While I planned to utilize a Raspberry Pi 4 as a small server, I also ordered a little system from China (the BEBEPC, which is similar to the Qotom micro PCs). While Qotom mini PCs are slightly better documented, they typically have less powerful CPUs (even if they have Core i3 CPUs, they are so old that a more recent Celeron CPU is faster) based on an Intel J4105 CPU (= TDP of 10 W, 4 cores, 1.5 GHz base frequency, 2.5 GHz burst frequency), which has the advantage of native SATA ports over the Raspi (one standard SATA connector with 5 V power supply and one mSATA connector carrying 3.3 V power supply I am currently waiting for an mSATA to SATA adapter and a 5 V SATA power splitter cable to be able to have a RAID system of two SATA SSDs mSATA SSDs are only available in smaller sizes). However, the most significant advantage is that it can (clearly) run Intel-specific programs, such as (Docker) containers that are only available for Intel.
Because the J4105 system has significantly greater computing capacity than the ARM CPU in the Raspi, the only remaining consideration is power consumption. As a result, I conducted several tests and measurements with a low-cost power meter that claimed to have a 2% precision. Both systems were connected to a monitor via FullHD HDMI.
Intel J4105 measurements
Because I hadn’t yet installed Linux, it was still running Windows 10, and idle refers to merely having the built-in task manager running in the forefront (to display the clock frequency) and all of the background services that Windows 10 includes by default. A batch file with an unending loop was used to generate CPU load.
When idle, the J4105 clocks down to 0.78 GHz, resulting in a total system power consumption of 3.8 W (with one mSATA and one SATA SSD).
It runs at 2.35 GHz and uses between 11.8 and 12.1 watts when all three cores are active.
It runs at 2.19 GHz and uses between 11.4 and 12.0 watts when all four cores are active. (It appears that the reduced clock saves power.)
I did run it for one hour with four cores working, and the readings did not change, indicating that no thermal throttling had happened (nor did the case get hot, so a really good passive cooling or the contact between CPU and case is bad, but then thermal throttling could have been expected).
Raspberry Pi 4 measurements
I had OSMC running with KODI but nothing else, i.e. the KODI UI was turned off but all the background services were active. The most recent firmware, as of June 4, 2021, was utilized, and capacity was limited to an SDHC card. The stress command was used to create a CPU burden.
Conclusions
In conclusion, both systems’ idle power consumption is comparable, and while the Raspberry Pi 4’s busy power consumption is lower, it is still less powerful than the J4105 system. I never saw the full 2.5 GHz burst clock rate on the J4105 (but 2.4 GHz). Despite the fact that the CPU’s TDP is 10 W, the entire system used up to 12.1 W. (e.g. the RAM, the two SSDs, WiFi, HDMI output, external power supply, etc. probably also to add their share during boot, I even saw 14.8 W).
Others recommend 2.7 W idle for the Raspi 4 (although this appears to involve turning off a lot of I/O, such as HDMI, which I did not do, nor did I minimize background programs), or even as low as 2.1 W. Many others, on the other hand, say that they cannot get the system cooler than 42 in idle with either a fan or a heatsink, so getting the Raspy warmer than the touch of your hand appears to be common, but the J4105 system with the larger chassis was noticeably cooler.
The J4105 appears to be a good 24/7 home server system, as it is more powerful than the Raspi when needed yet consumes less power when idle.
An even more powerful system based on J4125 (= J4105 with a faster frequency) suggests that Dual-Rank-Modules can support up to 16 GB per RAM module, or up to 32 GB with two banks. Power usage was also measured, and it was found to be higher (best explained by the fact that it is faster, i.e. cannot clock down as much: 2000-2700 MHz vs. 1500-2500 MHz).
The ASRock Industrial iBOX-V2000M or iBOX-V2000V would be the perfect passively cooled server with ECC ram, however these are not yet accessible, especially not for private customers. However, any ASRock motherboard should support ECC when used with AMD Pro CPUs.
A customer asked me an innocent question:
For me, it was obvious that the Pi 4 / 4 GB would be the server of choice, with the FLIRC case for passive heat dissipation, of course. There are no moving parts and no noise. GBit Ethernet,… but could I honestly propose the Pi 4 to the customer? Can individuals really afford to run the Pi 4 nonstop, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, seven days a week?
