Battery monitor for nRF52832

[Enrique]

Does nRF52832 have battery monitor?

I can't find in the datasheet if there is an externarl circuit to monitor the battery. I'm using a CR2032 coin cell battery.

Thanks

[Ladasky]

There are no dedicated battery pins on the nRF52832 pinout. As you pointed out, there is no reference to battery monitoring features in the documentation. It probably makes sense that the SoC does not have any battery features, since there are many possible configurations for powering the SoC.

[RK]

You can measure Vdd on the chip with the SAADC, Vdd is one of the inputs you can select for any of the channels. So as long as your battery is providing Vdd directly, you can measure it.

[Ladasky]

That's true, but recently I've been learning more about battery monitoring than I ever wanted to know. Battery voltage does not have a simple relationship to battery usage. If you are drawing a lot of current (and the SoC doesn't use much, but a peripheral might), the voltage will temporarily drop. Wait a few seconds or minutes, and the voltage will rise again, though perhaps not as high as before.

If what you really want to know is battery usage and remaining battery life, there are "fuel gauge" ICs for this task. These chips have both a voltmeter and an ammeter. They use algorithms which integrate the readings from the voltmeter and the ammeter over time.

[Enrique]

Thank you all for your answers, considering what you said and the fact that I'm looking for low cost, I will use the SAADC to measure the Vdd. Since I will measure the remaining battery life every few minutes, I consider there is no need for using an extra IC.

I will try this way and let you know how it went.

Best regards!