power enable on artemis nano

Development Boards Artemis
1

I am using an Artemis Nano for a weather station. I would like for the board to be off unless I specifically turn it on, and I’d like to use the minimum power possible while the board is off to maximize battery life.

The Nano has power control by allowing access to the enable pin of the voltage regulator. However, it is pulled high with a 10K resistor.

There are several issues with this design. If I were to simply connect the enable pin to ground, turning the device off, there would still be a 0.4 mA current (4 volt average for a lithium battery thru 10k) which over time would be quite significant. It also makes direct use of the enable function more complicated than it needs to be.

The pullup resistor is labeled R1. While not thrilled with the prospect, it looks like the best way to handle the problem is to remove R1 and connect the enable pin directly to my external enable circuitry. I don’t know which resistor that is on the board, and I can’t read an Eagle file (don’t have the software).

So, two questions.

  1. Can anyone point out R1?

  2. Am I missing something? A better way?

Thank you all in advance

2

I’d say the easiest route would be to obtain AutoDesk Eagle (free for non-commercial purposes) - download that and then you can access all of our brd file and schematics :smiley:

3

Don’t forget about the Redboard Artemis Nano. It may be small and lightweight, but it is a complete party in the front and business in the back – Sparkfun’s joke about the Nano. This well-designed board is the same form factor as the Arduino Nano. All of the connectors, LEDs, Labels, and buttons are on the front. While the powerful Ambiq microcontroller and the rest of the circuitry is on the back.