accurately measuring integrated power consumption

[Winfield Hill]

What's a good instrument (need make & model number)
to measure the integrated power consumption of my
complex micro-controller controlled bee-hive monitor?
It rapidly goes in and out of multiple modes, turns
74 sensors on/off, pulses LEDs to 50mA, draws 65mA
to heat micro-miniature hot plates, etc. Average
current is from 0.5 to 3mA, but is hard to measure.
It spends much of its time drawing microamps, and
this must also be accurately integrated over time.

Going through my considerable collection of smart,
highly-capable instruments, there's not one that
will make continuous, accurate integrated-current
power-consumption measurements. The closest are
awesome 6.5-digit bench multimeters, that can be
set to measurement integration times of 100 PLC
(about 1.6 seconds), but these are discontinuous
measurements, with gaps, not suited for the job.

Yes, there are fuel-gauge ICs available, but we
need to purchase an instrument, with a wide
dynamic range / peak handling capability, plug it
in, and take readings, so we can experiment as we
work, programming the beehive-monitor's software.

Not even my new awesome-looking Keysight E36312A
data-logging bench supply can do this simple task.
The word, "integrate" doesn't appear in the manual.
Nor does the word, "average" appear.

OK, I have this little $15 USB stick, with a cute
display, that includes a running mA-hr value. If
I open it up and do some cut-jump hacking, maybe
it could be integrated into my bee-hive monitor's
power system. What's its peak-handling capability,
who knows. Sheesh!

Maybe my 66321B "Mobile Communications DC Source",
although the word, "integrate" doesn't appear in
its manual either. OK, it will "average" discrete
measurements. Not very re-assuring. It can fill
up a buffer with 2048 data points... Arrghh!



--
Thanks,
- Win

 

[George Herold]

On Friday, May 31, 2019 at 5:30:35 AM UTC-4, Winfield Hill wrote:

What's a good instrument (need make & model number)
to measure the integrated power consumption of my
complex micro-controller controlled bee-hive monitor?
It rapidly goes in and out of multiple modes, turns
74 sensors on/off, pulses LEDs to 50mA, draws 65mA
to heat micro-miniature hot plates, etc. Average
current is from 0.5 to 3mA, but is hard to measure.
It spends much of its time drawing microamps, and
this must also be accurately integrated over time.

Going through my considerable collection of smart,
highly-capable instruments, there's not one that
will make continuous, accurate integrated-current
power-consumption measurements. The closest are
awesome 6.5-digit bench multimeters, that can be
set to measurement integration times of 100 PLC
(about 1.6 seconds), but these are discontinuous
measurements, with gaps, not suited for the job.

Yes, there are fuel-gauge ICs available, but we
need to purchase an instrument, with a wide
dynamic range / peak handling capability, plug it
in, and take readings, so we can experiment as we
work, programming the beehive-monitor's software.

Not even my new awesome-looking Keysight E36312A
data-logging bench supply can do this simple task.
The word, "integrate" doesn't appear in the manual.
Nor does the word, "average" appear.

OK, I have this little $15 USB stick, with a cute
display, that includes a running mA-hr value. If
I open it up and do some cut-jump hacking, maybe
it could be integrated into my bee-hive monitor's
power system. What's its peak-handling capability,
who knows. Sheesh!

Maybe my 66321B "Mobile Communications DC Source",
although the word, "integrate" doesn't appear in
its manual either. OK, it will "average" discrete
measurements. Not very re-assuring. It can fill
up a buffer with 2048 data points... Arrghh!



--
Thanks,
- Win

Win, is this something that has to live in the field or on you lab bench.

If it's on the lab bench then some A/D converter that plugs into your
computer. Like a labjack.
https://labjack.com/

George H.

 

[John Larkin]

On 31 May 2019 02:30:20 -0700, Winfield Hill
<hill@rowland.harvard.edu> wrote:

What's a good instrument (need make & model number)
to measure the integrated power consumption of my
complex micro-controller controlled bee-hive monitor?
It rapidly goes in and out of multiple modes, turns
74 sensors on/off, pulses LEDs to 50mA, draws 65mA
to heat micro-miniature hot plates, etc. Average
current is from 0.5 to 3mA, but is hard to measure.
It spends much of its time drawing microamps, and
this must also be accurately integrated over time.

