The current drawn by the nRF52832
System on Chip (SoC) can be monitored on the nRF52 DK.
Current can be measured using any of the following test instruments:
- Power analyzer
- Oscilloscope
- Ampere meter
- Power Profiler Kit II (PPK2)
Power analyzer and PPK2 measurements are not described in this document. See the Power Profiler Kit II User Guide for more information.
For measuring instructions, see Using an oscilloscope for current profile measurement and Using an ampere meter for current measurement.
Consider the following when measuring current consumption:
- It is not recommended to use a USB connector to power the Development Kit (DK)
during current measurements due to potential noise from the USB power supply. It is recommended to power the
DK from a coin cell battery or external power supply on connector P21 (1.7 V
to 3.6 V).
- The current measurements become unreliable when a serial terminal is connected to the
virtual serial port.
- After programming the nRF52832 SoC, the USB must be disconnected and the DK power cycled to reset the
debugger chip before current measurement.
For more information on current measurement, see the tutorial Current measurement guide: Introduction.