Over-current sensors using external low-resistance sense resistors are fairly common. However, the members of a new family of ICs from Maxim (www.maxim-ic.com) feature an internal sensor resistor and a switch for disconnecting the load if the current limit is exceeded. The members of this IC family are listed in the table. Circuit diagram : Overcurrent Cutout Switches Circuit diagram There are two sorts of over-current switches in the family. The types listed in the ‘Latching’ column store any occurrence of an over current condition and indicate it at the FLAG output until they are switched off and then on again by a pulse on the ON input. The types in the ‘Auto-Retry’ column automatically attempt to reconnect the load after a delay time. When the delay time expires, they check whether an over-current recurs, and if necessary they immediately switch off again. The auto-retry types do not have a /FLAG output. They switch on for approximately 40 ms every 300 ms (typical) to measure...