Going through my considerable collection of smart,
highly-capable instruments, there's not one that
will make continuous, accurate integrated-current
power-consumption measurements. The closest are
awesome 6.5-digit bench multimeters, that can be
set to measurement integration times of 100 PLC
(about 1.6 seconds), but these are discontinuous
measurements, with gaps, not suited for the job.

Yes, there are fuel-gauge ICs available, but we
need to purchase an instrument, with a wide
dynamic range / peak handling capability, plug it
in, and take readings, so we can experiment as we
work, programming the beehive-monitor's software.

Not even my new awesome-looking Keysight E36312A
data-logging bench supply can do this simple task.
The word, "integrate" doesn't appear in the manual.
Nor does the word, "average" appear.

OK, I have this little $15 USB stick, with a cute
display, that includes a running mA-hr value. If
I open it up and do some cut-jump hacking, maybe
it could be integrated into my bee-hive monitor's
power system. What's its peak-handling capability,
who knows. Sheesh!

Maybe my 66321B "Mobile Communications DC Source",
although the word, "integrate" doesn't appear in
its manual either. OK, it will "average" discrete
measurements. Not very re-assuring. It can fill
up a buffer with 2048 data points... Arrghh!

Is the supply voltage constant? If so you just need to measure average
current. Seems like any DVM that you can acquire samples of would
work; suck out a string of measurements and average. Maybe lowpass the
current sensor to improve your statistics.


--

John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc

lunatic fringe electronics

 

On Friday, May 31, 2019 at 5:30:35 AM UTC-4, Winfield Hill wrote:

What's a good instrument (need make & model number)
to measure the integrated power consumption of my
complex micro-controller controlled bee-hive monitor?
It rapidly goes in and out of multiple modes, turns
74 sensors on/off, pulses LEDs to 50mA, draws 65mA
to heat micro-miniature hot plates, etc. Average
current is from 0.5 to 3mA, but is hard to measure.
It spends much of its time drawing microamps, and
this must also be accurately integrated over time.

Going through my considerable collection of smart,
highly-capable instruments, there's not one that
will make continuous, accurate integrated-current
power-consumption measurements. The closest are
awesome 6.5-digit bench multimeters, that can be
set to measurement integration times of 100 PLC
(about 1.6 seconds), but these are discontinuous
measurements, with gaps, not suited for the job.

Yes, there are fuel-gauge ICs available, but we
need to purchase an instrument, with a wide
dynamic range / peak handling capability, plug it
in, and take readings, so we can experiment as we
work, programming the beehive-monitor's software.

Not even my new awesome-looking Keysight E36312A
data-logging bench supply can do this simple task.
The word, "integrate" doesn't appear in the manual.
Nor does the word, "average" appear.

OK, I have this little $15 USB stick, with a cute
display, that includes a running mA-hr value. If
I open it up and do some cut-jump hacking, maybe
it could be integrated into my bee-hive monitor's
power system. What's its peak-handling capability,
who knows. Sheesh!

Maybe my 66321B "Mobile Communications DC Source",
although the word, "integrate" doesn't appear in
its manual either. OK, it will "average" discrete
measurements. Not very re-assuring. It can fill
up a buffer with 2048 data points... Arrghh!



--
Thanks,
- Win

Not clear if you need measurements over very short intervals, or just
how much it average out over a day. If it's more along the lines of
the latter, how about a Kill-a-Watt meter? Depends on how accurate
you need it and over what interval.

 

[Jan Panteltje]

On a sunny day (31 May 2019 07:00:23 -0700) it happened Winfield Hill
<hill@rowland.harvard.edu> wrote in <qcrc1n0af4@drn.newsguy.com>:

George Herold wrote...

On Friday, May 31, 2019, Winfield Hill wrote:

What's a good instrument (need make & model number)
to measure the integrated power consumption of my
complex micro-controller controlled bee-hive monitor?
It rapidly goes in and out of multiple modes, turns
74 sensors on/off, pulses LEDs to 50mA, draws 65mA
to heat micro-miniature hot plates, etc. Average
current is from 0.5 to 3mA, but is hard to measure.
It spends much of its time drawing microamps, and
this must also be accurately integrated over time.

