nRF5340 BLE beacon/peripheral low power configuration

RE: nRF5340 BLE beacon/peripheral low power configuration

Simonr — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 11:36:45 GMT

Do you have a single-stage immutable bootloader or a two-stage upgradable bootloader as described here? https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ncs-latest/page/nrf/app_dev/bootloaders_dfu/mcuboot_nsib/bootloader.html

Best regards,

Simon

RE: nRF5340 BLE beacon/peripheral low power configuration

thaonguyen — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 15:40:50 GMT

Hi Simonr ,
Thank you for the response.
I am not sure about a 1 or 2 stage bootloader.
we had many devices that's doing OTA via LTE, we are worry with new NCS version will not compatible to device that's deployed.
so Could you help us to build a peripheral_lbs firmware for nRF5340DK? I hope this is better for us.

we have many devices type they will use new NCS version

RE: nRF5340 BLE beacon/peripheral low power configuration

Simonr — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 11:44:29 GMT

So, all changes between 2.6.1 and 2.9.1 should be covered in the migration notes and release notes here.

Are you using a 1 or 2 stage bootloader here, as that will have a say in whether this is easy to just do OTA on?

Best regards,

Simon

RE: nRF5340 BLE beacon/peripheral low power configuration

thaonguyen — Sat, 12 Jul 2025 10:19:19 GMT

Hi Hung,
I did some tests
with ncs 2.6.1 and ncs 2.7.0 the current is same my board, about 240uA

with ncs 2.9.1 and newer the current is about 13uA

so I don't know what is different between ncs2.6.1 and 2.9.1

that means that I must upgrade to higher version ncs.
we had many device that's deployed and doing OTA via LTE. if we use new NCS version and doing OTA, then does there any problem for that?

RE: nRF5340 BLE beacon/peripheral low power configuration

thaonguyen — Sat, 12 Jul 2025 07:02:41 GMT

this my set up

RE: nRF5340 BLE beacon/peripheral low power configuration

thaonguyen — Sat, 12 Jul 2025 07:00:52 GMT

Hi Hung,
So sorry for the delay. I had an urgent task.
I tested your hex file and it takes ~78uA on the nRF5340DK.
I tried to build your code but not sucess I don't see SDK 3.0.2, so I used ncs 2.9.1 and installing 3.0.1

RE: nRF5340 BLE beacon/peripheral low power configuration

Hung Bui — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 08:24:25 GMT

Hi Thao,

I think we can focus on the nRF53 DK and align the measurement to make sure we are seeing the same number.

Please let us know your nRF53DK version number. Maybe take a photo of your set up , how you connect the PPK2.

Second, please use the attached hex file , and select the source mode from the Power Profiler application. Make sure you do 3.0 V, not 3.3 as 3.3 will create leakage on the board.
At 3.0V you should see the sleep current only 1-2 uA.

I also attached the project file, it's made with NCS v3.0.2.

Please flash the hex files by calling these:

nrfjprog --coprocessor CP_NETWORK --recover

nrfjprog --coprocessor CP_application --recover

nrfjprog --coprocessor CP_NETWORK --program merged_CPUNET.hex --chiperase

nrfjprog --coprocessor CP_APPLICATION --program merged.hex --chiperase

nrfjprog -r

I noticed that you were using child-parent image in the original question, but the nrf5340-ble-power.rar you sent us has sysbuild folder, could you explain ?

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../6562.merged.hex

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../0714.merged_5F00_CPUNET.hex

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../0218.peripheral_5F00_lbs.zip

RE: nRF5340 BLE beacon/peripheral low power configuration

thaonguyen — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 15:18:37 GMT

Hi Hung,
the result above is using nRF5340DK and your code.
because when I turned BLE off then the current dropped to 9uA, so I am asking BLE configuration affected to power.
Could you have any recommendation about BLE configuration?
nRF5340 uses dual core, so I think the configuration can make power change

RE: nRF5340 BLE beacon/peripheral low power configuration

Hung Bui — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 15:06:51 GMT

Hi Thao,
The sleep current looks really strange. I would suggest to try testing with very simple application, for example blinky to see if you can see low power consumption.
I think there is something else on the board is drawing current.

[quote user="thaonguyen"]my board is using external 32KHz. should I declare it in prj.conf? I thought the default used XTAL clock
[/quote]

Yes the sample I provided use XTAL. You may need to reconfigure it to use external 32kHz. Could you give more detail on that ?

One way of testing this is to switch to 32kHz RC (LFRC) so we can rule out the possibility that it's the external 32kHz causing the problem ?

Could you try to build with nrf5340dk_nrf5340_cpuapp to see if it change ?

I would strongly suggest to try testing on a DK so you have a reference and compare to your board to find what draw more current.

It's important to find a way to achieve low sleep current on your board with a simple sample so that we can figure out what cause the higher consumption.

