NRF24L01+ problem in power down mode

RE: NRF24L01+ problem in power down mode

davids — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 16:09:21 GMT

Hi Arthur sorry for very late reply, it seems I found the problem, I never experienced that problem again, since I change my solder paste and pads pattern in the pcb, now I had 2000pcs had been running well so far Power down things is need a lot of experience ;-)

Regard Davids

RE: NRF24L01+ problem in power down mode

bersch — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 12:14:56 GMT

Hi guys,

I ran into same problems some time ago. I also had many unexpected issues that weren't reproducible. Meanwhile everything is fine and my Atiny/Atmega consumes µA in power-down mode.

I think the culprit is naming this mode "Power-Down" on Atmel chip, since it is still a sleep mode, where only the oscillator stops. So it is not like a on/off switch. If you have some pins set as output, then they will draw current. Also if you have internal pull-up resistors set, then in power-down mode will draw current.

My solution before calling Power-Down:

call SPI.end()
save concerned registers and put pins as inputs with DDRx = 0
save also pull-up registers and set no-pull-up with PORTx = 0

Regards

Bernhard

RE: NRF24L01+ problem in power down mode

Arthur — Thu, 18 Sep 2014 08:07:52 GMT

Hi, David.

I have the same problem. I use NRF24L01+ only in TX mode, I send data 1 time per minute and then I set up module to powerdown . I had ~1 uA current consumption in powerDown mode. But 5-7 days later I measured the consumption in powerdown and it had increased to ~800-900 uA. I changed the module to new - and got ~1 uA again, but it was broken the same way few days later.

Did you resolve this problem? Thank you, I need your help

RE: NRF24L01+ problem in power down mode

David — Mon, 07 Oct 2013 11:47:03 GMT

Hi Kenneth,

I share my problem here with expectation there is somebody out there also experienced this problem and had solved it, because I don't have any idea to find some help

As I also posting the problem in "MY SUPPORT CASES", I will also post it here

back to the topic, pls forget about 45mA in RX active mode, and just focus on 300uA until 600uA for power down mode, this is the most importand feature that I had been unintentionally destroyed, and also pls note that I have tested (with logic analizer and recheck my software) there are no floating pins except Mosi pin in power down mode,

pls also notice my previous report, that the board has been fuction perfectly for HOURs or even Days before it was broken (only in power down feature),

and My latest progress report, after 5 days the board unpowered, now I found it is function normal again (recover by it self)

In my observation/ opinion, there is a certain sequence that make something like electrical charge has been accumulated somewhere in the circuit inside the chips and have caused a current leakage in powerdown mode, and then it will self recover after many days unpowered mean that the accumulated charge have been decaying for some certain periode in this case 5 days

pls correct me if you have another thought.

what I hope you can advice me is what sequence or something that have caused this problem so at least I know what to do next, to fixed or to avoid this problem occur

pls I realy need your help,

regard

davids

RE: NRF24L01+ problem in power down mode

Kenneth — Mon, 07 Oct 2013 11:00:59 GMT

Some of your description fit well with floating pins in power down, e.g. that the SPI and CE lines on the nRF24L01P doesn't have a defined level in power down. In that case you can experience high power consumption in power down, e.g. in the range of hundreds of uA, and maybe as high as a few mA. With floating pins the power consumption will fluctuate, and you can measure both low and high power consumption over time, and after power on reset.

However 45mA is extremely high, it's far above anyting that has been reported before, which believe me to believe you also have another issue also. Since we don't know how how the nRF24L01P have been handled, it might be an ESD issue, or it can be caused by the devices have not been properly baked prior do soldering, this could damage the device when heated and moisture expands internally.

RE: NRF24L01+ problem in power down mode

David — Mon, 07 Oct 2013 01:23:53 GMT

hi,

few days ago I found my NRF radio module under test (running test for several days) finally also have similar problem, it was broke in term of drawn 6.5ma in power down stage.

since I haven't got good answer, i try to search over the web, and then found the forum that have similar problem with me, here is the link:

 forum.diyembedded.com/viewtopic.php

this forum is 3 years old now, (posted at 2010), and it is also seems they don,t solve the problem yet

is there any NORDIC guys that could give me suggestion? or idea what may caused the problem? is it my software or chip design error? and there is maybe some advice on what should be avoided , or limitation info on how the trick to implementing power down to avoid or minimize the problem

regard

davids