Guidance on Measuring Power Consumption of Arduino Nano 33 BLE (ABX00030) with nRF52840 SoC

[Chiaw Hun]

Hello Nordic Support Team,

I am currently working with the Arduino Nano 33 BLE (ABX00030), which features the nRF52840 SoC, and I am interested in accurately measuring the power consumption of this device.

Could you please provide guidance on:

1. The recommended connection method for measuring current and voltage.

2. Any specific pins or interfaces on the board that are suitable for power monitoring.

3. Best practices or precautions to ensure accurate measurement without affecting device operation.

4. Any reference documentation or examples related to low-power measurements for this SoC.

Your support would be greatly appreciated, as this information is critical for my project evaluation.

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

[Håkon Alseth]

Hi,

 

I would recommend contacting your module/dk vendor for how to measure current on the specific board at hand.

For current measurement, we can recommend that you obtain a PPK2 https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Development-hardware/Power-Profiler-Kit-2

  

Kind regards,

Håkon

[Chiaw Hun]

Hi, thank you for your reply.

Could you recommend an expert, engineer, or someone from your team who could guide me in using this product to solve my problem? I have looked through the user manual, but as I’m not very experienced with circuits, I didn’t find any example of using the PPK2 to measure the power consumption of the ABX00030. I just need guidance on the proper connections, as I’m worried that if I connect it incorrectly, either the PPK2 or the ABX00030 might be damaged.

[Håkon Alseth]

Hi,

 

Chiaw Hun said:

I didn’t find any example of using the PPK2 to measure the power consumption of the ABX00030

This is not a dev kit that we sell, so you have to ask the manufacturer where they recommend to connect an ampere meter or source meter.

 

Chiaw Hun said:

I didn’t find any example of using the PPK2 to measure the power consumption of the ABX00030. I just need guidance on the proper connections, as I’m worried that if I connect it incorrectly, either the PPK2 or the ABX00030 might be damaged.

You can both source and measure in series with the ppk2.

How to connect to an arbitrary device requires similar setup as a normal multimeter, when placing the ppk2 in ampere meter mode. I would recommend that you check out our documentation:

https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ug_ppk2/page/UG/ppk/PPK_user_guide_Intro.html

And if you still have issues, you can search for videos on youtube on how to use the ppk2 in a more generic way.

 

Kind regards,

Håkon