Morning all.
How feasible would it be do disable the parts of the arduino nano so that it uses the same power as a mini?
I believe it is the voltage regulator and the serial converter which are the main culprits for excessive power consumption?
I ask because i desire the low power usage of the mini but would also like to be able to program it without needing an ftdi converter.
Of course one would need to disable it(the serial converter) only temporarily to get this best of both worlds scenario. is this at all feasible?
Thanks.
My personal way-to-go to reduce current draw is:
- Removing onboard LEDs
- Using Sleep
- Using a more efficient 5V Source instead of the onboard linear regulator
If you did all this, THEN you can think about getting rid of the 50-100µA the FTDI Chip draws
Thanks couka i will look into this.
Seems to me it would be easier to make a breadboard / veroboard / stripboard with an Atmega 328 that uses its internal 8MHz clock. Use a separate USB-TTL cable for programming.
...R
couka:
My personal way-to-go to reduce current draw is:
- Removing onboard LEDs
- Using Sleep
- Using a more efficient 5V Source instead of the onboard linear regulator
If you did all this, THEN you can think about getting rid of the 50-100µA the FTDI Chip draws
Most have CH340G Chips. They draw 20mA.
A pity, the CH340 (without G) has an enable pin that would save power. 
The onboard regulator is not that bad.
I tried to switch off the Vcc pin of the CH340G, but that did not help much, the chip gets nevertheless power trough its other digital inputs.
Try a pro-mini.
Allan
RIN67630:
Most have CH340G Chips. They draw 20mA.
A pity, the CH340 (without G) has an enable pin that would save power.
It has a sleep mode though, which it should enter automatically if there is no communication going on. That reduces its current draw to 50-200uA, depending on the supply voltage.