NRF54L10 takes too much current

[omt]

Hi everyone,

I'm working on a project using the nRF54 and Zephyr RTOS. Previously, I implemented almost identical functionality on an nRF52, where the device consumed around 3.5 µA while waiting for an input change (GPIO_INT_LEVEL_ACTIVE). I changed to nrf54, and I hopped current will be less. 

Now, with mostly the same code base and doing nothing more, the current consumption sits at magical 150 µA. 

CONFIG_PM_DEVICE=y

CONFIG_PM_POLICY_DEFAULT=y

CONFIG_PM=y

CONFIG_PM_DEVICE=y

CONFIG_PM_DEVICE_RUNTIME=y

Here is what I've tried so far to debug this:

• I've experimented with various configuration options (prj.conf).

• I even tried blocking the execution right at the beginning of main() using a semaphore to ensure no application logic is running.

Despite this, the power consumption is always ....150 µA.

Has anyone encountered similar power management issues on the nRF54 with Zephyr, or are there specific Kconfig options/peripherals I should look into to debug this leak?

Thanks in advance!

[Simonr]

Hi

Please check out our Low power DevAcademy course here which explains how to optimize for current consumption on your nRF54L device: https://academy.nordicsemi.com/courses/designing-low-power-bluetooth-le-products/.

150µA excess current is suggesting that a peripheral is left on, so make sure that everything you don't need is disabled and not in use. 

Best regards,

Simon

[omt]

I've created own board, removing DK unused pins - current drop down to 90uA, but it is still too much,

[Simonr]

Can you share the current consumption plot where you see this. Seeing how this current consumption looks exactly might be helpful to decide what's going on here. Also, how do you measure the current consumption exactly?

90µA is indeed too high for a sleep mode. Maybe you can share your HW files for a review as well so we can narrow this issue down to SW or HW?

Best regards,

Simon

[omt]

Question: 

if a specific hardware pin of the nRF54L10 SoC is completely omitted from both the board's default Devicetree (.dts) definition and any overlays (.overlay), will it be automatically configured to a safe, low-power state by default?

Do I need to explicitly initialize or configure it in software to prevent it from floating and drawing leakage current during sleep modes or waiting for semaphore in firmware ?

[omt]

And the second question: if I want to check whether the issue is caused by some module not going to sleep, how can I put the processor in main into a mode that turns off all modules and leaves only the processor in its lowest power consumption state?

I want to check whether the problem is hardware or software related.