The interactive tool below is an ESP32 Current Consumption Calculator that helps you figure out the average current draw of your ESP32 board so you can size your device battery accordingly. I’ve constructed it using the default current draw numbers from all ESP32 variants’ datasheets, so it auto-populates the numbers for you. However, you can still override it with your own custom numbers if you’ve taken some measurements that deviate from the datasheet defaults.
ESP32 Current (Power) Consumption Calculator Usage Guide
It’s so simple to use my ESP32 power consumption calculator; you’ll just have to select the variant you’re using and the time your device spends in each mode. And you’ll immediately have the output ESP32 average current draw result.
For example, let’s say you’re using an ESP32-S3 dev board. When the board is powered up while the MCU is held at reset, it “should”, not always depending on HW design, draw a small amount of current called “Quiescent current”. Let’s say you’ve measured your board’s Quiescent Current and it came out to be 25uA. Let’s say the ESP32-S3 will spend 30sec in deep sleep mode, 0.1sec processing data with no RF (in modem sleep mode), and 0.5sec sending TX data over WiFi. By putting these numbers in the calculator, you should get an average current draw of 4.6992mA. If yes, then you now know how to use the calculator.
Note: Each ESP32 board, whether you’ve bought it from anywhere as a dev board or you’ve custom-designed it yourself. It’ll have some current draw besides the consumption of the ESP32 microcontroller itself; this is called the “Quiescent current” of the board.
Tip: To measure the “Quiescent current” of your board, do the following: connect the best ammeter you’ve got in your lab at the lowest current range to get the most accuracy out of it. Then hold the reset button of your ESP32 board to make sure the MCU is not waking up at all, then power up your board, and measure the current it draws while the ESP32 is OFF. This is your board’s “Quiescent current” value that should be added in the power calculator’s input cell (if you want to take this parameter into consideration). The calculator will still work for you even if you don’t add this number, but it’d make a better estimate if you included it.
For More information about ESP32 low-power modes & current (power) consumption, it’s highly recommended to check out the tutorial below which is the Ultimate ESP32 Power Consumption Guide!
