I have a couple of questions on the TPL5110. I purchased a few of these units. They are just what I need, if I can get them to work the way they should!
board: Arduino Uno or Mega , tested it on Mega so far with an rtc and a small lora wireless board
Input voltage : 4.85 -4.95V through the pins (not the LiPo input)
Target timing on the timer-5 to 8 minutes
I used the hookup guide and wanted to emulate the no-diode no-resistor option. I used a wire to connect the PTH pins on pins labeled F ( I did not touch the SMD F pins unlike what was shown in the wiring diagram). USB power connected only when Vout pin was disconnected.
Switches: C+D turned ON ( switches pulled to the right towards the label ON on the pad), all others pulled to the left.
→ C+D ON = 8 minutes per the chart
Done pin: connected to A3 on the board.
Code: Read the timestamp from rtc and spit it out via a lora wireless board.
Result: the Timer is always on, and the board is always powered ON.
I am a bit confused by your description of your setup here. To get a better idea of your setup, can you please take a few photos of your circuit and attach them to your reply? Also, if you could take a few photos of the top and bottom of your Nano Power Timer, that would be helpful as well.
Thanks for your willingness to help with this. I have attached a photo of the board and its connectivity to the Arduino.
I have a 5V supply powering the TPL5110s pins. The DONE is connected to A3. DIP switch C and D are in ON position.
I added a wire to the PTH pins labeled F. Not sure that is the correct thing to do. The hookup guide is not clear on that.
This set up should power the Arduino every 8 minutes. But the Arduino seems to be powered on and off every second or something close it. To the naked eye it seems that it stays on all the time. Not sure where I am going wrong on this.
Thanks for that photo and the information. My guess is since you’re just using unsoldered wire for your connections, the issue is related to an unstable connection on one or more of those pins. Also, the “F” PTH pins are for adding a through hole resistor like [these to create custom timing for the Nano Power Timer. There is no need to place anything there unless you are using the “F” custom setting on the board.
To fix your issue, I would recommend starting with soldering wire or header pins to your input and output on the Nano Power Timer and re-testing. That should fix the issue. If you want to avoid soldering for prototyping, I personally use [these IC Hooks to create a good, temporary connection but in a pinch, wrapping wire around the pins can work too. Just make sure they’re wound tightly so they make a solid connection. All that said, soldering is best here, especially when you’re powering a project.
Thank you so much for this. I think it is a little clear now. One last question. Could you confirm that when you ship the units the switches A+B+C+D +E ( and F) are turned to the ON position ? With the default position get approximately timing of 2 seconds. I am trying to make sure that I understand the ON position ( looking it at upright, the ON position is towards right). Also, F seems to be turned ON , does not affect the timing as long as nothing is wired to the PTH or SMD pins for F ?
The first unit I tested seemed to be inconsistent, not sure why. But I did provide a better wiring on the second unit, and it seems to be more consistent.
That is correct. The Power Timer ships with the DIP switches all set to the “ON” position. Just for clarification, in the orientation in your photo in a previous response, the “ON” position is to the right. “OFF” is to the left. As for leaving “F” in the “ON” position without a custom resistor, it should not affect it much but leaving it in that position will probably affect the timing of the “standard” positions just a little. I would just set it to “OFF” if you’re not using it.
Awesome! Let us know if you run into any other issues with this board and we would be happy to help as much as we can. If you have any unrelated questions about this or another of our products, please feel free to create a new topic.
