Current consumption of timer in counter mode

[bearsh]

Hi

I want to use the timer in counter mode (gpio event shortcut to count task). Do you have any number of current consumption? The plan is to have a 64Hz signal but it could also be faster.

[Simonr]

Hi

Please check out page 37-38 of the nRF5340 product specification where we have current consumption numbers for TIMERs running. We don't have numbers for a 64Hz signal I'm afraid, but the numbers here should give you a pointer at least:

Best regards,

Simon

[bearsh]

I know this table. I suppose the current mentioned in there also includes the consumption of the oscillator. So it's not really possible to estimate the consumption of the peripheral...

[Simonr]

No, we don't have the exact current consumption of each peripheral running I'm afraid as there are a lot of peripherals and use cases we don't have estimates/measurements for every possible peripheral running. You can test this with an nRF5340 DK running a Timer/counter project and a PPK2 though.

I think the multicore idle test can be a suitable starting point here, and implementing a timer on either core should be possible.

Best regards,

SImon

[bearsh]

I did some measurements on my hardware. It seems like the timer itself does not need much the DPPI system.

It looks like the DPPI needs some clock to deliver an event from e.g. the gpiote to the timer. If I configure a gpio with event_in and connect that to the count task, it needs about 80uA more than without.

The strange thing is, it needs less if I set the gpiote to lowlatency than if I set it to low power and also configure the sense bits of the gpio. this is quite the opposite than the datasheet tells me...

[Simonr]

Hi

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying here exactly. What measurements exactly have you done to get these numbers? When measuring on the nRF5340, have you made sure the core not in use is in a low power state(if you only use I.E. the NET core the APP core should be flashed with "empty_app_core" firmware)?

Best regards,

Simon