I forgot to mention LoRa transmitter currents.
We'd like to setup the instrument, and make a
measurement over a complete cycle of activity.

Win, is this something that has to live in the
field or on you lab bench.

If it's on the lab bench then some A/D converter
that plugs into your computer. Like a labjack.
https://labjack.com/

On the bench. Thanks for the suggestion, George,
but with rapidly-changing, and pulsing currents,
we need an integrating ADC, rather than SAR type,
with millions of samples, some missing the pulses.

Video FLASH ADC record to disk, process later?
Or just add a PIC to that ADC do the processing in real time.

That is how I would do it...

 

[legg]

On 31 May 2019 02:30:20 -0700, Winfield Hill
<hill@rowland.harvard.edu> wrote:

What's a good instrument (need make & model number)
to measure the integrated power consumption of my
complex micro-controller controlled bee-hive monitor?
It rapidly goes in and out of multiple modes, turns
74 sensors on/off, pulses LEDs to 50mA, draws 65mA
to heat micro-miniature hot plates, etc. Average
current is from 0.5 to 3mA, but is hard to measure.
It spends much of its time drawing microamps, and
this must also be accurately integrated over time.

Going through my considerable collection of smart,
highly-capable instruments, there's not one that
will make continuous, accurate integrated-current
power-consumption measurements. The closest are
awesome 6.5-digit bench multimeters, that can be
set to measurement integration times of 100 PLC
(about 1.6 seconds), but these are discontinuous
measurements, with gaps, not suited for the job.

Yes, there are fuel-gauge ICs available, but we
need to purchase an instrument, with a wide
dynamic range / peak handling capability, plug it
in, and take readings, so we can experiment as we
work, programming the beehive-monitor's software.

Not even my new awesome-looking Keysight E36312A
data-logging bench supply can do this simple task.
The word, "integrate" doesn't appear in the manual.
Nor does the word, "average" appear.

OK, I have this little $15 USB stick, with a cute
display, that includes a running mA-hr value. If
I open it up and do some cut-jump hacking, maybe
it could be integrated into my bee-hive monitor's
power system. What's its peak-handling capability,
who knows. Sheesh!

Maybe my 66321B "Mobile Communications DC Source",
although the word, "integrate" doesn't appear in
its manual either. OK, it will "average" discrete
measurements. Not very re-assuring. It can fill
up a buffer with 2048 data points... Arrghh!

An older Fluke 8922a offers analog output, but is hampered by
autoranging, if engaged. Autoranging is likely to be useless when
you're looking at LF measurements with large crest factor - the errors
of the largest measurement range needed without clipping will dominate
the average.


RL

 

[Winfield Hill]

George Herold wrote...

On Friday, May 31, 2019, Winfield Hill wrote:

What's a good instrument (need make & model number)
to measure the integrated power consumption of my
complex micro-controller controlled bee-hive monitor?
It rapidly goes in and out of multiple modes, turns
74 sensors on/off, pulses LEDs to 50mA, draws 65mA
to heat micro-miniature hot plates, etc. Average
current is from 0.5 to 3mA, but is hard to measure.
It spends much of its time drawing microamps, and
this must also be accurately integrated over time.

I forgot to mention LoRa transmitter currents.
We'd like to setup the instrument, and make a
measurement over a complete cycle of activity.

Win, is this something that has to live in the
field or on you lab bench.

If it's on the lab bench then some A/D converter
that plugs into your computer. Like a labjack.
https://labjack.com/

On the bench. Thanks for the suggestion, George,
but with rapidly-changing, and pulsing currents,
we need an integrating ADC, rather than SAR type,
with millions of samples, some missing the pulses.


--
Thanks,
- Win

 

[legg]

On 31 May 2019 02:30:20 -0700, Winfield Hill
<hill@rowland.harvard.edu> wrote:

What's a good instrument (need make & model number)
to measure the integrated power consumption of my
complex micro-controller controlled bee-hive monitor?
It rapidly goes in and out of multiple modes, turns
74 sensors on/off, pulses LEDs to 50mA, draws 65mA
to heat micro-miniature hot plates, etc. Average
current is from 0.5 to 3mA, but is hard to measure.
It spends much of its time drawing microamps, and
this must also be accurately integrated over time.

