ESP32 Forum

Hello,

I have to place the ESP-32 to a closed box for a specific purpose and somehow I need to save the life of the battery. I know there are sleep modes for ESP-32 but I don't want to use timer and since it will be placed in a closed box and user will not access the box all the time, installing a button is not an option as well.

The only way to access the microcontroller must be Wi-Fi connection, I have connected it to a mobile application, whenever the user wants to use it, it must leave the sleep mode.

However, as I know that Wi-Fi is inactive in all of the sleep modes. Is there a way to keep the Wi-Fi active and at the same time energy is saved ? Moreover, is it logical ? because I doubt about the amount of energy consumption while Wi-Fi is in active mode.

Thank you

When ESP32 is connected to an AP, it can use Wi-Fi powersave mode (i.e. power down the receiver between beacon intervals) and can automatically enter light sleep mode while Wi-Fi and the system are idle. TCP and unicast UDP packets will be buffered by the AP and delivered to the ESP32 when it wakes up.
If the DTIM of the AP is set to 3, then the average current consumption of the ESP32 will be around 3.5mA in this mode. You can use examples/wifi/power_save example to test.