Hi there,
And Welcome here,
So, While I agree in spirit with your POV, however when it comes to comfort zones yolo, stretch a little and you’ll grow a lot.
The Nordic nRF54L15 is widely considered the superior choice for high-efficiency battery projects, especially for Matter-over-Thread devices. While the XIAO MG24 is an excellent board, the nRF54L15 represents a newer generation of silicon specifically designed to solve the exact “Matter battery life” problem you are facing.
Here is a comparison of why the Nordic system generally wins on battery life and efficiency for this use case:
1. Massive Efficiency Gains (22nm Process)
The nRF54L15 is built on a 22nm process node , which is much more advanced than the previous generation chips.
- Radio Power: The nRF54L15 pulls approximately ~3.4 mA in RX and ~4.8 mA in TX (0 dBm). In comparison, the MG24 datasheet lists roughly ~4.4 mA RX and ~5.0 mA TX.
- Processing Efficiency: The nRF54L15 has a 128 MHz CPU that is significantly more efficient than the nRF52840 or MG24. It can complete tasks (like encrypting a Matter message) much faster and return to sleep sooner, which is the “golden rule” of battery life.
2. Mature Matter ICD (Sleepy Device) Support
The biggest pain point you mentioned with the MG24 is the Arduino core compiling out the ICD (Intermittently Connected Device) features.
- Nordic’s Advantage: Nordic’s nRF Connect SDK is built on top of Zephyr RTOS , which has native, first-class support for Matter ICD and SIT (Short Idle Time) .
- Granular Control: Unlike the current Arduino Silabs core, the Nordic toolchain gives you direct access to poll intervals. You can easily set a 1-second poll (SIT) to ensure your blinds respond quickly while the device draws only ~20–60 µA on average.
- Real-World Data: Users have reported achieving over 1.5 years of battery life on small 240mAh batteries with the nRF54L15 by optimizing interrupts and using the Matter ICD configurations.
3. The “XIAO” Specific Trade-off
If you are specifically using the XIAO nRF54L15 board, there is one small caveat:
- The Antenna Switch: Some versions of the XIAO nRF54L15 include an on-board radio switch (FM8625H) that can draw about 100µA if left powered on. To get the “ultra-low” micro-amp sleep, you have to ensure your code toggles this switch off during sleep periods.
Comparison Table: Nordic vs. Silicon Labs (MG24)
| Feature | Silicon Labs MG24 (Arduino) | Nordic nRF54L15 (nRF Connect) |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of Use | High (Arduino IDE) | Medium/Low (VS Code / Zephyr) |
| Matter ICD Support | Limited / Compiled Out | Full / First-class |
| Active RX Current | ~4.4 mA | ~3.4 mA |
| Sleep Current | ~1.9 - 5 µA | ~0.6 - 0.8 µA (SoC level) |
| Toolchain | Simplicity Studio (Heavy) | nRF Connect SDK (Professional/Flexible) |
Summary Recommendation
If your goal is months or years of battery life for a motorized blind: Yes, the Nordic nRF54L15 is the superior choice.
The hardware is more efficient, but more importantly, the software stack (nRF Connect SDK) actually allows you to use the power-saving features that are currently “locked away” or difficult to access in the MG24’s Arduino core. While the learning curve for Nordic’s SDK is steeper than Arduino, it is the standard for professional-grade battery-powered Matter devices IMO. 
HTH
GL 
PJ 