Going through my considerable collection of smart,
highly-capable instruments, there's not one that
will make continuous, accurate integrated-current
power-consumption measurements. The closest are
awesome 6.5-digit bench multimeters, that can be
set to measurement integration times of 100 PLC
(about 1.6 seconds), but these are discontinuous
measurements, with gaps, not suited for the job.

Yes, there are fuel-gauge ICs available, but we
need to purchase an instrument, with a wide
dynamic range / peak handling capability, plug it
in, and take readings, so we can experiment as we
work, programming the beehive-monitor's software.

Not even my new awesome-looking Keysight E36312A
data-logging bench supply can do this simple task.
The word, "integrate" doesn't appear in the manual.
Nor does the word, "average" appear.

OK, I have this little $15 USB stick, with a cute
display, that includes a running mA-hr value. If
I open it up and do some cut-jump hacking, maybe
it could be integrated into my bee-hive monitor's
power system. What's its peak-handling capability,
who knows. Sheesh!

Maybe my 66321B "Mobile Communications DC Source",
although the word, "integrate" doesn't appear in
its manual either. OK, it will "average" discrete
measurements. Not very re-assuring. It can fill
up a buffer with 2048 data points... Arrghh!

Measuring power in circuits with low frequency crest factors requires
filtering of the rms measurement values. Something like a Yokogawa
will give a wideband analog power-related output which can be filtered
and logged. Data that doesn't filter will risk aliasing and spurious
error.

All analog processing adds another layer of tolerance and error - but
avoids aliasing, or picket fenceing, which seems to be what you're
concerned about.

RL

 

[George Herold]

On Friday, May 31, 2019 at 10:00:35 AM UTC-4, Winfield Hill wrote:

George Herold wrote...

On Friday, May 31, 2019, Winfield Hill wrote:

What's a good instrument (need make & model number)
to measure the integrated power consumption of my
complex micro-controller controlled bee-hive monitor?
It rapidly goes in and out of multiple modes, turns
74 sensors on/off, pulses LEDs to 50mA, draws 65mA
to heat micro-miniature hot plates, etc. Average
current is from 0.5 to 3mA, but is hard to measure.
It spends much of its time drawing microamps, and
this must also be accurately integrated over time.

I forgot to mention LoRa transmitter currents.
We'd like to setup the instrument, and make a
measurement over a complete cycle of activity.

Win, is this something that has to live in the
field or on you lab bench.

If it's on the lab bench then some A/D converter
that plugs into your computer. Like a labjack.
https://labjack.com/

On the bench. Thanks for the suggestion, George,
but with rapidly-changing, and pulsing currents,
we need an integrating ADC, rather than SAR type,
with millions of samples, some missing the pulses.

Well just an integrator.. low pass filter. I guess that's
obvious, so you must want to see the peak heights too?

GH

--
Thanks,
- Win

 

[Carl]

"Winfield Hill" wrote in message news:qcqs7c02hop@drn.newsguy.com...

What's a good instrument (need make & model number)
to measure the integrated power consumption of my
complex micro-controller controlled bee-hive monitor?
It rapidly goes in and out of multiple modes, turns
74 sensors on/off, pulses LEDs to 50mA, draws 65mA
to heat micro-miniature hot plates, etc. Average
current is from 0.5 to 3mA, but is hard to measure.
It spends much of its time drawing microamps, and
this must also be accurately integrated over time.

Going through my considerable collection of smart,
highly-capable instruments, there's not one that
will make continuous, accurate integrated-current
power-consumption measurements. The closest are
awesome 6.5-digit bench multimeters, that can be
set to measurement integration times of 100 PLC
(about 1.6 seconds), but these are discontinuous
measurements, with gaps, not suited for the job.

Yes, there are fuel-gauge ICs available, but we
need to purchase an instrument, with a wide
dynamic range / peak handling capability, plug it
in, and take readings, so we can experiment as we
work, programming the beehive-monitor's software.

