Power consumption of PB Micro

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professorspock
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Power consumption of PB Micro

Post by professorspock »

Hi,

I notice that when the powerbox micro is powered (and connected to USB) constantly draws (or reports that it draws) 600mA. Even without anything connected to the DC outputs, without the temp/humidity sensor plugged in and with all 12V switched off and dew controls switched off: 600mA

Is this a real current draw of the idle controller onboard? That's a pretty big load to have running on a battery all night

edit* 600mA at ~12.4 volts (so 7.2 Watts continuous draw).

Thanks in advance,
Brian
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Evans
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Re: Power consumption of PB Micro

Post by Evans »

Idle current draw is less than 0.06Amps.
Can you please send me a photo of what you see?
Either the current meter is off and requires recalibration or something leaks (well.. consumes) power.
professorspock
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Re: Power consumption of PB Micro

Post by professorspock »

Here are the screenshots:

BTW: I'm also the one who posted about the inability to adjust the adjustable DC output (since the sw does not detect the unit model): could this be related?
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Evans
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Re: Power consumption of PB Micro

Post by Evans »

Indeed, it is related as it reads and converts a wrong value as it believes that it is connected to another model.
Can you try with another computer? We need to see if this is a framework issue in Windows.
professorspock
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Re: Power consumption of PB Micro

Post by professorspock »

Hi,

I just tried with my wife's Windows 10 machine. It reads the device correctly in that it is a Powerbox Micro. It also lets me adjust the adjustable voltage. However, with the same situation as detailed in this post, it still reports a current draw of 0.4A to 0.5A, with all outputs turned off and no environmental sensor plugged in.

So we've learned that:
1. This software is not compatible with Win7 (as indicated on the Pegasus Astro website) for this device.
2. The current draw is surprisingly high with the controller @ idle? 0.5A is still too much 'extra' draw if I'm going to use this on a battery.

If I can come up with a way to verify this current draw I will do this. In the meantime, what are you able to do regarding point 1? And regarding point 2: Are you certain I should only see current draw below 100mA and not more around 500mA?

Thanks,

Brian
professorspock
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Re: Power consumption of PB Micro

Post by professorspock »

I was able to power the box up using my multimeter in between to measure current consumption. It turns out, although the software reports a current draw of 0.5A my multimeter is reporting 0.05A.

I cannot tell you if this is a poor calibration in the current sensor or if this is a factor of 10 and we can blame the software. However, with this idle current draw being near 50mA I don't believe this is going to be any issue for me on a battery.

As far as confirming the calibration of the current sensor: I suppose I'd have to setup a 'known' current consumption as an output to test. If I see an easy way to do this I'll post the results.

(This is all on a Windows 10 machine)

Thanks,
Brian
professorspock
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Re: Power consumption of PB Micro

Post by professorspock »

New update: I put some dew heaters on the device while measuring actual current consumption.
1. When nothing is connected current consumption is 0.05A while the device reports 0.5A
2. When two heaters are turned to full-on current consumption is 1.3A while the device reports 1.8A

I believe this proves that these poor inaccurate readings are due to a poorly calibrated (or malfunctional) current sensor.

I'm not sure what the next steps are to help this issue. Please let me know.

Thanks,
Brian
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Evans
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Re: Power consumption of PB Micro

Post by Evans »

Please contact support@pegasusastro.com for further investigation.
A teamviewer session might help to troubleshoot further
If the current meter has a problem you can send the unit back to us for inspection.
professorspock
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Re: Power consumption of PB Micro

Post by professorspock »

I've sent an email to support (basically pointing to this thread for info) but nobody has responded so far.

Just waiting...
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