Author Topic: Measure microamp/milliamp current on external hardware (Nordic PPK)  (Read 921 times)

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Offline hi_dybTopic starter

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  • Country: gb
Hi all,
I'm studying at university and for my project I need a device to measure the current draw on some external hardware running at 3.3V, and the range of the current draw needs to be from the order of several microamps to several hundred milliamps. I think the uCurrent Gold would be perfect for this task as I need to capture a graph of the results, which I can easily do with my oscilloscope however I can't find one in stock anywhere :( I've also looked into the Nordic PPK 2 which has been recently released however can't find any of these in stock either.
Because of this, I may have to purchase a Nordic PPK (V1), however am unsure on the Segger J-Link I need in order to connect it to my computer, as I don't own any Nordic development kits. I think the SEGGER J-Link EDU Mini may work, as it has a 10-pin connector similarly to the PPK https://infocenter.nordicsemi.com/index.jsp?topic=%2Fug_ppk%2FUG%2Fppk%2Fppk_dut_output.html however I'd appreciate some confirmation on this as I have no experience with these J-Link adapters.

Any help with the PPK setup or alternative suggestions would be much appreciated. My budget is around £100 and I'd rather not have to purchase the PPK V1 as it does not fully meet my current requirements (PPK maxing out at 70mA) and is no longer manufactured so could be outdated. Thanks :)
 

Offline geggi1

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Re: Measure microamp/milliamp current on external hardware (Nordic PPK)
« Reply #1 on: March 24, 2021, 10:11:13 pm »
Depending on the required resolution you can look in to a shunt resistor and a high impedanse measuring amplifier.
If you can do logaritmic measurements you can even go for a Logamp meant for RF smething like a AD8307 that goes form 0-500Mhz and have a range of -80dBm up to +10dBm as far as i rememner.
If you go for a RF Logamp you will have to look at RF decupling and possible shielding.
 


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