EN0
Member
Hello,
I am currently working on a project that consists of both Master and Slave radio stations, in which the Slave operates on battery power remotely from the house where the Master resides. Powering the slave is my primary concern now, and I wondered which two options below would be more efficient (if you can think of more, share!). Most of the hardware I have cannot operate under 2.2V minimum, and so either 3.0V or 3.3V is necessary.
Which would be more efficient?
1. Use two AA alkaline battery cells in series to achieve 3.0V (typical alkaline battery life for a single AA cell is 2400 mAH)
2. Use two AA alkaline battery cells in parallel (typical alkaline battery life would be around 4800 mAH total with two cells in parallel) with a boost regulator that converts the 1.5V battery supply up to 3.3V using the MCP1624
The power design, depending on which parameter is more efficient, will power a ambient light sensor that consumes around 658nA of current. When a notable change in ambient light is perceived by the light sensor, it will wake the PIC up from sleep (while sleeping, it consumes 20nA) trigger an IR pair to see if an obstruction is present, and also wake up the slave RFM12B transceiver, do some housekeeping, report to the Master, and then go back to sleep. So most of the time, the PIC, TRX, and other hardware will be sleeping, with a negligible consumption current.
According to the MCP1624 datasheet, its quiescent current is typically 19uA (can I depend on that value and what about my load?), so I was thinking that having the 2 AA battery cells in parallel yielding 4800 mAH with the MCP1624 boosting everything up to 3.3V.
What direction should I go?
Thanks.
I am currently working on a project that consists of both Master and Slave radio stations, in which the Slave operates on battery power remotely from the house where the Master resides. Powering the slave is my primary concern now, and I wondered which two options below would be more efficient (if you can think of more, share!). Most of the hardware I have cannot operate under 2.2V minimum, and so either 3.0V or 3.3V is necessary.
Which would be more efficient?
1. Use two AA alkaline battery cells in series to achieve 3.0V (typical alkaline battery life for a single AA cell is 2400 mAH)
2. Use two AA alkaline battery cells in parallel (typical alkaline battery life would be around 4800 mAH total with two cells in parallel) with a boost regulator that converts the 1.5V battery supply up to 3.3V using the MCP1624
The power design, depending on which parameter is more efficient, will power a ambient light sensor that consumes around 658nA of current. When a notable change in ambient light is perceived by the light sensor, it will wake the PIC up from sleep (while sleeping, it consumes 20nA) trigger an IR pair to see if an obstruction is present, and also wake up the slave RFM12B transceiver, do some housekeeping, report to the Master, and then go back to sleep. So most of the time, the PIC, TRX, and other hardware will be sleeping, with a negligible consumption current.
According to the MCP1624 datasheet, its quiescent current is typically 19uA (can I depend on that value and what about my load?), so I was thinking that having the 2 AA battery cells in parallel yielding 4800 mAH with the MCP1624 boosting everything up to 3.3V.
What direction should I go?
Thanks.
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