feat: lower CPU freq on idle, add HalPowerManager (#852)

## Summary

Continue my experiment from
https://github.com/crosspoint-reader/crosspoint-reader/pull/801

This PR add the ability to lower the CPU frequency on extended idle
period (currently set to 3 seconds). By default, the esp32c3 CPU is set
to 160MHz, and now on idle, we can reduce it to just 10MHz.

Note that while this functionality is already provided by [esp power
management](https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/v4.3/esp32c3/api-reference/system/power_management.html),
the current Arduino build lacks of this, and enabling it is just too
complicated (not worth the effort compared to this PR)

Update: more info in
https://github.com/crosspoint-reader/crosspoint-reader/pull/852#issuecomment-3904562827

## Testing

Pre-condition for each test case: the battery is charged to 100%, and is
left plugged in after fully charged for an extra 1 hour.

The table below shows how much battery is **used** for a given duration:

| case / duration | 6 hrs | 12 hrs |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `delay(10)` | 26% | 48% |
| `delay(50)`, PR
https://github.com/crosspoint-reader/crosspoint-reader/pull/801 | 20% |
Not tested |
| `delay(50)` + low CPU freq (This PR) | Not tested | 25% |
| `delay(10)` + low CPU freq (1) | Not tested | Not tested |

(1) I decided not to test this case because it may not make sense. The
problem is that CPU frequency vs power consumption do not follow a
linear relationship, see
[this](https://www.arrow.com/en/research-and-events/articles/esp32-power-consumption-can-be-reduced-with-sleep-modes)
as an example. So, tight loop (10ms) + lower CPU freq significantly
impact battery life, because the active CPU time is now much higher
compared to the wall time.

**So in conclusion, this PR improves ~150% to ~200% battery use time per
charge.**

The projected battery life is now: ~36-48 hrs of reading time (normal
reading, no wifi)

---

### AI Usage

While CrossPoint doesn't have restrictions on AI tools in contributing,
please be transparent about their usage as it
helps set the right context for reviewers.

Did you use AI tools to help write this code? **NO**
This commit is contained in:
Xuan-Son Nguyen
2026-02-18 15:12:29 +01:00
committed by GitHub
parent 9125a7ce68
commit 6ec5fc5603
9 changed files with 170 additions and 32 deletions

View File

@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
#include "Activity.h"
#include <HalPowerManager.h>
void Activity::renderTaskTrampoline(void* param) {
auto* self = static_cast<Activity*>(param);
self->renderTaskLoop();
@@ -9,6 +11,7 @@ void Activity::renderTaskLoop() {
while (true) {
ulTaskNotifyTake(pdTRUE, portMAX_DELAY);
{
HalPowerManager::Lock powerLock; // Ensure we don't go into low-power mode while rendering
RenderLock lock(*this);
render(std::move(lock));
}

View File

@@ -1,9 +1,12 @@
#include "ActivityWithSubactivity.h"
#include <HalPowerManager.h>
void ActivityWithSubactivity::renderTaskLoop() {
while (true) {
ulTaskNotifyTake(pdTRUE, portMAX_DELAY);
{
HalPowerManager::Lock powerLock; // Ensure we don't go into low-power mode while rendering
RenderLock lock(*this);
if (!subActivity) {
render(std::move(lock));

View File

@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ class ClearCacheActivity final : public ActivityWithSubactivity {
void onEnter() override;
void onExit() override;
void loop() override;
bool skipLoopDelay() override { return true; } // Prevent power-saving mode
void render(Activity::RenderLock&&) override;
private:

View File

@@ -34,4 +34,5 @@ class OtaUpdateActivity : public ActivityWithSubactivity {
void loop() override;
void render(Activity::RenderLock&&) override;
bool preventAutoSleep() override { return state == CHECKING_FOR_UPDATE || state == UPDATE_IN_PROGRESS; }
bool skipLoopDelay() override { return true; } // Prevent power-saving mode
};