal. The
transmitter will also make allowances to support underrange and overrange output current
levels.
3.TheReceiverResistor
Itismucheasiertomeasureavoltagethanitistomeasureacurrent.Therefore,manycurrent
loopcircuits(suchasthecircuitinFigure1)useaReceiverResistor(Rreceiver)toconvertthe
currentintoavoltage.InFigure1,Rreceiverisa250precisionresistor.Thecurrentflowing
throughitproducesavoltagethatiseasilymeasuredbyananaloginputofacontroller.
Forthe250resistor,thevoltagewillbe1VDCat4mAofloopcurrentand5VDCat20mAof
loop current. The most common Receiver Resistor in a 420 mA loop is 250 however,
dependinguponapplication,resistancesof100to750maybeused.
4.TheWire
Theimpactofthewireresistanceinthecurrentloopisoftenignored,asitusuallycontributes
negligible voltage drop over short distances and small installations. However, over long
transmission distances, this drop can be significant and must be accounted for, as some
currentloopinstallationswillusewiredistributedoverhundredsandeventhousandsoffeet.To
illustratetheimpactofwireresistance,thefollowingtableliststheresistanceofcommoncopper
wiregauges.
Sending current through a wire produces a voltage drop proportional to the length and
thickness(gauge)ofthewire.Generally1.5Sqmmthicknesscablewillbepreferred,However
dependingontheapplicationorplantdesign0.5Sqmm,2.5Sqmm,3Sqmm,6Sqmmetcwill

alsobeused.
All wire has resistance, usually
expressed in Ohms per 1,000
feet.
The

voltage

drop

can

be

calculatedusingOhmslaw:
E=IxR
E = the voltage across the
resistorinvolts
I=thecurrentflowingthroughthe
conductorinamperes
R = the conductors resistance in
Ohms.
WireresistancesforcommonwiregaugesareshowninTable1above.
Asanexampleofthepotentialimpactwireresistancecanhaveonaninstallation,letsassume
thatwehavewiredourloopelementstogetherusing3000feetof24AWG.Notethat3000feet
is the total roundtrip length of wire. Thus, we can calculate a wire resistance of
3000ft*26.2/1000ft =78.6. This will result in a voltage drop of 0.022A* 78.6 =1.73V at a
maximumloopcurrentof22mA.
Ifyoufindyourselfhavingtodothesekindsofcalculationsoften,butyoudonothaveanAWG
Copper Wire Chart handy, you can approximate the wire resistance of a given gauge by
committingthreepointstomemory:
40AWGcopperwireisapproximately1perfoot(refertoTable1andsee40AWGis
1070per1000feet,or1.07perfoot).
Every 10 wire gauges lower divides resistance by 10 (refer to Table 1 and note that
30AWGis105.2per1000feet,or0.1perfoot).
Every3wiregaugeslowerhalvestheresistance.
Forexample,toapproximatetheresistanceof24AWGcopperwire,withouthavingtorefertoa
table,youcandothemathinyourheadasfollows:Rememberingthat40AWGis1/foot.Then
10AWGloweris30AWGandonetenthofthis,or0.1/foot.Then3AWGloweris27AWGat
onehalfofthis,or0.05/foot.Then3AWGlowerat24AWGisonehalfofthat,or0.025/foot.
NowcheckthisagainstTable1andnotethat24AWGwireisactually26.17per1000feet,or
0.02617perfoot.Ourapproximationislessthan5%fromthevalueinTable1.Youwillnote
slightdifferencesinwireresistancevaluesfrommanufacturertomanufacturer.
InsensitivitytoElectricalNoise

