DC/DC with softdevice

[Neodym]

Hello,

i have a question about the use of the dc/dc converter in use with the softdevice S310 v3.0. We make some difficult calculations and so the sensor its on for 750ms. Bluetooth is sending every second. Our voltage its 3.6V. According the datasheet it should be more power efficient if i switch on the dcdc converter. I have tried to enable the dcdc with the funktion "sd_power_dcdc_mode_set " but i can not see really a difference.

What am I doing wrong??

[Stefan Birnir Sverrisson]

Hi

Info about the DCDC is on this thread. S310 v3.0 should be good to use with nRF51 third revision. Make sure you have the third revision nRF51, see the compatibility matrix for what nRF51 chips are third revision.

Yes, to enable the DCDC, you should use the sd_power_dcdc_mode_set function, as you already have mentioned. The DCDC only works however for the radio, other peripherals do not use the DCDC. So if you are not using radio, you will not see any difference. You should see the most difference when advertising, because then the radio is used a lot and the other pripherals not so much.

Yes, you are correct. With 3.6V supply voltage you should see the most difference between using DCDC and not using DCDC.

[Neodym]

Hi, its there a possibility to enable the DC/DC also when the radio is not on? I think during the calculation we can save some percent of battery?

Best regards

[Stefan Birnir Sverrisson]

No, the DCDC is only used for radio operation. So if you enable the DCDC and use something else then the radio, it will have no effect on the current consumption.