Hi,
I am developing devices that have to run several years on alkaline batteries. The average power consumption of these devices is about 30uA, but in fact the idle current is few uA, with a 1ms burst of 30mA every second (and even some bursts at 400mA sometimes).
I am having troubles to measure the average current for such devices.
I tried using Agilent 34450A : not fast enough (600Hz sampling) and low accuracy (resolution of 10uA in fast mode). I also tried with Tektronix TX3 and get better value, but still to slow (1kHz), and voltage drop too high during current burst causes my device to reboot.
I am wondering if it possible to find a lab power supply with fast and high accuracy uA meter and averaging ? I guess it should be easier for a power supply to measure current on various range (100mA-10uA), and to switch quickly from one range to another one to avoid voltage drop on the load.
If not, could someone help me to suggest Amper meter (handheld or table), with fast sampling for good averaging (> 10kHz), fast range switch to prevent voltage drop on the load, and high accuracy ( ideally 100nA resolution) ? I saw Keithley DMM7510, but is quite expensive, also Siglent SDM3065X but I am not sure how it will deal with fast current burst average.
Thanks for your help.