Thegreatestadvantageofusingacurrentloopfordatatransmissionisacurrentloopsinherent
insensitivitytoelectricalnoise.Everytransmitterhassomeoutputresistanceassociatedwithit.
Ideally, the current transmitters output resistance would be infinite. However, real world
transmitters have very large but not infinite output resistances.This output resistance can be
representedasaresistorinacircuitschematic.
Thecircuitschematicatright(Figure2)showsthecomponentresistancesofa420mAcurrent
loop with a noise source added to the loop. Because of the high output resistance of the
transmitter(3.64Meg),thevastmajorityofthenoisevoltageisdroppedacrossthetransmitter,
and only a tiny fraction is dropped across the Rreceiver. Since the controller sees only the
voltageacrosstheRreceiver,thenoisevoltagehasalmostnoeffectuponthecontroller.
CurrentLoopNoiseReductionExample:
IfthenoisesourceinFigure2hasanamplitudeof20Volts,thenthenoisevoltageseenacross
the Rreceiver is only 0.0014 volts. This is
because the noise voltage measured across
any resistor is equal to the Ohms of that
resistordividedbythetotalOhmsinthecircuit
multipliedbythenoisevoltage.
VoltageNoiseatRreceiver=
Vnoisex
Rreceiver/(Rwire+Rtransmitter+Rreceiver)
Vnoise=20x250/3,640,260=0.0014volts
ThevoltageacrossRreceiverat20mAofloop
current is five volts. Adding 0.0014 volts of
noiseisonly0.028%offivevolts,whichisan
insignificanterror.
IfthepowersupplyofFigure1isvariedsuch
thatthevoltagedroppedacrossthetransmitter
variesfrom7to24VDC,theoutputcurrentonlychangesby0.000005amps,or5microamps.
This equals only 0.00125 volts across the 250 Rreceiver resistor, which is an insignificant
fluctation.
Whatmakes420mAsignaltransmissionsoattractive?
While weve reviewed some of the fundamentals of 420mA twowire current loops and the
basicloopelements,andwehaveanideaofhowtheyworktogether,letsconsidersomeofthe
advantagesof420mAsignaltransmission.
Probablythegreatestadvantageofusingacurrentloopforsignaltransmissionisthecurrent
loopslowsensitivitytoelectricalnoise.Thisisveryimportantforlongdistancetransmissionin

harshindustrialenvironments.Asagenerallylowimpedancesystem,itismuchlesssensitive
to induced noise, than perhaps the high impedance input of a voltage amplifier. The currents
injected by typical noise sources are generally no more than a few hundred microamps,
usually insignificant to the 16mA span. The use of a Live Zero also improves the signal to
noiseratioatlowlevels,allowingustoaccuratelydiscernlowsignallevelswithoutaddednoise
orinterference.
Anotheradvantagetothe420mA currentloop isthatitisessentiallylosslesswithrespectto
the transmission media (wire) and the interconnections (connectors). That is, the accuracy of
thesignalisnotaffectedbythevoltagedropintheinterconnectingwiring.Thisallowsthesignal
transmission to occur over long distances, with varying conductors. Compare this to voltage
signals,whichwillalwayshaveanassociatedsignallossrelatedtothelengthofthewiresthe
420mAsignalcurrentdoesnotexhibitanysignallossesunderthissamescenario.Kirchoffs
CurrentLawteachesusthatthecurrentinaloopisequivalentatanypointintheloop.Thatis,
if you happen to be reading 12mA at your receiver input, you can be certain that 12mA is
passingthroughyourtransmitter.
The 4mA ZeroOffset, Live Zero, or PositiveZero is Failsafe. The use of 4mA as the
startingpointforourtransmittedsignalisusefulintroubleshooting,assignalintegrityisverified
with0%ofinputandoutputsignal.Afailedcurrentloopduetoaleadbreakoropendevicecan
be immediately discerned as zero current flow, which is a failsafe level outside of the signal
range.Byoffsettingthesignalfromzero,sometransmitterswilldefineanalarmlimitjustbelow
4mAanddifferentfromzero,allowingareceivertodetectotherfailuresinthesystem,likean
input sensor lead break. Having a live zero in your control system also allows you to set the
zeroofyourcontrolleddevice(i.e.anactuatorvalveorotherdevice)justalittlebitbelow4mA
toholditcompletelyOFF.Youwouldntbeabletodothatwithazerobased020mAoutput.A
LiveZeroof4mAalsopermitsthetwowirecurrentlooptopowerthetransmitter,simplifying
installationandreducingcosts.
The420mAcurrentloopalsoallowsadditionalReceiverdevicestobeconnectedinseriesin
the loop without a loss of signal. That is, as long as the loop voltage supply has sufficient
capacitytodrivetheadditionalIRvoltagedropsoftheaddeddevices,anditsvoltagedoesnot
exceedthemaximumvoltageratingofthetransmitter.Forexample,youmightchoosetowirea
panel meter, a trend recorder, and a PLC input card in series in the same current loop. The
looptransmitterwillmaintainpropercurrentintheloop,uptothevoltagecapabilityoftheloop.
Thenumberofadditionalreceiverdevicesyoucanaddisonlylimitedbytheavailablevoltage
level.
The420mAtransmissionstandardalsohaslowinherentenergy,minimizingitsabilitytocouple
noise into other systems and also reducing its radiated emissions. Contrast that to the older
pneumatic systems that use inefficient high power compressors up to 50HP to drive
compressedairthroughtheircontrollines.
AlsoRead:420mAAnalogCurrentSignals

POSTED BY S BHARADWAJ REDDY