Not even my new awesome-looking Keysight E36312A
data-logging bench supply can do this simple task.
The word, "integrate" doesn't appear in the manual.
Nor does the word, "average" appear.

OK, I have this little $15 USB stick, with a cute
display, that includes a running mA-hr value. If
I open it up and do some cut-jump hacking, maybe
it could be integrated into my bee-hive monitor's
power system. What's its peak-handling capability,
who knows. Sheesh!

Maybe my 66321B "Mobile Communications DC Source",
although the word, "integrate" doesn't appear in
its manual either. OK, it will "average" discrete
measurements. Not very re-assuring. It can fill
up a buffer with 2048 data points... Arrghh!

You need to borrow a coulometer from an electrochemist . Usual mode is
to set a constant output voltage and then integrate the current. Some brief
googling turned up this general purpose machine as an example:
https://www.metrohm.com/en/products-overview/electrochemistry/autolab%20compact%20line/PGSTAT101.
No idea of cost but it will do up to 10V output and 100 mA, with 1 MHz
bandwidth.

--
Regards,
Carl Ijames

 

[Tom Gardner]

On 31/05/19 10:30, Winfield Hill wrote:

What's a good instrument (need make & model number) to measure the integrated
power consumption of my complex micro-controller controlled bee-hive
monitor? It rapidly goes in and out of multiple modes, turns 74 sensors
on/off, pulses LEDs to 50mA, draws 65mA to heat micro-miniature hot plates,
etc. Average current is from 0.5 to 3mA, but is hard to measure. It spends
much of its time drawing microamps, and this must also be accurately
integrated over time.

Going through my considerable collection of smart, highly-capable
instruments, there's not one that will make continuous, accurate
integrated-current power-consumption measurements. The closest are awesome
6.5-digit bench multimeters, that can be set to measurement integration times
of 100 PLC (about 1.6 seconds), but these are discontinuous measurements,
with gaps, not suited for the job.

Yes, there are fuel-gauge ICs available, but we need to purchase an
instrument, with a wide dynamic range / peak handling capability, plug it in,
and take readings, so we can experiment as we work, programming the
beehive-monitor's software.

Not even my new awesome-looking Keysight E36312A data-logging bench supply
can do this simple task. The word, "integrate" doesn't appear in the manual.
Nor does the word, "average" appear.

OK, I have this little $15 USB stick, with a cute display, that includes a
running mA-hr value. If I open it up and do some cut-jump hacking, maybe it
could be integrated into my bee-hive monitor's power system. What's its
peak-handling capability, who knows. Sheesh!

Maybe my 66321B "Mobile Communications DC Source", although the word,
"integrate" doesn't appear in its manual either. OK, it will "average"
discrete measurements. Not very re-assuring. It can fill up a buffer with
2048 data points... Arrghh!

ISTR a flyer from Keysight about dedicated instruments for measuring
such PSU currents.

Googling for "dynamic current measurements" yielded
https://www.keysight.com/en/pc-2633352/device-current-waveform-analyzers?cc=GB&lc=eng
"The CX3300 series Device Current Waveform Analyzers consists of mainframes and
dedicated sensors enabling dynamic current measurements and analyses from 100 pA
up to 100 A. It has up to 200 MHz wide bandwidth and 14-bit or 16-bit wide
dynamic range. It also enables you to measure dynamic voltage with up to 16-bit
resolution.

"For IoT applications, you can measure the current profile of low power device
including both sleep and active states with up to 100 dB wide dynamic range,
without having to use multiple instruments or make multiple measurements.

"For mobile applications, the wide bandwidth and low noise performance enable
current profile measurements of PDN (Power Delivery Network or Power
Distribution Network) including both large inrush current and small sleep
current with the same instrument."

 

[Winfield Hill]

bloggs.fredbloggs.fred@gmail.com wrote...

Cheapest and fastest would be an eval board for one
of numerous coulomb counter ICs. They all seem to use
a voltage-frequency-converter (VFC) with each pulse
representing a discrete unit of charge ...

Sounds good, have a part number, to get me started?


