power draw is still quite high (90 uA) when sleeping RFM69HW

[bjm]

Hi, the power draw is still quite high (90 uA) when sleeping

I have tried this with two programs, both 90uA

Program 1: // Moteino Low-Power Sleep Mode example - J.Beale Oct. 19 2013

#include <SPIFlash.h>
#include <RFM69.h>
#include <SPI.h>
#include <LowPower.h>

#define SERIAL_BAUD      115200
#define LED  9            // LED is D9 on Motetino
// #define LED  13        // LED is D13 on Arduino Pro Mini

#define NODEID        2  // RFM12b network ID used for this unit
#define NETWORKID    99  // RFM12b network ID we are on

RFM69 radio;       

#define NODEID        18    //unique for each node on same network
#define NETWORKID     100  //the same on all nodes that talk to each other
#define GATEWAYID     1
//Match frequency to the hardware version of the radio on your Moteino (uncomment one):
#define FREQUENCY     RF69_433MHZ

// Moteino: Flash SPI_CS = 8, ID = 0xEF30 (Winbond 4Mbit flash)
SPIFlash flash(8, 0xEF30); // flash(SPI_CS, MANUFACTURER_ID)

void setup()
{
  Serial.begin(SERIAL_BAUD);
  Serial.print("Start...");

  if (flash.initialize()) {
    Serial.println("Flash Init OK!");
    flash.sleep();          // put flash (if it exists) into low power mode
  } else {
    Serial.println("Flash Init FAIL!");
  }
 
  delay(100);          // wait for serial xmit
  pinMode(LED, OUTPUT);
  digitalWrite(LED,LOW);
 
   radio.initialize(FREQUENCY,NODEID,NETWORKID);
  radio.sleep(); // MOTEINO: sleep right away to save power
}

void loop()
{
// Enter power down state for 8 s with ADC and BOD module disabled
// Moteino (with RFM12B, no SPI Flash): 6 uA @ Vin = 5 V, 4 V, and 3.3 V
// with no red power LED, Arduino Pro Mini takes 20 uA @ Vin=4.0, 14 @ 3.3V
    Serial.println(" going to sleep in 3 seconds");
       delay(3000);
    LowPower.powerDown(SLEEP_8S, ADC_OFF, BOD_OFF); 

    digitalWrite(LED,HIGH);    // flash LED for 1 msec (still quite visible)
    delay(1);
    digitalWrite(LED,LOW);
}

[Felix]

1 - What hardware are you using? Moteino?
2 - How are you measuring current draw?

[bjm]

Hi Felix, we're using RFM69HW, i.e. Moteino R4, measurement is 90uA measured by two different methods (a) my power supply shows the current draw, (b) quality multimeter that I have previously used to measure different things down to 5uA. The Moteino is drawing 90-110uA at various supply voltages of 3.3 to 6 v at Vin, or 3.3v applied to the 3.3V pad - same 90uA regardless of whether the (set highpower) is included in the code - if you run this code on one of your RFM69HW Moteino R4s, what power draw do you get? cheers, Bruce

[Felix]

Tried both 433/915Mhz and both W/HW.
All radios read a consistent 6.5uA on my Fluke 87-V with the sketch you included here.
I have nothing else attached to the Moteinos, no sensors or anything. One of them had a FLASH chip, that didn't make a difference since the FLASH chips have a sub uA when put to sleep.