Current consumption Atmega 2560 without bootloader

Other Hardware General Electronics
1

Hi,

after several years of having no issues to upload a bootloader (via Arduino IDE) to an Arduino or a "selfmade" Arduino (using the Atmega 2560) I`m struggling now uploading the official bootloader.

But first of all I noticed that my current consumption of the Atmega 2560 (and besides passives and connectors thats pretty much it) I notice a current draw on the 5V supply (no LDO in between, direct supply) of ~50mA.

I`m a bit confused - the datasheet says a much lower Icc (page 356) but in this forum it would fit to my current draw. BUT I have no bootloader on it.

So could that be normal the ~50mA without bootloader what my controller consumes with a 5V supply?

Thanks,
PVG

2

How did you measure 50mA? What is the rest of the curcuit like? Is there a program on the Atmega? etc ...

3

The datasheet is for the processor there are other bits on a mega board taking current

4

Can you post the annotated schematic of the board? Be sure all components are included. Also is this for a different physical board?

5

measured by the power supply (5V) directly. There is only the Atmega + Osc + R/Cs + connectors + LEDs (not on). Nothing else. So pretty simple.

6

its not an Arduino board - its kind of simple copy with the atmega on it + caps + connectors + xtal. That's it. Used that many times before.

7

Haven't it by hand right now unfortunately. But as written only some Vcc caps, connectors, LEDs and the XTAL. That's pretty much it and it's a self made simple arduino board. I used that kind of already several times and made a new kind of but this time I`m not able to flash the boot loader on it and don't know why.

8

forgot to answer that - the problem is I can't flash the boot loader (official one) on it. But I realized that the board consumes around 50mA and that must come from the controller itself as there is almost nothing on it. But I don't know if 50mA is normal without boot loader (or with)...

9

How did you try to flash it?

1 Like
10

used an Arduino UNO as ISP

11

with which parameters?

1 Like
12

LEDs can draw that amount of current, you have stated several times they are active. Disconnect the LEDs and see where your current goes to.

13

A Mega board draws IIRC about 70mA, so why wouldn't a bare processor draw 50mA.
Seems perfectly normal to me.
Leo..

1 Like
14

The reference you provide is for the "Idle" current. If you look at the graph on page 374 ("Active current consumption"), it shows a16MHz part is in the 20mA+ range, and that's with all the peripherals "disabled" in the PRR register. So 50mA doesn't seem unreasonable. (I don't know why they don't have a graph for "active with everything enabled" (which is the default state.) Marketing.)

15

Because the datasheet says otherwise.

16

This topic was automatically closed 180 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.