High Power Consumption without any reason.



  • Hello Guys,

    I made a MySensor-Sensor out of an Arduino Pro Mini 3V3 8Mhz Clone a BME280 and a NRF24L01 module. During sending the data my power consumption is about 17-18mA, which is often mentioned in the forum.
    But in sleepmode there is a much higher power consumption of 4mA than I expected and also mentioned in the topics.

    Could you please give me a hint where I had to look for the high power consumption? LED and Regulator are removed.

    My Code:

    // Enable Debugging
    #define MY_DEBUG            //for MySensors connection problems
    #define PROG_DEBUG          //for code debugging
    
    // Enable and select radio type attached
    #define MY_RADIO_NRF24
    
    //MySensors Identification (necessary before MySensors.h)
    #define MY_NODE_ID 1
    
    #include <SPI.h>
    #include <MySensors.h>
    #include <Seeed_BME280.h>
    #include <Wire.h>
    
    BME280 bme280;
    
    //MySensors Sensors Identification
    #define CHILD_ID_HUM 0
    #define CHILD_ID_TEMP 1
    #define CHILD_ID_BARO 2
    #define CHILD_ID_VOLTAGE 254
    
    //For battery voltage measurement
    int BATTERY_SENSE_PIN = A0;       // select the input pin for the battery sense point
    //unsigned long SLEEP_TIME = 5*60000;   // sleep time between reads (seconds * 1000 milliseconds)
    unsigned long SLEEP_TIME = 10000;   // sleep time between reads (seconds * 1000 milliseconds)
    float VinMax = 3.23;          //VinMax calculated from VoltageDivider with 1,1V as referenz (A0);
    float VinMin = 2.6;           //VinMin is 1xCR2450 2.6V
    float VrefMulti = 0.0031543;       //calculated from VinMax/1023
    
    //R1 = 910000;      Voltage Divider R1
    //R2 = 470000;      Voltage Divider R2
    
    // Set this offset if the sensor has a permanent small offset to the real temperatures
    //#define SENSOR_TEMP_OFFSET 0
    
    bool metric = true;
    
    MyMessage msgHum(CHILD_ID_HUM, V_HUM);
    MyMessage msgTemp(CHILD_ID_TEMP, V_TEMP);
    MyMessage msgBaro(CHILD_ID_BARO, V_PRESSURE);
    MyMessage msgVoltage(CHILD_ID_VOLTAGE, V_VOLTAGE);
    
    
    void presentation()  
    { 
      // Send the sketch version information to the gateway
      sendSketchInfo("BME280", "1.1");
    
      // Register all sensors to gw (they will be created as child devices)
      present(CHILD_ID_HUM, S_HUM);
      present(CHILD_ID_TEMP, S_TEMP);
      present(CHILD_ID_BARO, S_BARO);
      present(CHILD_ID_VOLTAGE, S_MULTIMETER);
    
      metric = getControllerConfig().isMetric;
    }
    
    
    void setup()
    {
      if(!bme280.init()){
        Serial.println("BME280 Could not be initialised!");
      }
      else {
        Serial.println("BME280 initialised!");
      }
      analogReference(INTERNAL);          // use the 1.1 V internal reference
        
    }
    
    
    void loop()      
    {  
      Serial.println("Waking up...");
      #ifdef PROG_DEBUG
        unsigned long StartTime = millis();
        Serial.println("------NEW READING------");
      #endif
    
      //calculate values
      int sensorValue = analogRead(BATTERY_SENSE_PIN);
      float batteryV  = sensorValue * VrefMulti;
      int Vref0 = (VinMin / VrefMulti);
      float VrefPcnt = (1023 - Vref0) / 100;
      int batteryPcnt = static_cast<int>(((batteryV-VinMin)/(VinMax-VinMin))*100);;
      //Send Battery Voltage
      send(msgVoltage.set(batteryV, 1));
    
      #ifdef PROG_DEBUG
        //Voltage-Stuff
        Serial.println("-----Voltage-Stuff-----");
        Serial.print("A0-Reading:        ");
        Serial.println(sensorValue);
        Serial.print("VinMax:            ");
        Serial.println(VinMax);
        Serial.print("VinMin:            ");
        Serial.println(VinMin);
        Serial.print("Vref0:             ");
        Serial.println(Vref0);
        Serial.print("VrefPcnt:          ");
        Serial.println(VrefPcnt);
        
        //Battery-Stuff
        Serial.print("Battery Voltage:   ");
        Serial.print(batteryV);
        Serial.println(" V");
    
        Serial.print("Battery percent1:  ");
        Serial.print(batteryPcnt);
        Serial.println(" %");
        Serial.println("-----------------------");
      #endif
        sendBatteryLevel(batteryPcnt);
        
          
      // Get temperature from BME280
      float temperature = bme280.getTemperature();
        send(msgTemp.set(temperature, 1));
      #ifdef PROG_DEBUG
        Serial.print("Temp:              ");
        Serial.print(temperature);
        Serial.println("C");
      #endif
      
      // Get humidity from BME280
      float humidity = bme280.getHumidity();
        send(msgHum.set(humidity, 1));
      #ifdef PROG_DEBUG
        Serial.print("Humidity:          ");
        Serial.print(humidity);
        Serial.println("%");
      #endif
      
      // Get pressure from BME280
      float pressure = (bme280.getPressure()/100);
      send(msgBaro.set(pressure, 1));
      #ifdef PROG_DEBUG
        Serial.print("Pressure:          ");
        Serial.print(pressure);
        Serial.println("hPa");
      #endif
      
      #ifdef PROG_DEBUG
        unsigned long CurrentTime = millis();
        unsigned long ElapsedTime = CurrentTime - StartTime;
        Serial.print("Looptime:          ");
        Serial.print(ElapsedTime);
        Serial.println("ms");
      #endif
    
      // Sleep for a while to save energy
      Serial.print("Going to sleep for (Seconds): ");
      Serial.println(SLEEP_TIME/1000);
      sleep(SLEEP_TIME); 
    }
    

    Thanks in advance.
    Tom


  • Hardware Contributor

    @DerManni - what happens when/if you unplug the sensor - same? If not, you have narrowed down the problem.

    How do you power the node?



  • @sundberg84
    I also unplugged the sensor, nothing happend to the power consumption in both states.

    The note is powered through an CP2102 USB 2.0 zu TTL UART on 3V3. Later I planned to power through an CR2450 coin cell.

    Unfortunately I cannot unplug the NRF-Module because it is soldered directly to the following shield. (https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/uXIff7XO)

    Could it be an faulty NRF-module?


  • Mod

    Try a longer sleep time then disconnect sensor like previously said and see the consumption, if it doesn't change unplug vcc of the radio module too.


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