Little Bee by Weston Braun is an affordable, high-performing current and magnetic field probe that can effectively debug and analyze electronic devices. Built around an Anisotropic Magnetic-Resistive (AMR) magnetic sensor, this new device aims to solve the recurring problem of using an oscilloscope for the measurement of voltages.
When compared to the conventional Current Probes that are based on fluxgate magnetometers and hybrid models that combine AC transformers with DC Hall effect sensors, Little Bee standouts in terms of high performance. The device features a bandwidth that can be adjusted between 1 MHz and 10 MHz, an SMA output connector, connectivity to 1 MΩ impedance oscilloscope input, and it has automatic offset adjustment. Its power supply comes from a single AA-type battery that runs for four hours.
The Little Bee also comes with a flux concentrator attachment that allows it to operate as a current probe, giving isolated measurements of a wire’s current. It’s able to measure currents over a wide bandwidth from DC to MHz. The current sensing has a 10 MHz DC bandwidth with a sensitivity of 0.25Volts/Amp, and its max current is +/- 5A. The noise level of Little Bee is 25 mA p-p at 10 MHz bandwidth and 10 mA p-p at 1 Mhz bandwidth. The DC accuracy is +/- 15%, and insertion impedance is 100nH in parallel with 70 0hms. The device is currently up on the Crowd Supply and is available for $149 with shipping to begin in early April 2021.
