Power Supply; Measuring Atmega256Rfr2 Power Consumption; Standard Headers And Connectors; Xplained Pro Extension Header - Atmel ATMEGA256RFR2 Xplained Pro User Manual

Data Field
Product Serial Number
Minimum Voltage [mV]
Maximum Voltage [mV]
Maximum Current [mA]
3.3

Power supply

The ATMEGA256RFR2 Xplained Pro kit can be powered either by USB or by an external power source through
the 4-pin power header, marked PWR. This connector is described in
available power sources and specifications are listed in
Xplained Pro".
Table 3-3. Power sources for ATMEGA256RFR2 Xplained Pro
Power input
External power
Embedded debugger
USB
The kit will automatically detect which power sources are available and choose which one to use according to
the following priority:
1. External power
2. Embedded debugger USB
3.3.1

Measuring ATmega256RFR2 power consumption

As part of an evaluation of the ATmega256RFR2 it can be of interest to measure its power consumption.
Because the device has a separate power plane (VCC_MCU_P3V3) on this board it is possible to measure the
current consumption by measuring the current that is flowing into this plane. The VCC_MCU_P3V3 plane is
connected via a jumper to the main power plane (VCC_TARGET_P3V3) and by replacing the jumper with an
ampere meter it is possible to determine the current consumption. To locate the current measurement header,
please refer to Figure 1-1, "ATMEGA256RFR2 Xplained Pro evaluation kit
Warning
Do not power the board without having the jumper or an ampere meter mounted. This can cause
the ATmega256RFR2 to be powered through its I/O pins and cause undefined operation of the
device.
3.4

Standard headers and connectors

3.4.1

Xplained Pro extension header

All Xplained Pro kits have one or more dual row, 20 pin, 100mil extension headers. Xplained Pro MCU boards
have male headers while Xplained Pro extensions have their female counterparts. Note that all pins are
not always connected. However, all the connected pins follow the defined pin-out described in
"Xplained Pro extension
extensions to Xplained Pro MCU boards and to access the pins of the target MCU on Xplained Pro MCU board
directly.
Data Type
ASCII string
uint16_t
uint16_t
uint16_t
Voltage requirements
4.3V to 5.5V
4.4V to 5.25V
(according to USB spec)
header". The extension headers can be used to connect a wide variety of Xplained Pro
Atmel ATMEGA256RFR2 Xplained Pro [USER GUIDE]
Example Content
1774020200000010'\0'
3000
3600
30
"Power header" on page
Table 3-3, "Power sources for ATMEGA256RFR2
Current requirements
Recommended
minimum is 500mA
to be able to provide
enough current
for extentions and
the board itself.
Recommended
maximum is 2A due
to the input protection
maximum current
specification.
500 mA (according to
USB spec)
overview.".
8. The
Connector marking
PWR
DEBUG USB
Table 3-4,
7
42079C-MCU-05/2013