Current limitations in High Voltage mode

[Pavel Kurochkin]

Dear Nordic Team,

on my board with NRF85240 High Voltage mode is used. Accordingly to datasheet (5.3.8.2 Regulator Specifications, REG0 stage), in this mode the following consumption limitations take place:

When output power is +8 dBm (Thread mode) external current draw should not exceed 5 mA, but I see that in reality device survives even higher consumption (5-10 mA), because in our design external QSPI flash is connected to MCU and is active (in performance mode) during reception/transmission.

I understand, that it is necessary to follow datasheet requirements and limitations as strict as possible, but I would like to understand what's happening: will MCU degrade over time being overloaded or the limitation in datasheet is actually too strict? 

Thanks in advance! 

[ketiljo]

The regulator is designed for a specific max current. When you draw more than this, the regulator will deliver more current than it's designed for. While there will a "safety margin", drawing more than the specification is not recommended. Note that the regulator has these limitation only when the radio is active in TX mode.