Raspberry Pi and Arduino Power Consumption – INA3221

Here is our latest power consumption chart for the Raspberry Pi family.  Note that these include using an USB WiFi dongle for connection and we have turned the HDMI connector off  (/opt/vc/bin/tvservice –off).

	Model A	Model A+	Model B	Model B+	Model Pi2 B
Current (mA)	260(200)	195(135)	480(420)	290(230)	304(240)
Power (W)	1.3	0.975	2.4	1.45	1.52
Source	Measured	Measured	Measured	Measured	Measured

All of the above measurements include about 60ma for the USB WiFi Dongle! Parenthetical numbers are without the 60ma.

Our latest power consumption chart for the Arduino Family.

	Uno	Micro	Mega 2560
Current (mA)	50	20	85
Power (W)	0.25	0.1	0.425
Source	Web	Web	Measured

We are starting to gather lots of power consumption data with the  INA3221 3 Channel Voltage/Current Measuring IC drivers for the Arduino and Raspberry Pi.   We hook up the SunAirPlus board (containing an INA3221 3 channel A/D chip)  and we can measure all the voltage and current parameters from the Solar Cells, LiPo Battery and how much is going to the Load (Raspberry Pi or Arduino).  This board is a great way of tracking all the power going through your system.

We are doing this in preparation for our next three solar powered Pi and Arduino projects.

We are now running a  SunAirPlus  solar power controller hooked up to the new RaspberryPi 2 B. With the HDMI shut off and wireless running, Looking at the INA3221 (current/voltage measuring chip – 3 channel), We are getting the following data. Note that the solar cells are off right now and we are running strictly from the battery.

The RaspberryPi 2 B is using 304mA and the battery is supplying 416mA. The difference is

used in the voltage booster (and off course 4V from battery and 5V to the load). That comes out to be about 90% efficient.

Software drivers for the INA3221 Breakout Board for the Raspberry Pi (Python) and Arduino (C++) are located here on github.com.

LIPO_Battery Bus Voltage: 4.01 V
LIPO_Battery Shunt Voltage: 41.68 mV
LIPO_Battery Load Voltage: 4.05 V
LIPO_Battery Current 1: 416.80 mA

Solar Cell Bus Voltage 2: 1.33 V
Solar Cell Shunt Voltage 2: 0.00 mV
Solar Cell Load Voltage 2: 1.33 V
Solar Cell Current 2: -0.00 mA

Output Bus Voltage 3: 4.92 V
Output Shunt Voltage 3: 30.44 mV
Output Load Voltage 3: 4.95 V
Output Current 3: 304.40 mA