MechG developed a breadboard scope meter to help him identify and lower power consumption in his projects.
The Power Scope is a meter intended for use on a breadboard to aid in the development of battery-operated devices. It provides dedicated monitoring at the power source so you can quickly see the effects of circuit/software changes on power consumption during development. This frees uThe PowerScope is able to sample voltage and current, and compute the power draw, at a 1kHz rate. This allows it to accurately compute average power consumption in devices where portions of the circuit are periodically shut down to conserve power, such as sensor controllers. The display is updated once per second, and power is averaged over a five second interval.p your DVM for general diagnostic use.
The PowerScope is able to sample voltage and current, and compute the power draw, at a 1kHz rate. This allows it to accurately compute average power consumption in devices where portions of the circuit are periodically shut down to conserve power, such as sensor controllers. The display is updated once per second, and power is averaged over a five second interval.
For more detail: MSP430 Powerscope – A Low Power Aid