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Why consumed current (and power) increases as the voltage increases on CC2538EM?

Other Parts Discussed in Thread: Z-STACK, CC2538

I measured power consumption of the CC2538EM while supplying voltage between 2.2V and 3.6V. I am confused with the measurements. I would appreciate if someone helps me to understand it. 

The upper row in the below figures shows the maximum DC voltage, the bottom row shows the DC current simultaneous measurement.. 

Here is a screenshot where the voltage is about 2.2V and 37.69 mA (about 82.918 mW)

Another screen shot that the voltage is about 3.5V and the current is about 38.27 mA (about 133.914 mW)

The above node runs GenericApp of Z-stack Mesh 1.0.0 on CC2538EM (not connected to smartRF06). The external power is supplied on VDD pin of P5 header on the EM board. The above measurements are done on the router node.

I expected to see that the current consumption decreases as the voltage increases, however, the current consumption slightly increases as the voltage increases. Doesn't it suppose to compensate the power consumption by decreasing the drawn current as the voltage increases?

Does it mean that the module will consume less if I keep the voltage less? 

Here are some randomly selected sample data:

Time Voltage (V) Current (A) Power (W)
2015-02-09 19:29:25.538
2.21
0.032607832
0.07206330872
2015-02-09 19:29:49.538
2.21
0.037692515
0.08330045815
2015-02-09 19:30:56.539
2.89
0.037920817
0.10959116113

2015-02-09 19:30:58.538

2.93
0.037940732
0.11116634476
2015-02-09 19:31:01.538
3.02
0.037987884
0.11472340968
2015-02-09 19:31:08.040
3.18
0.038044483
0.12098145594
2015-02-09 19:31:12.538
3.38
0.038154794
0.12896320372
2015-02-09 19:31:15.537
3.58
0.03819268
0.1367297944
2015-02-09 19:31:16.539
3.62
0.038309642
0.13868090404
2015-02-09 19:31:21.038
3.54
0.038298724
0.13557748296
2015-02-09 19:31:29.039
3.58
0.038284167
0.13705731786
2015-02-09 19:31:38.538
3.46
0.038220344
0.13224239024
2015-02-09 19:32:48.538

3.54

0.038274891
0.13549311414
2015-02-09 19:32:49.038
3.54
0.038272628
0.13548510312
2015-02-09 19:32:49.538
3.54
0.038266276
0.13546261704
2015-02-09 19:32:50.038
3.54
0.038273468
0.13548807672
2015-02-09 19:32:50.539
3.54
0.038277416
0.13550205264
2015-02-09 19:32:51.038
3.5
0.038275369
0.1339637915
2015-02-09 19:32:51.538
3.5
0.038273051
0.1339556785

  • Sendar,

    This is expected performnace, the CC2538 contains a simple LDO (linear regulator) that simply dissipates the excess energy as heat. To achieve what you are expecting you would need to add an external DCDC converter.

    Regards,
    /TA
  • Thank you TA.

    Now all makes sense. www.ti.com/.../swru319c.pdf chapter 24 has a very short explanation about the voltage regulator. Could you tell me what is the output of LDO or what input voltage do I need to supply in order to get the best power efficiency? Is it 2.2V?
  • Yes, you have to operate at the lowest possible voltage to get the highest possible efficiency. There is a catch and that is the lowest operating voltage to enable safe flash operation is sometimes higher by a few hundred millivolts and this gets checked by the Zigbee stack as to not have an unsafe situation when using on die Flash. I think ~2.4Volt should be safe. (please check the datasheet as I am going from memory...).

    Regards,
    /TA
  • Thank you again.Do you remember what chapter was that info written in? I checked the swru319c and swra456 but could not find such information.
  • Serdar, 

    Actually we check for 2.2 volts or above in the Zigbee stack to avoid situations where the voltage drops below 2.0 volts during the Flash write operation. The flash write operation consumes ~10mA extra current and this could add a sudden drop to a weak power supplies. 

    That being said, you can re-write the flash down to 2.0V, but you have to be sure it does not drop below 2.0 during the entire write cycle.

    Regards,
    /TA