Raspberrt Pico Power Saving

Raspberry Pi Pico power saving usage examples:

• Sleep mode
• Underclock
• Hybrid

Lowest achieved consumption without using sleep mode (underclock) is around 5.5 mA. Deep sleep achieves around 2 mA.

Minimal clock achieved for Rasperry Pico was ~15MHz.

Related

Raspberry Pico documentation is amazing. Check chapters Power Control and Clocks of RP2040 datasheet for a better understanding of MCU internals.

For clocks,

• pico-sdk API - hardware_clocks
• pico-sdk API - hardware_vreg
• pico-examples by hermann
  • Watch hang and multi-hang exampes. Help to understand valid clock configurations.
  • Original post Link

For deep sleep,

• SleepyPico
• Awaking the Raspberry Pico from deep sleep
• PicoSleepDemo

Sidenote for power optimizer geeks seeking for sub - 5 mA non-sleep current draw

Record low underclocked non-sleep current consumption of 4.5 mA was observed when +5V was connected to VSYS rail instead of VBUS one to evade Shottky diode which adds some power loss by itself. But please pay attention: your mileage may vary because of manufacturing variations. Also you will lose reverse polarity protection in this case.