Expected battery life

NETMF & Gadgeteer
1

I plan on using the Domino for home automation. I am having r=great success but I am concerned with battery life. Comparable products on the market last about a year before batteries need to be replaced. Without any shields or USB devices, what could I expect for battery life for just the Domino, and what would be the best voltage and where should I connect it. I would like to use AA batteries. I tried using 6 batteries (9V) connected to the power adapter along with an OLED shield - power was gone in less than a day. - ps - does Thread.Sleep reduce power consumption?
mucho thanks

2

JC,

I’m using FEZ boards too for home automation. Are you interested in joining a home automation project?

Greetz Eric

3

There was a discussion a while ago with low power modes.

http://www.tinyclr.com/forum/2/140/

4

[quote]Comparable products on the market last about a year before batteries need to be replaced.
[/quote]

Where do you see a 32-bit 72Mhz device running off a battery for a year?

FEZ supports hibernate and low power modes so you can do things to help in drawing less power

5

Thanks for your quick reply Gus. So it sounds like the board is too powerfull for what I need to do. Can you please tell me what the typical current draw is without any devices attached and if Thread.Sleep reduces power consumption or if I need to hibernate. What does the unit draw in hibernate state? This information would really be helpful to me. Surely you must have that info around somewhere (sorry if I called you Shirley)
thanks again

6

PS - I didn’t mean comparable boards I meant products comparable to what I am trying to make.
thanks again

7

If you put the Domino in hibernate state it still draws 12.5mA (and in that state you can’t run any program). So with a normal AA battery at 2500mAh you could run your system for about a week in standby. When the system runs you probably looking at 150-200mA depending on what other devices that needs power.

One way might be to power down the system and have it restarted by a RTC like DS1337. That clock draws 1.5uA so in standby the system will draw almost no current.

8

JC,

how are you planning on using the Domino? As remote sensor nodes?