i use an ardunio + stepper to move my curtains, using an old remote for IR-Signals.
I already cut down the power use of the stepper, by toggeling "enable" of the driver. But im interessted in reducing the power consumption even more (right now 1W for only ardunio).
So im looking into sleeping-mode of the ardunio. But i can only find tutorials, where someone uses a button to wake it again, and as far as i understand, the ir-reciever needs to be powered, to detect the signals. Is this correct, or can i put the arduino into sleep and wake it via interrupt?
If thats not possible: is there another way? i thought about sleep for 800ms, wake up for 200ms(to detect signals and possibly move the curtains), and after 200ms or finishing the task go back to sleep?
An ordinary geared DC motor would consume less power.
Any interrupt can wake the Arduino, even a timer interrupt. But for timer operation the internal clock must continue running and consuming some power.
What signals do you mean? Do you want to wake the Arduino by remote control? In this case the receiver has to be powered all the time, find out how much it consumes when idle. Then a command should be sent twice - first to wake up the controller, second for execution.
Thanks for your insights!
Yeah, i know, i looked a long time for a fitting motor, but for the needed rpm and torque the stepper was a cheaper choice.
My goal isnt to completly shut down the ardunio, just trying to reduce the consumption with some little tweaks. The reciever is the on eform the starter kit (looks like this one):
So how can i put the arduino into idle mode, while still powering the reciever?
Do i just have to put the triggering pin (2 or 3, right) as the reciever-pin?
