Power consumption of ESP32 Thing Plus using WiFi?

Components & Accessories Power
1

Is there a table somewhere that shows the approximate power consumption of an ESP32 Thing Plus with the various radios enabled? I’ve been having some trouble finding one.

2

Hi ssilverman,

Unfortunately, SparkFun does not have any such tables and there is no good data in the [ESP32 WROOM Datasheet. The only specification they have for current draw is ~80mA average.

I did some basic testing using an [ESP32 Thing Plus and this [USB Power Meter and these are the estimated results running various code from our Hookup Guide:

  • - Idle/blank sketch: ~30mA
  • - [[WiFi Example](https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/esp32-thing-plus-hookup-guide#arduino-example-wifi): This is tricky without a scope as the consumption is very volatile. It jumps between ~60mA up to ~133mA when sending a packet request.
  • - [[BLE Example](https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/esp32-thing-plus-hookup-guide#arduino-example-esp32-ble): ~40-60mA +/-2mA.
    • [/list]

    This was all performed when powering the ESP32 Thing Plus via USB so powering it from different sources will also affect the current draw. For example, powering it with a clean 3.3V source will reduce the power draw since you are bypassing the onboard voltage regulator.

    You would also be able to get much more accurate data using an actual oscilloscope and more thorough testing but hopefully, this gives you a good idea of what the rough estimates would be for the current draw of this development board.](ESP32 Thing Plus Hookup Guide - SparkFun Learn)](https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/esp32-thing-plus-hookup-guide#arduino-example-wifi)](USB Power Meter (Color TFT LCD) - TOL-15571 - SparkFun Electronics)](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/14689)](https://cdn.sparkfun.com/assets/learn_tutorials/8/5/2/esp32-wroom-32_datasheet_en.pdf)