IoT Battery Life & Power Budgets: Duty Cycles, Sleep Current & Energy Harvesting
Convert mA, µA, mAh and mWh, turn a state table into an average current, estimate battery life with temperature and self-discharge, price every radio message in mJ, chart sampling interval vs life, check peak current against internal resistance, budget a solar harvester and plan fleet battery swaps: 8 graded labs for a fictional sensor node.
The first lesson is free — no account needed.
About this course
An IoT battery life course that builds the power budget of one fictional sensor node, the Fernleaf FN-200, in a spreadsheet, for embedded and hardware engineers, IoT product managers, engineering students and makers. You convert mA, µA, mAh and mWh and compare battery options, turn a state table of sleep, sensing, processing and radio into the charge per cycle and the average current, estimate battery life in three climates with temperature derating, cut-off voltage and self-discharge, price each radio message in millijoules at six radio profiles, chart battery life against the sampling interval, check peak current and voltage drop against internal resistance, size a solar harvester and its buffer for the winter deficit, and plan battery replacements for a fleet of 1,500 nodes. Fictional device, illustrative datasheet values, with no affiliation with any battery, chip or radio vendor. The first lab is free.
Lessons
- Units: mA, µA, mAh, mWh & Battery CapacityFree
- Duty Cycle & Average Current: from a State Table to µA Pro
- Battery Life Estimate: Hours → Years, Temperature & Self-discharge Pro
- Radio Transmissions: Energy per Message & the Frequency Trade-off Pro
- Sampling Interval vs Battery Life: Table & Chart Pro
- Peak Current, Voltage Drop & Battery Internal Resistance Pro
- Solar Energy Harvesting: Daily Budget, Winter Deficit & Buffer (with Chart) Pro
- Fleet Battery Replacement Planning & Cost Pro