Basics
We’ll start with some fundamentals for those of us who graduated from high school physics a long time ago:
- The power current (how much electrical power passes through a conductor or device – think of it as the number of electrons flowing through a pipe per second) is measured in amperes.
- Volt: This is the voltage (picture it as the pressure under which electrons flow, like water pressure in a pipe). In your bath tub, the same volume of water under varying pressures might be relaxing… or cutting through steel.)
- When Volt and Ampere are added together, Watt is the real power (measured in work per second): 1 Watt = 1 Volt * 1 Ampere
It’s vital to remember that Watts are independent of voltage and of whether direct or alternating current (DC or AC) is utilized it’s the actual delivered power.
kWh – kilowatt hours is the most common unit of measurement used by utilities. This is the total amount of power delivered over the period of time it was delivered. The kilowatt hours represent the actual work performed by the power utility at your home.
Pi 4 power usage
The Raspberry Pi 4 is not a light bulb. It does not consistently utilize (and deliver) the same amount of power over time. Parts of the SoC (the silver chip on the Pi, the brilliant technology at the heart of the Pi’s magic) will be turned on and off depending on what you’re doing with it.
The Pi 4 can be compared to a human being: when they are resting, such as watching a movie on their KODI media center, they require far less energy than if they were running a marathon. It’s still the same individual.
As a result, it’s crucial to look at the Pi 4’s idle power usage as well as its power consumption under severe load.
Before we begin, take in mind that this does not include external devices (USB devices that suck power, such as external harddrives, SSDs, and other similar devices) – but you can easily include them using the formulas I provide below.
For my calculations, I’m utilizing the brilliant Alex Eames of Raspi.power TV’s measurements as a starting point. Alex, thank you very much!
575 mA and 885 mA are the bottom and highest values, respectively. Averaged over time, the Pi 4’s power consumption should be somewhere near the middle.
We may convert the mA (milli, a thousandth) into Watts because the approved USB C power source provides 5,1 V:
The power supply
We must not overlook a crucial component in estimating the real amount of power drawn from the utility! The actual power supply.
Despite the fact that the official USB C power supply is extremely efficient, it is not without flaws. It consumes some energy to power its own circuitry.
The Effieciency Marking Protocol was used to certify the USB C power supply (a standard introduced in the USA). A PDF with more background material is available here.
This standard was created because it was discovered that many inefficient power supply (using linear regulators) were consuming up to 50% of the power they were supposed to power regardless of whether the device they were designed to power was active or not! Around 2010, it was estimated that power supply alone would consume up to 30% of total electricity in the United States. Naturally, something had to be done about the problem, which led to the development of this standard.
The official power supply has a voltage of 5,1 V and can deliver a maximum of 3 A of current. It can supply a maximum power of 15,5 W (5,1 V * 3 A) to the Raspberry Pi. Please keep in mind that we’re working with averages here; the Pi will consume a lot of power in short bursts, requiring more than the 4,51 W available. Even under load, the power draw Alex measured should be visible when averaged over time. Furthermore, if you have any USB devices connected to the Pi, the power supply must also power them, which is budgeted for.
The official Pi 4 power supply may use a maximum of 0,1 W when idling that is, when no Pi is attached according to the standard (VI).
(The real value in the datasheet is a maximum of 0,075 W.)
The standard further specifies that while the Pi 4 is powered, the power conversion efficiency must be at least:
Pout is the power output to the Pi, and this is the natural logarithm. Fortunately, we have Excel to help us crunch the numbers:
If the Pi 4 is working hard, a more efficient power source is required – an intriguing discovery!
According to the datasheet for the Pi 4 power supply, the minimum efficiency at 10% load is 72 percent, and for 100 percent, 75 percent, 50 percent, and 25 percent load, the minimum efficiency is 81 percent. I’ll keep using the figures I calculated earlier because they should apply to any other power source that has the VI certification.
