BLE power optimization

[ilia]

Hello, 

I am trying to make a simple power optimized BLE peripheral device based on nRF52840.

Here is the chart from the Power Profiler

The device advertises once in 2.5 seconds (big spikes on the chart ~7mA). Also I have a timer for my time counter, it fires up every second (smaller spikes ~40 micro Amps).  The device is in SystemOn state. I do call nrf_pwr_mgmt_run() in a loop inside main.

I am wondering what causes constant consumption ~12 micro Amps.

Is there a complete power optimized example for a simple BLE peripheral?

[ilia]

I just had a look at ble_app_template example. It has this constant consumption of 12 micro amps too.

Is it the lowest possible power consumption when ble is enabled?

[ilia]

Here is ble_app_beacon example with advertising turned off. Is it possible to go below 12 micro Amps on SystemON and active ble?

[ilia]

The previous charts show power consumption for my custom hardware. Here is the chart for the same code (ble_app_beacon without advertising) running on nRF52840 DK. What could cause such the difference?

[Stian Røed Hafskjold]

Hi, the floor current consumption should be around 2-3 uA when BLE is enabled. If you see 12 uA on your custom board but not on the DK there must be something on your custom board that consumes about 10uA. It's not possible for me to comment on what the reason could be without knowing anything about your custom board.

The ble_app_pwr_profiling is a power optimized example. It starts out in system OFF, before button 1 or 2 is pushed. In system OFF you should see around 0.3uA. Then, after pushing one of the, buttons it starts to advertise and consumes about 2-3 uA between the advertising events.

[ilia]

Hi. Thank you I will inspect my hardware. I will have a look at ble_app_pwr_profiling.

Could you please tell what is responsible for those spikes up to ~14 uA on the chart for nRF52840DK?