nPM1304 LEDDRV causes unexpected 300 µA current consumption

We are observing an unexpected increase in current consumption when enabling the LED driver outputs of the nPM1304.

We configure the LED drivers to Host mode, which by itself does not cause any noticeable increase in current consumption. However, as soon as we enable any of the LEDDRV SET registers — LEDDRV0SET, LEDDRV1SET, or LEDDRV2SET — we observe an additional current consumption of approximately 300 µA.

The behavior is consistent across all three LED driver channels:

  • Configuring the LEDDRV channels to Host mode: no noticeable increase in current consumption.
  • Enabling LEDDRV0SET: approximately +300 µA.
  • Enabling LEDDRV1SET: approximately +300 µA.
  • Enabling LEDDRV2SET: approximately +300 µA.

The ~300 µA increase is observed when any one of the three SET registers is enabled. It does not increase by another 300 µA when additional LEDDRV channels are enabled.

The additional current consumption appears to be associated specifically with enabling the LEDDRV SET register, rather than with configuring the LED driver itself to Host mode.

The LEDs are physically not connected / have been removed from the board, so there is no external LED load contributing to the measured current.

All measurements are performed using a Nordic Power Profiler Kit II (PPK2).

We could not find any information in the nPM1304 datasheet specifying an expected increase in current consumption of approximately 300 µA when enabling the LEDDRV SET registers with no LED connected.

We would therefore like to clarify whether this additional ~300 µA current consumption is expected behavior, or whether it could indicate an issue with the configuration or the device.

Parents
  • Hi again.

    I've had it confirmed that this seems to be as expected. When enabling the LED drivers, the consumption will be ~100µA per driver, so 300µF for 3 drivers sounds right. This is the quiescent current for the drivers, plus the necessary references. It is 300µA, regardless of how many drivers are enabled, because the bias current is shared by all three drivers.

    Best regards,
    Mathias

Reply
  • Hi again.

    I've had it confirmed that this seems to be as expected. When enabling the LED drivers, the consumption will be ~100µA per driver, so 300µF for 3 drivers sounds right. This is the quiescent current for the drivers, plus the necessary references. It is 300µA, regardless of how many drivers are enabled, because the bias current is shared by all three drivers.

    Best regards,
    Mathias

Children
  • Hi Mathias,

    Thank you for the confirmation, that explains our measurements exactly.

    It would be great if this information (the ~300 µA shared bias current when any
    LED driver is enabled) could be added to the next revision of the product
    specification.

    We would honestly have liked to use the LED drivers, but for our application
    300 µA is simply too much of the power budget, so we will not be using them.

    One follow-up question: with the nPM1304, would you consider it a good solution
    to connect the LED directly to VSYS instead? We are aware that the LED
    brightness will then vary with the battery voltage and we are fine with that.
    Is there anything on the nPM1304 side that speaks against it?

  • Fryderyk said:
    It would be great if this information (the ~300 µA shared bias current when any
    LED driver is enabled) could be added to the next revision of the product
    specification.

    I've forwarded this internally.

    Fryderyk said:
    One follow-up question: with the nPM1304, would you consider it a good solution
    to connect the LED directly to VSYS instead? We are aware that the LED
    brightness will then vary with the battery voltage and we are fine with that.
    Is there anything on the nPM1304 side that speaks against it?

    It should be fine to do that and control the LED with, e.g., a GPIO-controlled FET. However, another option could also be to use one of the load switches with its input connected to VSYS, as these have a very low quiescent current.

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