Sleep mode current consumption

Projects General Guidance
1

Hey folks!
Ive been testing the sleep library with the hope of reducing my power usage right down so that i can ditch my on/off switch and use my touch sensitive button solely.
It seems however that my expectations may have been a bit too high.
I was following the sparkfun guide where they reduce the arduino power down to a fraction of a mA but i havent been able to get lower than 50mA!
I know that they were using a bare bones arduino on a breadboard but i thought that i might have been able to do better than that!
I am using an arduino uno clone with everything intact. the power led is on which probably uses about 6mA but thats still burning quite a lot of juice!
Can i hope to do better than that?
the code i was using was as follows:

#include "LowPower.h"

void setup()
{
  pinMode(13,OUTPUT);
}

void loop() 
{
  
  LowPower.powerDown(SLEEP_4S, ADC_OFF, BOD_OFF);

   digitalWrite(13,HIGH);
   delay(1000);
   digitalWrite(13,LOW);
   delay(1000);
}
2

Best sleep mode power consumption tutorial here.

Trying this on an Uno is hopeless, because everything else on the board consumes so much power.

Rather than make up a bare bones Arduino, buy a $2 eBay Pro Mini. This one is the most flexible and in addition features a standard ISP programming port pinout (next to the pushbutton).

You can very easily swipe off the regulator and LEDs with a solder pencil.

3

Rather than make up a bare bones Arduino, buy a $2 eBay Pro Mini

Thanks i will do that. is it the usb chip which is the main power hogger?

4

The USB chip, the 2 voltage regulators, the power on LED, the autoswitching voltage comparator. It all adds up.