RE: nRF5340 BLE beacon/peripheral low power configuration

thaonguyen — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 11:28:50 GMT

Hi Hung,
my board is using external 32KHz. should I declare it in prj.conf? I thought the default used XTAL clock
I disabled UART but no change.
I built peripheral_lbs_nrf53.zip with nrf5340dk_nrf5340_cpuapp_ns and flash to nRF5340DK, the current is about 500uA

RE: nRF5340 BLE beacon/peripheral low power configuration

Hung Bui — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 11:07:35 GMT

Hi Thao,
Please try to minimize the application. Is there any chance that when you enable bluetooth you actually doing something else, enable any other peripheral ?
Which LFCLK did you use , do you use crystal or 32kHz synthesized clock ?
Have you tried to turn off UART (CONFIG_SERIAL=n)
I attached here a LBS sample that you can try to test on your board (you can build for DK and flash on your board , it should still run) . The sleep current should be around 29uA when doing BLE.
devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../peripheral_5F00_lbs_5F00_nrf53.zip

Please try to test on your board to see if you have similar number.

RE: nRF5340 BLE beacon/peripheral low power configuration

thaonguyen — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 09:21:34 GMT

Hi Hung,
I am using ncs 2.6.1, I don't try with nRF53 DK yet, not sure it works.
there is only difference between 9uA and 246uA that 9uA calles bt_disable() function, other things are same.
"When I turned BLE on, the current is about 9uA. with BLE beacon On then the current is about 240uA"
this is my wrong. I mean when BLE is turned off then the current is 9uA

RE: nRF5340 BLE beacon/peripheral low power configuration

Hung Bui — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 09:11:57 GMT

I noticed that you have a lot of libraries in the source code you provided. Have you tried to simplify the firmware ? If you test with some simple application, for example peripheral_lbs do you see the same high current consumption ?
It would be easier for us to identify what need to be turned off if you can reproduce the issue on a DK and with a simplified firmware.

RE: nRF5340 BLE beacon/peripheral low power configuration

Hung Bui — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 09:07:21 GMT

Hi Thao,
I'm in Norway unfortunately. Could you let me know which SDK the firmware should be build with ?
Can I build the firmware with the DK. Have you tried to measure the current on a DK ?

How did you do the test "When I turned BLE on, the current is about 9uA. with BLE beacon On then the current is about 240uA" ? Could you capture a power profile trace when you doing that ?

What I can see from the trace is that the idle current is about 246 uA. It is really high, it should only a few uA if you are not doing anything except for BLE.

So there is something was constantly on we need to check that. If we can see exactly what made it change from 9uA to 246uA. Can you describe how you did that ?

RE: nRF5340 BLE beacon/peripheral low power configuration

thaonguyen — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 09:02:21 GMT

Hi Hung,
Thank you!
I look forward to it

If you are in VietNam we can talk directly

RE: nRF5340 BLE beacon/peripheral low power configuration

Hung Bui — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 08:53:33 GMT

Hi Thao,

I'm taking over the ticket from Ressa. Will give you a reply later today.

RE: nRF5340 BLE beacon/peripheral low power configuration

thaonguyen — Fri, 04 Jul 2025 12:18:19 GMT

Hi Ressa,
I saw someone they can use BLE advertising data with current is less than 80uA. so I hope my device is same.
because when I turned BLE off the current is 9uA, so BLE is using about 240uA (total 250uA). this is too high.
Please see the attachments below

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../thao_2D00_ble_2D00_power_2D00_ppk2_2D00_20250704T120935.ppk2 devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../nrf5340_2D00_ble_2D00_power.rar

RE: nRF5340 BLE beacon/peripheral low power configuration

Ressa — Fri, 04 Jul 2025 08:00:48 GMT

Hi Thao,

Can you save the current profiles graph in a file ( for around 20 seconds) and share it with me ? Also can you share the source code you are programming to the chip ? Also please note that nRF52 and nRF5340 will not have the same current.

RE: nRF5340 BLE beacon/peripheral low power configuration

thaonguyen — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 14:11:49 GMT

Hi Ressa,
240uA is average current included beacon transmission every 2 seconds.
when I turned BLE off then the current is 9uA
I used nRF52, the current is about 25uA, so I hope nRF5340 is similar

RE: nRF5340 BLE beacon/peripheral low power configuration

Ressa — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 13:14:50 GMT

Hi Thao,

Is 240 uA the average current including the current consumption during beacon transmission? or it is the average current between the beacons? Are you using Nordic Power Profiler Kit ? If yes, then please sharing the screen shot of window.

RE: nRF5340 BLE beacon/peripheral low power configuration

thaonguyen — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 15:45:16 GMT

Sorry, I missed.
when BLE is off, the current is about 9uA.

with BLE beacon On then the current is about 240uA