nRF PPKII voltage measurement in ammeter mode

[Mohan_sp]

Hi,

I am using the PPKII in ammeter mode with an external battery to measure the currrent consumption. It would be really helpful for me if I could simultaneously measure the battery voltage to keep an eye on how the voltage changes over time for different use case scenarios.

In the schematic of the PPKII, I noticed that the external voltage is connected to ADC channel 4 of the main MCU

Is there anyway we can enable this measurement as well? If not in the power profiler GUI, even a python code which can measure voltage and current simultaneously is good enough. For the voltage, the sampling frequency need not be high. Even a sampling frequency of 1Hz or lower is sufficient.

Thanks & Regards

Mohan S P

[ovrebekk]

Hi Mohan

There are no analog inputs that you can correlate with the current reading unfortunately, only 2 digital channels. 

If you have some way of measuring the voltage externally maybe you can map it to the PPK2 data in some way, by writing a timestamp or similar over the PPK2 digital channels. 

Best regards
Torbjørn

[Mohan_sp]

The external voltage given to the PPK in ammeter mode is internally connected to the ADC channel 4 of the MCU. Can't the firmware be modifed to take a voltage reading at specified intervals along with the current reading?

[ovrebekk]

Hi Mohan

This might be possible, yes, but any kind of new feature request would have to prioritized alongside all the other projects the tools team is working on. This might seem like a quick feature to add, but it needs to be added on the GUI side as well, and any new feature needs to be well tested to ensure it doesn't impact on the existing functionalities of the PPK. 

Do you have the contact details of one of the regional sales directors in Nordic? 
If so you can forward the request to him/her, and they will forward it internally. 

Best regards
Torbjørn

[Mohan_sp]

Hi Torbjorn,

Thanks! That would be amazing and really helpful for us! Yes, I am in touch with a regional sales director. I will forward the request to him.

I do understand it's definitely not easy to ad a feature like this, but I think a lot of people will appreciate this feature as it would give the complete picture of how the battery discharged over time. A very high sampling rate is not required. Even a 1-100Hz voltage measurement rate would be sufficient.

Thanks & Regards

Mohan Prabhakar

[ovrebekk]

Hi Mohan

I agree it would be a nice feature, fingers crossed they can find some time for it. 

In the mean time, the best of luck with your project

Best regards
Torbjørn