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Calculating the average current consumption of a device

rictrajano

Hello,

I'm trying to measure the current consumption of a handheld gaming console and for that I'm using my multimeter. I'm getting values from 0.25mA to 1.5mA depending on if I'm pressing buttons or if sound is being generated. I need to calculate the average but I'm not sure the most efficient way to do it other than let it run let's say for 3 minutes and take an average of all values that the multimeter gave me (quite time consuming since I get a lot of values).

Is there a better way to do it?

Thanks for your help

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  • Those are pretty low currents to start with , possibly put a series shunt in the circuit ( a low ohm resistor to not interere with the measurement) and read the resistor voltage drop on a scope. The voltage is in essence current feedback, the scope can chart peaks and calculated averages. The is how the the DVM is measuring current. You could also trigger the scope based on what buttons you're pushing. A 1 or 10 ohm precision resistor shouldnt effect volts too much at those low mA levels.   

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  • Those are pretty low currents to start with , possibly put a series shunt in the circuit ( a low ohm resistor to not interere with the measurement) and read the resistor voltage drop on a scope. The voltage is in essence current feedback, the scope can chart peaks and calculated averages. The is how the the DVM is measuring current. You could also trigger the scope based on what buttons you're pushing. A 1 or 10 ohm precision resistor shouldnt effect volts too much at those low mA levels.   

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