--
Thanks,
- Win

 

[John Larkin]

On 31 May 2019 02:30:20 -0700, Winfield Hill
<hill@rowland.harvard.edu> wrote:

What's a good instrument (need make & model number)
to measure the integrated power consumption of my
complex micro-controller controlled bee-hive monitor?
It rapidly goes in and out of multiple modes, turns
74 sensors on/off, pulses LEDs to 50mA, draws 65mA
to heat micro-miniature hot plates, etc. Average
current is from 0.5 to 3mA, but is hard to measure.
It spends much of its time drawing microamps, and
this must also be accurately integrated over time.

Going through my considerable collection of smart,
highly-capable instruments, there's not one that
will make continuous, accurate integrated-current
power-consumption measurements. The closest are
awesome 6.5-digit bench multimeters, that can be
set to measurement integration times of 100 PLC
(about 1.6 seconds), but these are discontinuous
measurements, with gaps, not suited for the job.

Yes, there are fuel-gauge ICs available, but we
need to purchase an instrument, with a wide
dynamic range / peak handling capability, plug it
in, and take readings, so we can experiment as we
work, programming the beehive-monitor's software.

Not even my new awesome-looking Keysight E36312A
data-logging bench supply can do this simple task.
The word, "integrate" doesn't appear in the manual.
Nor does the word, "average" appear.

OK, I have this little $15 USB stick, with a cute
display, that includes a running mA-hr value. If
I open it up and do some cut-jump hacking, maybe
it could be integrated into my bee-hive monitor's
power system. What's its peak-handling capability,
who knows. Sheesh!

Maybe my 66321B "Mobile Communications DC Source",
although the word, "integrate" doesn't appear in
its manual either. OK, it will "average" discrete
measurements. Not very re-assuring. It can fill
up a buffer with 2048 data points... Arrghh!

Power it from a supercap and measure the before and after voltages!

Ones that I tried had self-discharge time constants of months.


--

John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc
picosecond timing precision measurement

jlarkin att highlandtechnology dott com
http://www.highlandtechnology.com

 

On Friday, May 31, 2019 at 5:30:35 AM UTC-4, Winfield Hill wrote:

What's a good instrument (need make & model number)
to measure the integrated power consumption of my
complex micro-controller controlled bee-hive monitor?
It rapidly goes in and out of multiple modes, turns
74 sensors on/off, pulses LEDs to 50mA, draws 65mA
to heat micro-miniature hot plates, etc. Average
current is from 0.5 to 3mA, but is hard to measure.
It spends much of its time drawing microamps, and
this must also be accurately integrated over time.

Going through my considerable collection of smart,
highly-capable instruments, there's not one that
will make continuous, accurate integrated-current
power-consumption measurements. The closest are
awesome 6.5-digit bench multimeters, that can be
set to measurement integration times of 100 PLC
(about 1.6 seconds), but these are discontinuous
measurements, with gaps, not suited for the job.

Yes, there are fuel-gauge ICs available, but we
need to purchase an instrument, with a wide
dynamic range / peak handling capability, plug it
in, and take readings, so we can experiment as we
work, programming the beehive-monitor's software.

Not even my new awesome-looking Keysight E36312A
data-logging bench supply can do this simple task.
The word, "integrate" doesn't appear in the manual.
Nor does the word, "average" appear.

OK, I have this little $15 USB stick, with a cute
display, that includes a running mA-hr value. If
I open it up and do some cut-jump hacking, maybe
it could be integrated into my bee-hive monitor's
power system. What's its peak-handling capability,
who knows. Sheesh!

Maybe my 66321B "Mobile Communications DC Source",
although the word, "integrate" doesn't appear in
its manual either. OK, it will "average" discrete
measurements. Not very re-assuring. It can fill
up a buffer with 2048 data points... Arrghh!

Cheapest and fastest would be an eval board for one of numerous coulomb counter ICs. They all seem to use a voltage-frequency-converter (VFC) with each pulse representing a discrete unit of charge, intended to interrupt an external uC for counting. The eval board software looks good, time stamping the VFC pulses, storing, displaying a running total, communicating with the board via USB. Th most expensive component required is a cheap laptop. The coulomb counters seem to be limited to around 60dB dynamic range.

--
Thanks,
- Win

 

On Friday, May 31, 2019 at 2:32:46 PM UTC-4, Winfield Hill wrote:

bloggs.fredbloggs.fred@gmail.com wrote...

