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Groups > comp.sys.raspberry-pi > #38021 > unrolled thread

Pi PICO W on batteries

Started byThe Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid>
First post2026-06-14 12:17 +0100
Last post2026-06-25 10:12 +0100
Articles 3 on this page of 23 — 9 participants

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  Pi PICO W on batteries The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-06-14 12:17 +0100
    Re: Pi PICO W on batteries rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2026-06-14 17:48 +0000
      Re: Pi PICO W on batteries The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-06-15 12:31 +0100
        Re: Pi PICO W on batteries John R Walliker <jrwalliker@gmail.com> - 2026-06-15 13:04 +0100
          Re: Pi PICO W on batteries The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-06-15 13:17 +0100
        Re: Pi PICO W on batteries "Peter Heitzer" <peter.heitzer@rz.uni-regensburg.de> - 2026-06-15 12:06 +0000
          Re: Pi PICO W on batteries The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-06-15 13:19 +0100
            Re: Pi PICO W on batteries "Peter Heitzer" <peter.heitzer@rz.uni-regensburg.de> - 2026-06-15 13:58 +0000
              Re: Pi PICO W on batteries The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-06-15 16:52 +0100
      Re: Pi PICO W on batteries mm0fmf <none@invalid.com> - 2026-06-15 12:52 +0100
    Re: Pi PICO W on batteries Brian Gregory <void-invalid-dead-dontuse@email.invalid> - 2026-06-15 19:49 +0100
      Re: Pi PICO W on batteries The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-06-15 20:28 +0100
        Re: Pi PICO W on batteries Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> - 2026-06-15 20:54 +0100
          Re: Pi PICO W on batteries The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-06-16 01:59 +0100
        Re: Pi PICO W on batteries Anssi Saari <anssi.saari@usenet.mail.kapsi.fi> - 2026-06-24 09:33 +0300
          Re: Pi PICO W on batteries The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-06-24 09:58 +0100
          Re: Pi PICO W on batteries Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> - 2026-06-24 13:41 +0100
            Re: Pi PICO W on batteries The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-06-24 13:53 +0100
            Re: Pi PICO W on batteries "Peter Heitzer" <peter.heitzer@rz.uni-regensburg.de> - 2026-06-24 14:51 +0000
              Re: Pi PICO W on batteries The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-06-24 16:41 +0100
                Re: Pi PICO W on batteries wmartin <wwm@wwmartin.net> - 2026-06-24 20:35 -0700
                  Re: Pi PICO W on batteries John R Walliker <jrwalliker@gmail.com> - 2026-06-25 09:21 +0100
                  Re: Pi PICO W on batteries The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-06-25 10:12 +0100

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#38081

Fromwmartin <wwm@wwmartin.net>
Date2026-06-24 20:35 -0700
Message-ID<111i7m9$3g155$1@dont-email.me>
In reply to#38077
On 6/24/26 08:41, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
> On 24/06/2026 15:51, Peter Heitzer wrote:
>> Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
>>> Anssi Saari <anssi.saari@usenet.mail.kapsi.fi> wrote:
>>>> The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> writes:
>>>>
>>>>> On 15/06/2026 19:49, Brian Gregory wrote:
>>>>>> nano timer ??
>>>>>> What's that then?
>>>>>
>>>>> TPL5100
>>>>>
>>>>> https://www.ti.com/product/TPL5110
>>>>
>>>> I kinda thought modern microcontrollers have this sort of thing built
>>>> in? Oh, looks like the Pico (no W) draws 2 mA in "deep sleep" and this
>>>> timer draws 35 nA.
>>>
>>> That does sound surprisingly bad for the Pico.  Seems that the RP2040 is
>>> 0.18mA in 'dormant' (ie deep sleep) and 0.38mA in 'sleep', which is a 
>>> bit
>>> better.  So must be something else on the Pico that's not so good in 
>>> sleep
>>> mode.
>> I think (ultra) low power was not a primary design goal for the Pico.
>>
> 
> I think that is very true. What attracted me was the amount of flash, 
> and ram, the availability of wireless and ADCs and the price. Less than 
> a pint of beer in a nightclub.
> Arduinos were 3 times the price
> 
> The ZeroW running debian is a damn sight easier to code for, however.
> 
Be careful about trusting that ADC, it is somewhat notorious for 
inconsistent lower bits...summing and averaging helps, if you have the 
inter-sample time to do that.

