In the document Quectel_BG95xA-GL_Hardware_Design (both V1.1 and V1.2), section 6.3.5, “GNSS Power Consumption,” states that the BG951A-GL has a cold start current of 21 mA — while other modules in the series have values that are twice as high (41 mA, 48 mA).
We specifically chose the BG951A-GL because of this low GNSS current consumption. However, after producing 10 modules and starting our tests, we found that all of them draw more than 40 mA during GNSS operation.
The LTE submodule is turned off (AT+CFUN=0), so only the GNSS module is active — yet the current is still that high. The configuration is standard, and no special commands are mentioned in the documentation.
Could it be that the information in this main design document for the BG951 is incorrect? Why is this happening?
And what should we do now — look for another solution with lower current consumption? Typical GNSS modules on the market usually draw around 25–30 mA.