The assignment for this week was to measure the power consumption of an output device. So what we did was to connect a multimeter to measure the power consumptions of a stepper motor while in motion.
Measuring Power Consumption
In order to measure power consumption of a device whilst using Arduino, we have to follow the steps below:
Select the milliamp range on the meter
Connect the red lead to the meter's milliamp socket
Disconnect the power supply from the board
Connect the GND of the supply connector to the GND of the board connector
Connect the red probe of the meter to the positive connector on the supply
Connect the black probe of the meter to the positive connector on the board
Observe the meter reading
Multiply milliamps/1000 by voltage to get power in watts
Voltage measured with second meter
rated voltage of supply
voltage measured earlier or later
Power Consumption of a Stepper Motor
The stepper motor was set on continuous motion, and the power consumption was measured. Below, you can see the results: