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Having Trouble Setting up the AD3 Current & Power Adapter With an External Power Supply


siatran

Question

Hello everyone,

My goal is to measure the deep sleep power consumption of an ESP32-H2 using the Digilent Analog Discovery 3. In my previous question on the Digilent forums, Digilent engineer @attila recommended me to use the AD3 Current & Power Adapter to measure the deep sleep current of my ESP32-H2.

Following the instructions from the Getting Started guide (and improvising where need be), I had set up a circuit that uses the Nordic Semiconductors Power Profiler Kit II (PPK2) to provide 3.3 volts. A diagram of the circuit I created can be seen below.

CurrentandPowerAdapterCircuitLarge.thumb.png.2e5963b0948490b338460aca124979f8.png

In addition, pictures of the actual circuit that I created are shown below.

IMG_8832Large.thumb.png.f5d320d1e62d0fd6087ca92524317c48.png

IMG_8833Large.thumb.png.488937d526e62d7f6578e7ea0c808d71.png

On the software side, I am using the Current and Power Adapter Reference WaveForms Workspace given in the Getting Started guide. I powered on my PPK2 to supply 3.3 volts, and I did not turn on the WaveForms supply, as the power supply was coming from the PPK2. When doing so, all I see in the "Scopes" mode of the WaveForms application is that C1, C2, and the current are flat lines, even though the device is on:

Screenshot2024-06-11at10_03_03PM.thumb.png.defdfe728b548a6d9de3a83bbd8c7b5d.png

However, this is not the expected energy consumption of my ESP32-H2. In order to double check that my ESP32-H2 was on, I measured the energy consumption of the device. The measurements that I got from the PPK2 (shown below), is what I expect to see from the AD3 and WaveForms application.

Screenshot2024-06-11at10_06_22PM.thumb.png.c285e74c393d8b91c2dc5027de460d26.png

However, I want to obtain these measurements from the AD3 with the Current and Power Adapter, and not on the PPK2. I described my reasons for doing so in the final three paragraphs of my previous question in the Digilent forums.

When investigating why I was not able to measure the current correctly using the AD3 and the Current & Power Adapter, I found this part helpful from the Getting Started guide:

Quote
  • My current and power in the plot seem to be flat instead of fluctuating like I would expect with my variable power input.

          Make sure the positive 5 V supply is enabled.

This gave me the idea to set up the power supply of the AD3 to 3.3 volts in the WaveForms application:

Screenshot2024-06-11at10_18_05PM.thumb.png.b1e322c9214979dd6982fd987008706a.png

I want to note that I did not set the supply to 5 volts, as given in the instructions, as (given my current configuration of the device) using 5 volts will risk frying my ESP32-H2.

When doing so, I noticed that I am able to capture a very small waveform that looks similar to the waveforms I found when measuring my ESP32-H2 current using the AD3 BNC Adapter.

small-waveform.thumb.png.2ff8fda3a3fb4838ab36a509910b54ed.png

However, when I try to zoom in on it, I get a very grainy and low quality resolution of the waveform.

Screenshot2024-06-11at10_27_43PM.thumb.png.f213af88284d8fb4ec1d002730903d45.png

These observations allow me to conclude that I am not using the AD3 Current and Power adapter properly. As a result, I would like to ask what am I doing wrong in the setup of the circuit and how I am using the WaveForms Reference workspace given in the Getting Started guide?

To the best of my knowledge, the only resource I could find on how to use the Current & Power Adapter is the Getting Started guide, so I do not know where else to look.

Any guidance, feedback, and advice on how I can properly use the AD3 Current & Power Adapter to measure the current of an ESP32-H2 under deep sleep (at the granularity of very small currents in uA), using the PPK2 for power supply, would be greatly appreciated.

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