SparkFun Thing Plus - nRF9160 larger power consumption than advertised

Development Boards MicroMod
1

I have been using the thing plus in order to simulate a circuit for total power consumption using an nRF91 and multiple other components attached to the board. I have a current measurement tool connected to the board. In the firmware we have disabled everything except the nRF91 but when measuring the current consumption it is around 26mA.

It was advertised that the board should be consuming no more than 2uA while in low power mode but when I place it in this mode it will still consume 24mA. I saw on a forum that this was caused by the buck boost converter. I am hoping there is some work around that will allow us to use this board for running our current measurement tests because in its current state of 24mA in standby we cannot measure correctly and calculate a battery discharge curve.

Here is the forum I am referencing: https://community.jaredwolff.com/d/380- … aving-mode

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

2

How much current are your external components using?

I believe the 2µA figure is for the nRF9160 module itself, not the entire assembly. The boost buck alone will draw more than 2µA all by itself.

3

The external components are consuming a total of 2.8mA. I originally bought this board as I wanted to utilise the nRF91, onboard accelerometer and flash chip along with the external components to create a bench top simulation of a future product.

I never expected it to use 2uA but the fact that it is using 24mA while essentially idle is crazy. The hope was that this setup would allow me to create an accurate battery discharge curve but unless there is a way of getting this board down in consumption it is not going to work for me.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks.