I'm trying to figure out the best way to obtain ground loop isolation for a USB data acquisition card.
The card in question will have an MCU and be powered from a computer over USB. The MCU will be used for GPIO and to read several differential ADC's. The problem is that the ground level of the equipment can be 10's of volts higher than mains ground, which the computer will be held at.
I want to avoid sourcing power from the equipment, so I need an on-board, isolated DC-DC converter. I have found one (TI DCR01) that appears to do what I want, but I cannot find any spec for the max ground difference. All I see is an isolation flash test rating of 1kV RMS. Anyone know more about this?
If this is fine, I would then just power my ADC's on the equipment-side rails, and pass the communication bus through level translators.
Does this all seem like a reasonable approach? Anything I'm overlooking?
The card in question will have an MCU and be powered from a computer over USB. The MCU will be used for GPIO and to read several differential ADC's. The problem is that the ground level of the equipment can be 10's of volts higher than mains ground, which the computer will be held at.
I want to avoid sourcing power from the equipment, so I need an on-board, isolated DC-DC converter. I have found one (TI DCR01) that appears to do what I want, but I cannot find any spec for the max ground difference. All I see is an isolation flash test rating of 1kV RMS. Anyone know more about this?
If this is fine, I would then just power my ADC's on the equipment-side rails, and pass the communication bus through level translators.
Does this all seem like a reasonable approach? Anything I'm overlooking?