I have an Arduino and it is running on Batteries. I want to be able to put it to sleep, to conserve energy. My problem is that my ESP8266 is power hungry and I want to also be able to shut it off. But, I want to be able to shut it off via a port on the Arduino somehow. I can't seem to figure out how to do this.
The ESP8266 can draw 300 ma., so you can't power it from an Arduino pin. The simplest circuitry to do this would be to buy a small relay, and keep the contacts closed when the Arduino is powered up. Small relays usually only require about 20 ma. to activate their coils, so this could be powered by an Arduino pin. Warning, read up on the need for a diode across the relay coil.
Thank you!
billsecond:
I have an Arduino and it is running on Batteries. I want to be able to put it to sleep, to conserve energy. My problem is that my ESP8266 is power hungry and I want to also be able to shut it off. But, I want to be able to shut it off via a port on the Arduino somehow. I can't seem to figure out how to do this.
put the esp into low power mode by turning off the wifi. HUGE saving.
get rid of the power wasting LED
sleep it to get under 100 micro-amps
oh, and this is done with the serial link , no need to use any extra pins.