Recommended Posts

I've been thinking about getting a Raspberry Pi to become a downloader/smart TV solution, given it's low price and low power consumption. Can anyone tell me how much power it will actually consume if plugged in and downloading via Ethernet? I don't understand all the power statistics that I've found on the Internet as they confuse me.

Can anyone tell me what the costs could be, or what the power consumption is compared to other electrical devices, such as a light bulb, router, homeplugs, etc?

Also, what's the normal power consumption for homeplugs and a normal router?

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1160540-raspberry-pi-power-consumption/
Share on other sites

The official figures for the ORIGINAL 256MB model B one is 5 watts, it runs on 5v at about 1 amp, 5*1 = 5w.

The new 512MB one that allows a lot more power to passthru to the USB slots (model B) will probably use more depending on what's plugged in.

Original Model A from what I remember is 5v at 0.5a meaning 2.5w, not a clue about the new model A but it doesn't have ethernet anyway.

 

In theory the original RPi B uses half the power an 11w energy efficient light bulb uses, well that's the raspberry pi itself, the actual power depending upon the power supply you use, seeing as most plug-in USB power adapters are upto about 75% efficient.

 

Routers probably use a bit more power due to the multiple ethernet isolation transformers inside them, again it all depends upon the router, the manufacturer and other things.

For 'SmartTV' functionality, I think you might be better off with a with an Android MiniPC like this one.  They use the same amount of power but is far more capable than the RaspPi (I have both btw).  I found out like most do about the RaspPi is that you run out of headroom fast when it comes to performance.

 

Also, the MK 809II is only a few pounds more expensive as well.

 

I've linked mine to my Google account where I have access to stuff like Plex which can stream movies and TV series straight off my server and it can handle 1080p content fine. :)

Remember that it's absolutely fine for streaming over ethernet, but very slow as a download box. IO over USB gets very slow very fast and the ethernet doesn't go that fast either.

 

I have mine as a tiny Tomcat web server now, runs remarkably well. Plan is to put XBMC on it (OpenELEC) when I get a new TV.

  On 23/06/2013 at 11:55, Ambroos said:

Remember that it's absolutely fine for streaming over ethernet, but very slow as a download box. IO over USB gets very slow very fast and the ethernet doesn't go that fast either.

 

I have mine as a tiny Tomcat web server now, runs remarkably well. Plan is to put XBMC on it (OpenELEC) when I get a new TV.

What does it equate to as a download box though? My broadband can only download at 1MB/s. I assume it'll be good enough for that?

I use a 5V 1.5A power supply (thats a max output of 7.5W) and it powers my raspberry pi with ethernet cable, as well as  750mA 2.5" HDD its using to improve throughput.

I can download/upload to the Pi around 20MB/s this way, opposed to around 4-5MB/s off SD, plus I have a TB of storage.

 

Highly suggest anyone who wants real throughput from the Pi follow this guide: http://zeroset.wordpress.com/2012/10/03/move-an-existing-raspbian-installation-from-memory-sd-card-to-usb-flash-drive-stick

 

My XBMC box runs from a 5V 1A supply without any problems, and if you use HDMI-CEC and have no need for a wifi adapter you can likely get away with a 5V 0.5A or 0.75A supply. Ensure you are using a stable quality supply and a good microUSB power cable. 90% of raspberry pi issues come from these 2 things.

 

Most routers use 24W (12V 2A) you can determine this by unplugging the AC adapter and reading it. You should see something labeled OUTPUT: 12V --- 05.A (should be a solid bar with dashes under it) this states it can supply 12Volts at 0.5Amps.

 

Power is Voltage multiplied by Amps, so just multiply them together and thats the MAX amount of power it can use under full load. In the case above, 12*0.5, it'd be 6W of power. Most devices operate at most in the 60-80% of their supplies rating, to prevent failure with power brownouts or spikes. For maths easy we assume it uses the MAX power all the time.

 

You can do a lot of stuff on them too. like running XBMC while downloading torrents and having an SSH VPN tunnel is just the tip of the iceberg.

  On 23/06/2013 at 11:57, Daedroth said:

What does it equate to as a download box though? My broadband can only download at 1MB/s. I assume it'll be good enough for that?

It'll do fine for that. My connection is 15MB/s and it starts to struggle at that point (very high CPU, especially with torrents).

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Posts

    • Funny enough, the aesthetic is pretty much the only thing I like from Windows 11 so I don't mind a distro that looks like it but the perks of it being Linux underneath. I'm usually a 'start with the base and build it myself' type Linux person but if a distro is close enough to what I'd likely set it to myself, no reason not to start with a good chunk of the work done for me.
    • Ignoring for the moment the bizarre claim that the new Outlook app is more "agile"... "Microsoft also mentions offline and PST (Outlook data/personal storage table) additions that are continuing to improve. The company is right in this regard as it recently confirmed another new offline feature for New Outlook. And PST file support is also here." This was the dealbreaker for me. If true, and if it works sanely, then "New" Outlook becomes viable. Still, gonna wait for the other shoe to drop...
    • Because Win7 was beautiful, much faster and more functional than XP. Win10 (glossing over 8 as many do) was slightly faster in some cases, more functional in some cases, but some people such as myself hated how it looked and decided it wasn't worth the upgrade. Some people liked (or were ok with) the look, and thus it is a good upgrade. Win11 is like 10, but is less functional between key features being removed and constant bugs/crashes either due to updates, or just things that were never patched. It literally has nothing going for it, and I use it every day at work so I'm quite familiar with it.
    • I switched my mom from Chrome to Firefox and she had a serious meltdown. She even managed to figure out how to reinstall Chrome, which really surprised me. What finally got her to switch was Chrome no longer being supported on Win7 and me putting a Chrome skin on FF, and setting it up identically.
    • Feels very much like most other gnome based Linux distros. There is minimal amounts that are influenced by Windows 11, maybe just enough to make people who are switching comfortable enough with the idea. As far as I can tell its mainly just turning the 'taskbar' panel as a 100% sized static panel, rather than the default dynamic sized. Turning it from the Mac OS Dock into the Windows taskbar. The Arc Menu - that I assume you're taking not with from the screenshots, is indeed the Windows 11 style one, but it has lots of other options too, from the more traditional gnome, Windows 7 etc. Still free to install what ever Window Manager you want once you're comfortable enough with Linux though.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Rising Star
      Phillip0web went up a rank
      Rising Star
    • One Month Later
      Epaminombas earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • One Year In
      Bert Fershner earned a badge
      One Year In
    • Reacting Well
      ChrisOdinUK earned a badge
      Reacting Well
    • One Year In
      Steviant earned a badge
      One Year In
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      552
    2. 2
      ATLien_0
      208
    3. 3
      +FloatingFatMan
      175
    4. 4
      Michael Scrip
      151
    5. 5
      Som
      138
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!