Calculated for a whole year
There are 24 hours in a day and 365 days in a year (most of the time). The kilowatt hours are exactly what they claim to be: 1000 Watts * number of hours:
- 0,88 kWh if the Pi 4’s power source was hooked into the wall 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, seven days a week – without the Pi. (The actual amount is significantly lower because the datasheet specifies a limit of 0,075W.)
Please simply tell me how much it costs
The price of energy is currently fluctuating. Even after adjusting for income, they are among the highest in Europe in Germany. According to these two sources, I used a price of 32,8 cents per kWh in my calculations. It’s possible that the price will be lower for you; in this case, please recalculate!
I’ll also provide pricing for the United Kingdom, which is much lower. This website served as a resource for me:
- For a year, the USB C power supply costs 00,29 if it is merely put into the socket without the Pi.
- Because the Raspberry Pi’s power supply is more efficient, this value is really lower!
The article’s startling message (which I never expected myself, despite the fact that I’m writing it!) is:
Is it safe to use a Raspberry Pi 24 hours a day, seven days a week?
Raspberry Pi is capable of operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They’re made to run for long periods of time without failing. However, there is a snag.
If you want to leave your Raspberry Pi on all the time and not risk damaging it, you’ll need to use a linear power source. DC adapters or any decent quality battery supply must be used to regulate this. The components and other electronic parts will not be fried unless you use an incorrect power supply or offer greater voltage than is recommended.
Is the Raspberry Pi an energy-efficient device?
The Raspberry Pi, the UK’s best-selling computer of all time, was created by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, a charity dedicated to teaching computer science in schools.
The Raspberry Pi has continued to promote the philanthropic intentions of the foundation by allowing anyone in any location to build a fully functional computer system for an affordable price, providing support and funding to young people and those living in less economically developed countries to learn more about coding and computer science.
The Raspberry Pi range, on the other hand, is not only beneficial for your conscience, but also for the environment. The Raspberry Pi is powered by a low-voltage micro USB power source, making it extremely energy efficient. If you take good care of your Raspberry Pi, the hardware should last a long time. This implies that, unlike a lot of hardware, your Pi is unlikely to end up in a landfill within a few years of purchase.
What is the Raspberry Pi 400’s power consumption?
The Raspberry PI is a single-board computer with a low power consumption. The Pi 400 uses 2.5 watts at idle, according to an Energy-Use Monitor that measures power usage at the socket.
What is the maximum battery life of a PI zero?
30 hours and 12 minutes of running time Everything has been set to default. This is the maximum battery life you can achieve from a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W in its default configuration.
Is it necessary for me to turn off my Raspberry Pi?
It’s not a good idea to simply pull the power line to switch off your Raspberry Pi. Because the Raspberry Pi could still be writing data to the SD card, simply turning it off could result in data loss or, worse, a corrupted SD card.
You should always carefully close down the Raspberry Pi before turning it off. This can be done either the command-line terminal or the desktop GUI menu. Both techniques are covered in this article, as well as specific options for the terminal command.
What is the power consumption of an Arduino?
The Arduino is a fantastic tool for creating your own data collection system or controller.
The Arduino board can be programmed using a high-level language and a simple USB connection.
Due to its enormous popularity, there is a lot of open source code and a lot of add-on boards for interfacing sensors, storage, and wireless communications.
However, most of my projects require data collection over several months, and mains power is frequently unavailable.
Battery-powered data collection is necessary, but when collecting data for longer than a few days, the Arduino quickly drains the battery.
This article explains how to extend the battery life of an Arduino for several months.
If you don’t have any sensors or other components in your system, the Arduino Uno board draws roughly 42 mA.
With a minimum supply voltage of 7 volts, the board’s power usage is 0.29 Watts.
Although Sleep Mode is available, the internal voltage regulator continues to consume 10 mA even after the processor is turned down.
If your task allows for sleeping almost all of the time (like most of my data gathering tasks), sleep mode would reduce power consumption to around 0.07 Watts.
A single Alkaline AA battery has around 2.5 Watt-hours of energy; three of these would make a battery pack with 7.5 Watt-hours.
Without accounting for voltage conversion losses, 7.5 Watt-hours of energy barely lasts 107 hours, or just over 4 days, to power the mostly-sleeping Arduino.
