Hi,
I am trying to estimate the power use in a simple digimesh 2.4 network with 6 radios, one of them being the sleep coordinator. I am trying to figure out how much time is used on the actual transmission to keep the network synchronized per sleep cycle. I have not been able to find this information in the XBee/XBee-PRO DigiMesh 2.4 manual.
My radios uses 55mA in idle/receive mode and up to 250mA in transmission mode.
That is a really tricky answer as the clock on the module is not very accurate. That is to say, the longer you want to sleep, the longer the module must be awake to ensure that the sync message is received.
I would suggest looking over
ok, but I am using an earlier model than then xbee 3, and it´s synchronous sleep cycle, not asynchronous.
I understand that it might have to repeat the transmission several times during a wake up, but I am just wondering if the transmission at 250mA lasts a fraction of a second, or several seconds each time it happens. I assume there is some sort of relation between the length of the package being sent and the transmission time?
It is a fraction of that time that you wold be drawing the high current.
What is the exact Digi product and firmware version that you are working with?
I am using the XBP24-DM with the Xbee Pro Digimesh 2.4 function set, the latest firmware (8073 if I remember correctly). I believe they are the xbee series 1 with updated firmware if I am not mistaken.
Try using the battery life calculator that is locate at Digi XBee S1 Support Resources. Hopefully it will be the one I think it is. If it is not, then you will want to submit a case at my.digi.com and make sure you indicate that you are trying to determine battery life with the old XBee S1 hardware and the Digi Mesh 8x firmware.
I had a look at the battery life calculator some days ago, it didn´t make me any wiser though 
Thanks for the input anyway!
I have ordered a meter that can measure current use over a time period, I guess that will be a good indicator