[Tinyos-devel] more bugging about current consumption on MicaZ in tinyos-2.x

[Razvan Musaloiu-E.]

Hi!

On Mon, 17 Jul 2006, Philip Levis wrote:

> On Mon, 2006-07-17 at 14:38, Razvan Musaloiu-E. wrote:
> > Hi!
> >
> > On Mon, 17 Jul 2006, Philip Levis wrote:
> >
> > > On Wed, 2006-07-12 at 16:08, Razvan Musaloiu-E. wrote:
> > > > Hi!
> > > >
> > > > A few weeks ago I wrote [1] on the tinyos-help list about some high
> > > > consumptions on MicaZ in tinyos-2.x. I rerun the tests using the beta2 and
> > > > the results I'm getting are still wrong. I attached a small application
> > > > that demonstrate this. Its based on the TestSleep [2] (which doesn't
> > > > compile) and the only thing it does is to call the McuSleep.sleep() in
> > > > Boot.booted(). The current value I'm getting is 0.14mA. Could someone else
> > > > run the program and confirm or disprove this problem? :-)
> > >
> > > I tested with the app Null on a micaz and measured a current draw of 2
> > > uA. Can you verify whether you measure this (or a similar value,
> > > expected is <5uA and max is 10uA) as well?
> >
> > I run the Null and the current draw is around 0.17mA. I test the program
> > from both Linux (where I compiled manually the toolchain) and Windows
> > (where I got the toolchain from the rpm posted on the tinyos site).
> >
> > I attached the binary that I'm using. The command for burning is:
> > 	uisp -dprog=mib510 -dserial=/dev/ttyUSB0 --wr_fuse_h=0xd9 -dpart=ATmega128 --wr_fuse_e=ff --erase --upload if=main.srec.out
> >
> > Could you plese send me the main.srec.out from your Null? :-)
>
> I've attached my .srec.

I got the same wrong values with yours. :-(

> When I run your app on a mote, I get similarly low power consumption to
> mine. When I disassemble the two binaries, the source code is identical.
> I see two possibilities:
>
> 1) The fuses on your mote are (somehow) configured differently.

Is there a way to check this?

> 2) There's something wrong with your measurement setup. It looks like
> you're using an Extech multimeter from Radio Shack. These are not very
> accurate, and I could imagine that at these levels (e.g. < 1mA) they are
> not accurate at all. I measured with a Fluke 187. Can you repeat your
> measurements with a better measuring device?

I'll try to find a better one and check again. My problem is the same
multimeter shows very low values for a Telos (7.1uA for Null) so that's
why I haven't blame it so far.

Once again, thank you very much!
Razvan ME