You can utilize the Atmega chip from the Arduino board on a custom board and use a much more efficient voltage regulator or perhaps no voltage regulator at all, as the Sleep Mode page advises.
This strategy, when combined with the use of Sleep mode, might drastically reduce the system’s power consumption.
However, you lose access to the Arduino’s various additional shields, as well as many of the Arduino’s user-friendliness features.
I’ve taken a different strategy for a data collection project I’m now working on.
I’m making a small power controller board that will only provide power to the Arduino board on a periodic basis, and then, once the Arduino has finished reading a sensor and wirelessly transmitting its data, the Arduino will signal the power controller that its tasks have been completed, and the controller will turn off the power to the Arduino.
At that point, all Arduino power consumption will be turned off until the next power-on cycle.
Although the power controller board will consume some energy, utilizing sleep mode for that microcontroller and supplying the power controller circuit straight from the battery without a regulator would reduce its power usage to around 11 microWatts during periods when the Arduino is not active.
The system’s fundamental block diagram is illustrated below.
If one of the aims is to keep the Arduino’s ease-of-use advantage, building a second, bespoke power controller circuit appears to violate that goal.
The power controller circuit, on the other hand, may be utilized in a number of Arduino applications without needing to be redesigned.
The amount of time between each subsequent power up of the Arduino is the only power controller parameter that differs between projects.
There are some obvious drawbacks to this method.
If your application relies on the Arduino to set control outputs, these outputs will be lost when the Arduino is turned off.
As a result, this power-saving strategy is best suited for data collecting rather than control applications.
Also, if you need to keep data or settings between Arduino power cycles, you’ll need to use the Arduino’s EEPROM memory, which is unaffected by the loss of Arduino power.
So, what kind of battery life can this method achieve?
You’ll need to know how long the Arduino will be powered up and how long it will be completely off to answer this question.
I need to read a sensor and wirelessly transfer the results every 10 minutes for my present project.
The Arduino must boot up, read the sensor, and then broadcast the result through an Xbee radio every time the power controller circuit applies power to it.
I measured the Arduino Uno’s boot-up time, which is approximately 72 milliseconds.
(This is a significant improvement over the previous Arduino Duemilanove, which took 1.45 seconds to boot up.)
Obviously, you’ll want to utilize the fast-booting Uno model if you’re going to use this power-saving method.)
For my project, reading the sensor will take roughly 10 milliseconds.
Until I measure the Xbee boot-up and broadcast times more precisely, I’ll presume that the Xbee process extends the power-on duration to a full second.
You’ll need to know the Arduino duty cycle as well as the power consumption of the Arduino and its accessories while it’s turned on.
I’ll power the Arduino with the 5V pin in my project to eliminate some of the voltage regulator losses on the board.
When I include in the sensor and Xbee power consumption, I estimate a 70 mA average current flow while the Arduino is turned on.
So, during the power-on time, the power usage is 0.07 A x 5 V = 0.35 Watt.
However, because the circuitry is only turned on for 1 second out of every 10 minutes, the average power usage is 1 sec / 600 secx0.35 W = 0.000583 W or 0.583 mW.
My own power controller board uses an 85 percent efficient boost switching power converter to provide the 5 volts required for the Arduino board.
As a result, the Arduino’s 0.583 mW average power use draws 0.583 mW / 0.85 = 0.686 mW from the battery on average.
When you factor in the custom power controller board’s 11 microWatt pull, you get a total power consumption of 0.697 mW.
My project should have a 7,500 mW-hrs / 0.697 mW = 10,800 hour battery life, or roughly 15 months, with a 3 x AA Alkaline battery pack with 7.5 Watt-hours of energy, which is a significant improvement above the 4 day battery life obtained with the usual Arduino configuration.
NOTE: Adafruit now offers a commercial product that fulfills this power controller function.
Look at the Adafruit TPL5110 Low Power Timer Breakout.
What is the recommended power supply for a Raspberry Pi 3?
Power Supply for Raspberry Pi 3 B+ The Pi’s suggested power supply is 5V and 2.5A, although that includes 1.2A for the USB ports, leaving 1.3A for the Pi.