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#38082

FromJohn R Walliker <jrwalliker@gmail.com>
Date2026-06-25 09:21 +0100
Message-ID<111ioe2$3iarj$1@dont-email.me>
In reply to#38081
On 25/06/2026 04:35, wmartin wrote:
> On 6/24/26 08:41, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>> On 24/06/2026 15:51, Peter Heitzer wrote:
>>> Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
>>>> Anssi Saari <anssi.saari@usenet.mail.kapsi.fi> wrote:
>>>>> The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> writes:
>>>>>
>>>>>> On 15/06/2026 19:49, Brian Gregory wrote:
>>>>>>> nano timer ??
>>>>>>> What's that then?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> TPL5100
>>>>>>
>>>>>> https://www.ti.com/product/TPL5110
>>>>>
>>>>> I kinda thought modern microcontrollers have this sort of thing built
>>>>> in? Oh, looks like the Pico (no W) draws 2 mA in "deep sleep" and this
>>>>> timer draws 35 nA.
>>>>
>>>> That does sound surprisingly bad for the Pico.  Seems that the 
>>>> RP2040 is
>>>> 0.18mA in 'dormant' (ie deep sleep) and 0.38mA in 'sleep', which is 
>>>> a bit
>>>> better.  So must be something else on the Pico that's not so good in 
>>>> sleep
>>>> mode.
>>> I think (ultra) low power was not a primary design goal for the Pico.
>>>
>>
>> I think that is very true. What attracted me was the amount of flash, 
>> and ram, the availability of wireless and ADCs and the price. Less 
>> than a pint of beer in a nightclub.
>> Arduinos were 3 times the price
>>
>> The ZeroW running debian is a damn sight easier to code for, however.
>>
> Be careful about trusting that ADC, it is somewhat notorious for 
> inconsistent lower bits...summing and averaging helps, if you have the 
> inter-sample time to do that.
> 
The errors are very predictable as they are caused by certain
very low value capacitors in the switched capacitor adc having
incorrect values.  It seems that the chip design tools did not
model stray or fringing capacitances accurately enough.
There is software around that can post process the adc readings
to make a substantial improvement.
https://github.com/kitanokitsune/rp2040adc_correction
John

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#38083

FromThe Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid>
Date2026-06-25 10:12 +0100
Message-ID<111ird8$3kt4v$3@dont-email.me>
In reply to#38081
On 25/06/2026 04:35, wmartin wrote:
> On 6/24/26 08:41, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>> On 24/06/2026 15:51, Peter Heitzer wrote:
>>> Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
>>>> Anssi Saari <anssi.saari@usenet.mail.kapsi.fi> wrote:
>>>>> The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> writes:
>>>>>
>>>>>> On 15/06/2026 19:49, Brian Gregory wrote:
>>>>>>> nano timer ??
>>>>>>> What's that then?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> TPL5100
>>>>>>
>>>>>> https://www.ti.com/product/TPL5110
>>>>>
>>>>> I kinda thought modern microcontrollers have this sort of thing built
>>>>> in? Oh, looks like the Pico (no W) draws 2 mA in "deep sleep" and this
>>>>> timer draws 35 nA.
>>>>
>>>> That does sound surprisingly bad for the Pico.  Seems that the 
>>>> RP2040 is
>>>> 0.18mA in 'dormant' (ie deep sleep) and 0.38mA in 'sleep', which is 
>>>> a bit
>>>> better.  So must be something else on the Pico that's not so good in 
>>>> sleep
>>>> mode.
>>> I think (ultra) low power was not a primary design goal for the Pico.
>>>
>>
>> I think that is very true. What attracted me was the amount of flash, 
>> and ram, the availability of wireless and ADCs and the price. Less 
>> than a pint of beer in a nightclub.
>> Arduinos were 3 times the price
>>
>> The ZeroW running debian is a damn sight easier to code for, however.
>>
> Be careful about trusting that ADC, it is somewhat notorious for 
> inconsistent lower bits...summing and averaging helps, if you have the 
> inter-sample time to do that.
> 
Oh yes. It has noise allright. But feeding sensors from the stabilised 
3.3v line helps a lot.

Do I really need 12 bit accuracy to measure temperature? Not really. Nor 
is it a microsecond sample that I need, Ring buffers and averages are 
easy to implement


Onboard is fine.

-- 
The difference bweteen a psychopath and a saint is that the psychpoath 
takes what he can and gives only what he must, but the saint gives 
everything he can and takes only what he needs.

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