RandomSamples
Minimizing Power Consumption

Microcontrollers are often a great solution when power consumption is a consideration. Even running at full speed without any real effort to minimize power consumption, it is possible to run an AVR-based device like the Arduino for hours, or days, using AA batteries. Power consumption can be lowered even further using a combination of ideas and techniques as appropriate for your situation.

Here are some tests that were performed using an Arduino with and without an XBee wireless module to get an idea of relative runtime when performing different tasks with different types of power sources (9 volt, AA rechargeable, AA alkaline, etc.) This is the first question to ask: do you even need to look at optimizing power consumption?

Even at the default levels of power consumption, it becomes possible to run some applications nearly indefinitely with a combination of rechargeable batteries and a periodic source of charging power such as a small solar panel. With a little more effort, power consumption can be further reduced.

When I find myself needing to minimize the power consumption of a project, here are some things I look at:

While each of these ideas should help reduce power consumption, a couple of good general principles are:

Shop at Amazon and support this site

Copyright © 2006-2013 Quantoa LLC.
All rights reserved.