measure power consumption of wifi module interfaced via usb

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1

Hi,

I am trying to develop a tab out of beagle bone black and my biggest issue is to reduce the power consumption of wifi 802.11 n device so that it would run for longer, but before deciding on battery types and how to interface the module, I want to check various wifi modules by interfacing them through usb and see which wifi module is consuming less power. So I need some direction on how to measure the power consumption of wifi module interfaced via usb, I am planing to initially use android on to test then later on I will be putting ubuntu mobile into beaglebone black.

thanks,
Haneef

2

I think it might be better and easier for you to measure the entire system. You wont know precisely how much electricity stick XYZ uses vs stick ABC. But you will know how much your project uses on total, which is more beneficial to your battery power consumption.

The way you can test this is

  1. grab a spare barrel jack charger
  2. cut its wire
  3. re-join the ground wire
  4. hook up a multimeter between the 5V power line and set it to measure amperage.

Do some tests of no load, vs high download, high upload.