How to test the power consumption of "System ON IDLE with GRTC (XOSC) and 256 KB RAM"

[666]

HI ALL,

   I used a system off demo and added the following content.

The power consumption tested was around 1uA, which should be normal according to the errata. Then, I wanted to test the idle state. Based on the above, I turned off the following content and tested that the power consumption was around 6uA.

This doesn't seem to match the specification book.

Is there any other way to test the power consumption of "System ON IDLE with GRTC (XOSC) and 256 KB RAM"？

note:v2.8.0,NRF54L15,QFAABB

[Sigurd Hellesvik]

Hi,

Can you try to measure the same for the blinky sample and let us know what current draw that has (when the LED is off in the blink cycle)?

Regards,
Sigurd Hellesvik

[666]

[666]

The two in the red box are both 3.43V.

The two in the red box are both 2.93V.

[Hieu]

I am trying to reproduce the issue on my end but haven't been able to yet. I only have earlier prototyping revisions of the DK, so I wonder if that is the difference. I will try to acquire a DK from the same revision as you.

Meanwhile, could you please share what it looks like when you measure in Ampere Meter mode? With all three wires connected, that is.

Do you also have a higher performance power analyzer, a different PPK, or a different nRF54L15 DK to switch up the setup? This is to help isolating where the problem is.

[666]

[Hieu]

Oh, I mean, what does the Power Profiler app look like when you use Ampere Meter mode. And when you use Ampere Meter mode, you need to connect all three pins, VIN, VOUT, and GND.

What about substituting parts for the measurement? Is it possible for you?

[Hieu]

I was tipped that this might be Errata 31 at play. There might be little peaks due to it.

The peaks are not milliamperes high like we see in the Power Profiler, but this compounds with a limitation of the PPK, where the voltage is measured in multiple level ranges, and if the actual level crosses between ranges, a false peak is generated.

Could you please try to install NCS at the main branch, and try again? A fix was made for it.

[666]

Can I use 'west update' directly? It's currently version 2.8.0

[Hieu]

Yes and no. west update will synchronize the SDK to what is defined in nrf/west.yml, so simply runs it won't change anything, unless you replace the entire west.yml with what is on main.

[666]

It can work normally now

[Hieu]

Thank you. That's good to know.

To summarize up:

• The simplest way to achieve System ON Idle is to use Hello World sample, built with CONFIG_SERIAL=n
• Measurement is affected by Errata 31. It is presented on some devices and will be fixed in the next NCS release after v2.9.0

Shall we close this ticket then? Ah I saw you have closed the ticket. Many thanks.