Hello, I’m using a Sodaq NB-IoT shield Rev. 3b
I’m noticing a rate of battery discharge of my board too high. So my question is: does this shield drain too much battery? Can I disable any component?
Hi @NicolaMondello,
I have used the NB-IoT shield too for my test setup, had the same issue. I simply decided to write my own code for it so I would have full controll over what is enabled or not. I believe there’s some lever shifters on it that draw a couple of microamps. Tried to desolder the level shifters and use a 3.3V mcu. After that my shield died 
Decided to create a bare PCB with the sara n211 footprint and an antenna connector. Works like a charm.
The module draws 4.2uA in sleep mode for me.
Long story short. The Sodaq boards are nice to get a hang of how to use NB-IoT, but if you’re after the power consumption, you’re probably better of creating something yourself so you have full controll.
~Michael
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Maybe the UBEE version consumes less? Or also the new versions of this board (AFF or SFF)
I’m pretty sure all Sodaq boards are for early stage development, there doesn’t seem to be a clear focus on power consumption. Correct me if I’m wrong.
Hi @NicolaMondello and @M.Bend,
With the Shield we didn’t focus on power consumption.
These indeed, even when everything is in sleep, draw a lot of current.
With the boards AFF and SFF we did focus on low power.
For these boards we have on our support site a low power sketch.
We also have an universal tracker sketch, all onboard components are used and go into low power mode.
The UBEE can be turned off completely to safe power.
And with AT commands you can let it go into sleep. For the R410 modules the PSM is regulated by the network.
Let me know if you need more information.
Best regards,
Jan
Hi Jan, thank you for the response.
have you got an estimate in tems of mA?
Does this mean that if I turn it off then I have to enstablish the connection again from the beginning or the modem is into PSM mode?
I don’t have this at the moment.
Both.
As a user you can turn the modem off completely, you have to establish the connection again from the beginning.
The network needs to confirm your PSM settings before they are used. So you can request these with AT command, but you cannot set the PSM timers. This is for the R4 modules. It is not everywhere available so not everywhere you can go into PSM mode.
The N2 modules can go into low power mode.
If you require low power, go for now for the N2 modules.
Hope this helpes you.
Best regards,
Jan