Cheapest and fastest would be an eval board for one
of numerous coulomb counter ICs. They all seem to use
a voltage-frequency-converter (VFC) with each pulse
representing a discrete unit of charge ...

Sounds good, have a part number, to get me started?

The eval board and software for the DS2740K looks like the simplest and most self-contained, but as usual Maxim fails on ordering information.
Analog sells the eval board for their LTC4150 as p/n DC756 in stock at $50, but it's an I2C interface requiring a DC590B USB contoller for another $50 with no availability until July.

--
Thanks,
- Win

 

[Klaus Kragelund]

You can use the Silabs evaluation board energy profiler:

https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&channel=iphone_bm&source=hp&ei=NYnxXPbeLKTorgTdjYyICQ&q=silabs+energy+profiler&oq=silabs+power+pr&gs_l=mobile-gws-wiz-hp.1.0.0i22i30l2j33i160.3176.23031..24371...7.0..0.208.1737.15j3j1......0....1.......8..41j0j0i131j46j46i275j0i10j5j0i10i30j0i5i10i30j0i5i30j0i19j0i22i30i19j33i22i29i30.IMFrd49x4JU

Cheers

Klaus

 

[Jasen Betts]

On 2019-05-31, Winfield Hill <hill@rowland.harvard.edu> wrote:

George Herold wrote...

On Friday, May 31, 2019, Winfield Hill wrote:

What's a good instrument (need make & model number)
to measure the integrated power consumption of my
complex micro-controller controlled bee-hive monitor?
It rapidly goes in and out of multiple modes, turns
74 sensors on/off, pulses LEDs to 50mA, draws 65mA
to heat micro-miniature hot plates, etc. Average
current is from 0.5 to 3mA, but is hard to measure.
It spends much of its time drawing microamps, and
this must also be accurately integrated over time.

I forgot to mention LoRa transmitter currents.
We'd like to setup the instrument, and make a
measurement over a complete cycle of activity.

Win, is this something that has to live in the
field or on you lab bench.

If it's on the lab bench then some A/D converter
that plugs into your computer. Like a labjack.
https://labjack.com/

On the bench. Thanks for the suggestion, George,
but with rapidly-changing, and pulsing currents,
we need an integrating ADC, rather than SAR type,
with millions of samples, some missing the pulses.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_measure_unit

--
When I tried casting out nines I made a hash of it.

 

[Tom Del Rosso]

Winfield Hill wrote:

What's a good instrument (need make & model number)
to measure the integrated power consumption of my
complex micro-controller controlled bee-hive monitor?
It rapidly goes in and out of multiple modes, turns
74 sensors on/off, pulses LEDs to 50mA, draws 65mA
to heat micro-miniature hot plates, etc. Average
current is from 0.5 to 3mA, but is hard to measure.
It spends much of its time drawing microamps, and
this must also be accurately integrated over time.

What's wrong with the coulomb meter in the book?

 

[Klaus Kragelund]

This one seems more advanced and easier to use with any target:

https://www.st.com/content/ccc/resource/sales_and_marketing/presentation/product_presentation/group0/fd/ce/0b/4c/40/0c/43/be/stm32_power_shield_presentation/files/stm32_power_shield_presentation.pdf/jcr:content/translations/en.stm32_power_shield_presentation.pdf

Cheers

Klaus

 

On Friday, 31 May 2019 22:09:05 UTC+1, Tom Del Rosso wrote:

Winfield Hill wrote:

What's a good instrument (need make & model number)
to measure the integrated power consumption of my
complex micro-controller controlled bee-hive monitor?
It rapidly goes in and out of multiple modes, turns
74 sensors on/off, pulses LEDs to 50mA, draws 65mA
to heat micro-miniature hot plates, etc. Average
current is from 0.5 to 3mA, but is hard to measure.
It spends much of its time drawing microamps, and
this must also be accurately integrated over time.

What's wrong with the coulomb meter in the book?

You don't need a coulomb meter, use 2 electrodes in suitable solution. Yes, it's old school wetware, but you've probably got the bits in stock & can do it now.


NT