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SoilWatch 10 / Re: sleep mode for soil watch 10
« Last post by pinolec on June 13, 2020, 07:53:00 AM »This is a good question.
In general, microcontrollers are not designed to deliver currents in the range of 20mA efficiently. Some microcontrollers are specified for less current. But even if the microcontroller can deliver 20mA, usually will suffer a voltage drop. In other words at 20mA there will be some voltage drop. Please see the voltage drop for 3V and 5V supply (from ATmega328P datasheet).
The voltage drop at worst 4.4V is still within the range of supply voltage of SoilWatch 10 sensor.
Now the voltage drop is below the specified voltage for SoilWatch 10. This will simply not work as expected.
This is the main reason we should use a transistor. With transistor, there will much less voltage drop.
In general, microcontrollers are not designed to deliver currents in the range of 20mA efficiently. Some microcontrollers are specified for less current. But even if the microcontroller can deliver 20mA, usually will suffer a voltage drop. In other words at 20mA there will be some voltage drop. Please see the voltage drop for 3V and 5V supply (from ATmega328P datasheet).
The voltage drop at worst 4.4V is still within the range of supply voltage of SoilWatch 10 sensor.
Now the voltage drop is below the specified voltage for SoilWatch 10. This will simply not work as expected.
This is the main reason we should use a transistor. With transistor, there will much less voltage drop.