The Science of 4-20 mA Current Loops

Application Note
Rev. 05/23/06

Current Loop History

Many of us still remember the days of pneumatic control; some of us still use pneumatic control
systems. Ratio controllers, PID controllers, temperature sensors and actuators are powered by
compressed air. Three to fifteen pounds per square inch is the modulation standard, 3 psi for a
live zero and 15 psi for 100%. Any pressure below 3 psi was a dead zero and an alarm condition.
In the 1950s electric and electronic controls made their debut. 4-20 mA signaling emulated the 315 psi pneumatic signal. Wires are easier to install and maintain than pneumatic pressure lines,
energy requirements are a lot lower; you no longer need a twenty to fifty horsepower compressor
and electronics allow for more complicated control algorithms.

Current Loop Basics

The 4 to 20mA current loop is a very robust sensor signaling standard. Current loops are ideal for
data transmission. All the signaling current flows through all components; the same current flows
even if the wire terminations 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 as long as
the power supply voltage is greater than the sum of the voltage drops around the loop at the
maximum signaling current of 20mA.
Figure 1 shows a schematic of the simplest 4-20mA current loop. There are four components, 1. A
DC power supply; 2. A 2-wire transmitter; 3. A receiver resistor that converts the current signal to a
voltage; and 4. The wire that
interconnects it all. Two Rwires
exist since you have a wire out
to the sensors and another
back.
Current supplied from the
power supply flows through the
wire to the transmitter. The
transmitter regulates the
current flow. The transmitter
only allows a current
proportional to the measured
parameter to flow, called the
loop current. The current flows
back to the controller through
the wire. The loop current flows
Figure 1; Basic Current Loop Schematic
through Rreceiver to ground
and returns to the power supply. The current flowing through Rreceiver produces a voltage that is
easily measured by an analog input. For a 250 resistor the voltage will be 1 VDC at 4 mA and 5
VDC at 20mA.

Current Loop Components

1. Power Supply
Power supplies for 2-wire transmitters must always be DC. Since changing current flow represents
the parameter being measured, AC cannot be used. If AC were used, the current would be
changing all the time and the signal representing the measured parameter could not be
distinguished from that caused by the AC power.
Common power supply voltages are 36 VDC, 24 VDC, 15 VDC and 12 VDC.
Power supplies for 3-wire transmitters can be either AC or DC. The most common AC voltage
supply is the 24 VAC control transformer.
Be sure to check any transmitters installation literature for proper voltages.

Building Automation Products, Inc., 750 North Royal Avenue, Gays Mills, WI 54631 USA
Tel: +1-608-735-4800 Fax: +1-608-735-4804 E-mail:[email protected] Web:www.bapihvac.com

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The Science of 4-20 mA Current Loops

Application Note
Rev. 01/27/06

2. Transmitter
The transmitter is the heart of the 4-20mA signaling system. It changes a physical property such
as temperature, humidity or pressure into an electrical signal. The signal is a current proportional
to the physical property being measured. 4mA represents the low end of the measurement range
and 20mA represents the high end.
The transmitter consumes 7 to 15 VDC of loop voltage, depending on model, to power itself. BAPI
specifies the power to our current transmitters as a range, 15 to 24 VDC for a BA/H200 or 7 to 40
VDC for a BA/T1K. The lower voltage is the minimum voltage necessary to guarantee proper
transmitter operation. The higher voltage is the maximum voltage the transmitter can withstand
and operate to its stated specifications.
3. Receiver Resistor
It is much easier for to measure voltage than current. Running the loop current through a resistor
converts the current into a voltage. In Figure 1, Rreceiver is a precision resistor that has well
defined characteristics, the chief of which is resistance. The most common resistance used is
250. Depending upon application resistances of 100 to 750 may be used.
4. Wire
Sending current through wire produces voltage drops proportional to the wire length. All wire has
resistance, usually expressed in Ohms per 1000 feet. The voltage drop can be calculated using
Ohms law. In 1825 Georg Simon Ohm discovered that the current through electrically conductive
materials is directly proportional to the potential difference applied across the material. In 1827
when Ohm published his findings the Experts of the day said that Ohms findings were a web of
naked fancies. Today, we know Ohms work as Ohms Law, the formula states; current times
resistance is voltage. The formula can be written as:
E=I*R
Where E is the voltage across the resistance in volts, I is the current flowing through the
conductor in amperes and R is the conductors resistance in Ohms. (The Greek letter capital
omega, , commonly represents Ohms.)
Unlike in Ohms day, now we have standard wire gauges with well-defined resistances. Wire
resistances for common wire gauges are shown in Table 1 shown below.

Table 1 Copper Wire Resistance @ 20C (68F)

American Wire Gauge
Ohms per 1000 feet
14
2.525
16
4.016
18
6.385
20
10.15
22
16.14
24
25.67
Insensitivity to Electrical Noise
The greatest advantage is a current loops inherent insensitivity to electrical noise. Every current
transmitter has some output resistance associated with it. Ideally, from elementary electronics
theory, the current transmitters output resistance should be infinite. Since real world transmitters
are made from electronics parts and not textbooks, they have very large but not infinite output

Building Automation Products, Inc., 750 North Royal Avenue, Gays Mills, WI 54631 USA
Tel: +1-608-735-4800 Fax: +1-608-735-4804 E-mail:[email protected] Web:www.bapihvac.com

The Science of 4-20 mA Current Loops

Application Note
Rev. 01/27/06

resistances. For example, the BA/T1K has an output resistance of 3,640,000 Ohms or 3.64
Meg. The output resistance may be modeled as a resistor.
Figure 2 at right schematically shows the
component resistances with a noise source
added to the loop. The output that your
controller sees is the voltage across Rreceiver.
If the noise source has an amplitude of 20 Volts,
then the error seen across Rreceiver is;
Verror = 20*(250/(10+3,640,000+250) = 0.0014
volts
The voltage across Rreceiver at 20mA is five
volts. 0.0014 volts is 0.028% of five volts, an
insignificant error.
The high output impedance of the BA/T1K
rejects errors due to power supply fluctuations.
If the power supply of Figure 1 is varied such
that the voltage dropped across the transmitter
varies from 7 to 24 VDC the output current only
changes by 0.000005 amps, or 5 micro-amps.
5 micro-amps is 0.031% of the total signal
swing.
Since large output resistances inherently reject
more noise and power supply fluctuations, be
assured that when you measure a parameter
with a BAPI transmitter you will get the correct
reading all the time!

Figure 2;
Current loop noise model

If you need more information about 4 to 20 mA current loops, call your BAPI representative and
ask for the application notes 4 to 20 mA Current Loop Configurations and Designing 4 to 20 mA
Current Loop.

Building Automation Products, Inc., 750 North Royal Avenue, Gays Mills, WI 54631 USA
Tel: +1-608-735-4800 Fax: +1-608-735-4804 E-mail:[email protected] Web:www.bapihvac.com

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