Measuring power consumption of nrf7002dk seems impossible

RE: Measuring power consumption of nrf7002dk seems impossible

Tudor B. — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 06:58:19 GMT

Thank you Jonathan! Sorry but I completely forgot about this ticket. Will close it now. 🤐

RE: Measuring power consumption of nrf7002dk seems impossible

JONATHAN LL — Thu, 12 Jun 2025 02:00:10 GMT

[quote user="Tudor B."]The only question that remains is the one about using a single PPKII to measure the total power draw (if possible).[/quote]

Total power used with the debugger unit on the DK ?

You could supply the DK from a battery or power supply and connect the PPK2 in current mode, so in series with the battery and that should give you the total power draw.

Regards,
Jonathan

RE: Measuring power consumption of nrf7002dk seems impossible

Tudor B. — Sat, 07 Jun 2025 20:41:08 GMT

Finally found a way to do the measurement:

The trick was to make the connection EXACTLY as can be seen in the picture below (notice the jumper left half on and the GND on the ground from the "2x PPKII both chips measurement" example and do a few resets:

Is there a way of measuring TOTAL power draw without using 2x PPKII?

Edit: the strange connection that I mentioned is completely unnecessary. What actually mattered is that the "Enable Power output" toggle in the Power Profiler app was made active prior to resetting/ turning on the board.

The only question that remains is the one about using a single PPKII to measure the total power draw (if possible).

RE: Measuring power consumption of nrf7002dk seems impossible

Tudor B. — Sat, 07 Jun 2025 16:50:42 GMT

Hello again Jonathan,

My superior got me a PPK II and I tried doing the same connection as presented in that exercise that you linked. Same error and behaviour as when I tried using my multimeter: once that jumper is off, the nrf7002 chip is dead/ doesn't wanna communicate.

But an interesting find is:

https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ug_nrf7002_dk/page/UG/nrf7002_DK/nRF5340_nRF7002_measure_current.html

Based on that guide, I decided to follow the route of using just the first PPK II from the guide and try measuring just the nrf5340. Thankfully that works like a charm and can do measurements on the main chip.

RE: Measuring power consumption of nrf7002dk seems impossible

Tudor B. — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 11:04:31 GMT

Hello Jonathan,

Please excuse my extremely late reply, but I was working on another more urgent task. Here is a video that showcases the issue in detail. I've checked the first two links that you've sent and to the best of my knowledge, I've followed them correctly.

Video:

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../20250605_5F00_134834.mp4

I don't really understand your "NB: note" since I've followed the instructions from the second link precisely and there it says that both probes from the multimeter are connected to the two pins that are freed up by the removal of the jumper.

RE: Measuring power consumption of nrf7002dk seems impossible

JONATHAN LL — Tue, 27 May 2025 13:52:22 GMT

So you have followed the steps here: https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ug_nrf7002_dk/page/UG/nrf7002_DK/prepare_board.html and here https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ug_nrf7002_dk/page/UG/nrf7002_DK/hw_measure_ampmeter.html .

So everything works as expected with the jumper in place but when you connected the amperemeter then you have issues. I would suspect the amperemeter\measurement tool or its connection here firstly. Make sure that it works as expected.

We do also have a more info on example use case here: https://academy.nordicsemi.com/courses/wi-fi-fundamentals/lessons/lesson-6-wifi-fundamentals/topic/lesson-6-exercise-1-2/ , and for a more accurate for your use case here we have this: https://github.com/too1/mqtt_over_wifi_nrf7002DK?tab=readme-ov-file#chapter-4---enable-the-wi-fi-6-target-wake-time-twt-feature-in-the-code-to-evaulate-power-consumption

Here is an image of the setup used, using ampere mode:

NB: Note that the ground connection from the measuring device is not directly connected to the DK here, this is not recommended as this would be an issue if both devices did not share the same ground plane through USB as it is in this case.

Also make sure that you have not accidently switched some of the other switches on the DK.

Regards,
Jonathan