I can’t get the TWR-KW24D512 demo board below ~210uA of current, any ideas?
I’m using the Low Power Demo (part of KW2xD_SMAC), and selecting MCU VLLS2, and Radio Hibernate, but power usage is above what I’d expect. The firmware app implements a simple USB to serial terminal program (115200 baud)
C:\Freescale\KW2xD_SMAC\app\ieee_802_15_4\Low_Power_Demo\twrkw24d512\Source\Low_Power_DemoApp.c
I’m measuring current through two precision 1Ohm resistors I installed at R6 and R8.
(R6=1Ohm) VdropR6 = 0.000050V. So the MCU is consuming 50uA
(R8=1Ohm) VdropR8 = 0.000160V. So the radio is consuming 160uA
Total = 210uA, over 10x what I expect!
…For resistor locations, see the schematic in Fig 3-9 of the TWR-KW2x reference manual
http://ds.arm.com/media/resources/db/platform/freescale/twr_kw21d256/TWR-KW2XHWRM.pdf
According to the Low-Power App note AN4857, the Radio should only consume ~1uA when in hibernate mode, and V_MCU should be 16.6-17.3uA while the MCU is in VLLS2. It seems that there is a bug in the code, or some other source of power consumption.
http://cache.nxp.com/files/rf_if/doc/app_note/AN4857.pdf?fpsp=1&WT_TYPE=Application%20Notes&WT_VENDO... (Table 1 and Table 5)
In an effort to rule out a hardware problem, I tweaked the Low Power Demo firmware, and loaded it on my own KW2x board. I’m experiencing very similar power consumption(250uA) in hibernate and VLLS2. I believe there is some issue in the Low Power Demo source code? I've attached the .srec file for anyone who might want to try it out on their TWR-KW24D512 board.
Original Attachment has been moved to: Low_Power_Demo.srec.zip
Solved! Go to Solution.
I figured it out. There were 2 I/O that were consuming extra power due to bugs in the firmware:
After these 2 changes, the power consumption drops to the ~15uA range, which agrees with documentation.
I figured it out. There were 2 I/O that were consuming extra power due to bugs in the firmware:
After these 2 changes, the power consumption drops to the ~15uA range, which agrees with documentation.