Current draw of various bits - Tested!

#1

I ran into an issue with my USB battery packs turning off if the current draw wasn’t high enough.
I solved this by testing the current draw of all my bits using my DROK USB meter, and found that 60mA is enough to keep the pack on!
Example bits needed: USB(10mA) + two RGB LEDs set to white (30mA each),
or USB(10mA) +Bargraph (40mA) +Led (10mA).

Here’s the full table of my readings so far (max resolution of my meter: 10mA).
I’ll keep adding more bits as I acquire them.

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Using an external iPhone battery with the USB power bit
#2

Just added info on the Cloudbit.

It has various power draws depending on the mode, so I listed them all.

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#3

As for the BLE bit, I haven’t successfully paired it (I use Android), so I’ve only posted power draw in pairing mode.

#4

Erratum: line 17 - should be i13, not o13.

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#5

Thanks, fixing right now

#6

Just added info on three new bits: Threshold, Number+ and Temperature sensor

#7

I’ve just noticed : the cloudbit uses 230 mA :open_mouth:
Thanks for posting alll this, it’s very useful when calculating a circuit for portable use and you want to know how long a project will run on the power source :+1:

#8

With this little gadget you can measure current draw and voltage loss on the fly… :bitstar:

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#9

That’s so rad!!! Wow I haven’t soldered in ages (since college)! Time to dust off the soldering iron :slight_smile:

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#10

0.23A is only when it’s in “setup/pairing/wifi host” mode.

Once it’s successfully connected to a wifi router (solid green light), the current draw fluctuates between 0.11A and 0.19A.

#11

If you still have this bit around, can you test some of the higher powered bits I tested?
I’d love to add a second set of readings :slight_smile:

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#12

Hi @baselsalam,
here are my findings:
I used a multimeter with + - 2% accuracy and a protobit. The gadget I made was not accurate enough) :grinning:

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#13

Thank you so much!!!
I think yours is quite accurate!!

The lowest grain of my meter was 0.01A/10mA.
For bits that I measured higher than 0.1A/100mA, your readings agreed with mine almost every time :slight_smile:

For the Fan bit you recorded with a reading quite different, my results might be different because of the 3 types of Fans I have this particular kind seemed very slow so it’s probably an outlier. Your measurement is closer to the two other types of Fans I recorded :slight_smile:

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