Author Topic: LowPower.h help  (Read 3913 times)

lilpint97

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LowPower.h help
« on: February 02, 2014, 10:37:05 AM »
OK, I am being dense or just half asleep take your pick, but can someone explain in the lowerpower.h when I make the call
LowPower.powerDown(SENSORREADPERIOD, ADC_OFF, BOD_OFF); what ADC and BOD stand for/mean to the configuration? And what ADC_ON/BOD_ON would give me? I tried reading the libraries but they are light on exactly what this is doing but must not be understanding the underlying hardware.

Thanks.

Felix

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Re: LowPower.h help
« Reply #1 on: February 02, 2014, 03:46:35 PM »
ADC = Analog to Digital Converter
BOD = Brown Out Detector

Both hardware modules inside the mega chip. Therefore they eat power. Therefore you want them asleep unless you're doing something special. Like monitoring battery level while you're sleeping...?

I've once read all about how much power each of them needs and putting them to sleep saves something like a few micro amps. That makes a difference when you run on coin cells or very small batteries. If you care to read more about this or find the exact figures check the Atmega328 DS (... maybe not :P) or see these links where the info is more summarized:

http://tae09.blogspot.com/2012/10/arduino-low-power-tutorial.html
http://www.rocketscream.com/blog/2011/07/04/lightweight-low-power-arduino-library/
http://www.gammon.com.au/forum/?id=11497

lilpint97

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Re: LowPower.h help
« Reply #2 on: February 02, 2014, 04:48:46 PM »
Felix as always thanks for the information, the links were very informative, I might just focus on the radio.sleep() function which looks to be my larger savings.