Power consumption NRF24L01+

[HarryDutch]

I'm using several sensors with the NRF24L01+ module (with the EasyIoT controller). One of these sensors started to use much more power than before (5 mA instead of 50 uA). After some debugging it turned out that this was caused by the NRF24L01+ module itself. Replacing this module by a new one brought the power consumption back to 50uA. I'm very curious why the NRF module was suddenly starting to use much more current than before. Just a faulty module? Has anyone else ever experienced this ?

(Arduino Pro Mini 3.3V, voltage regulator 3.3V (HT7333-A), 3 x AAA batteries (4.5v), DHT22).

[tlund]

I haven't experienced this before. Could be a faulty NRF.

The NRF draws ~900nA when powered down, and ~15mA when awake/sending.

If you need to send a message, do some (relatively lengthy) calculations, and then send something again, then you should:

1. NRF send
2. NRF powerDown
3. perform calculations
4. NRF send (automatically performs a powerup)

If you do not power down the NRF before doing the calculations, then it will continue to draw mA's, even though it is not sending or receiving anything.

[Salmoides]

I've experience close to that before. I've built circuits where the radio continued to draw as much current in sleep mode as when awake. It worked fine, but it wouldn't take a nap. Swapping out the radio solved the problem. That radio is now in a wall wart powered device. I haven't seen one change like that, but I'm sure it's possible.

[HarryDutch]

Thanks for taking your time to answer my question.

I'm sure now that it was a faulty module. After replacing the module the current consumption during sleep is now 40 uA again. I'm only curious why a module like the NRF24L01 suddenly decides that it no longer wants to go to sleep. But it's now working perfectly again. So problem solved!

[Luc Eeckelaert]

Had the same issue with some of the modules. I bought them on eBay so that might be the reason. As a test I wrapped the faulty module in some tinfoil to discharge all the caps on the board. After that it went back to the original low powerdown current.
I'm leaving the same module on for a few days and see if it comes back. If so I will try to buy new ones from a more official source and see if this makes a difference.

[nivoc]

I have the same Issue But with all my NRF's. They all consume about 5mA while Idle. Any new thoughts on this issue?

[manutremo]

Sorry to revive this topic but the issue describes seems to be still kind of hot for many of us around.

I went through the same story - detected high consumption in one of my nodes during sleep, isolated the cause to be the nrf24 module, swapped for a new one and problem solved. But I woudl still like to understand the reason and if the module is recoverable or not.

I happened to find a discussion thread in the Nordic Semiconductors web site developers zone, which again describes the same issue. However it adds two additional aspects:

• Modules seem to "deteriorate" only after some days
• Module seem to recover after around 5 days disconnected

Full thread here

At this moment I'm at the 5 days wait to check if my module will recover. However I was wondering if the community here has had more experiences that can be shared on this issue.

Thanks!

[peerv]

Just replace the chinese clone with a real Nordic Semiconductor module and all problems are gone!