Ubuntu • Re: How to minimize power consumption

Thanks for the suggestions, I have read them again and there are still some things that I need to try. I have also got myself one of those USB passthrough power meters, fantastic little device. It says that my 4B peaks at 0.75 amps at boot up and consumes around 0.45 amps when idling. That makes about 2.5 W. For comparison the Zero 2W consumes 0.9 W when working steadily. The load is so small that consumption does not change much when idling or working, the boot up is the main concern now.

The Zero is a fantastic SKU, works really well for this kind of application. The only major drawbacks are the micro usb ports, one of which for power-only, and the missing GPIO headers, they are difficult to solder when retrofitting.

So my current budget is met for now. I have switched the OS to default Raspberry OS for headless, it seems to work best in this scenario. I probably should still try to disable some unnecessary features to reduce boot up time and consumption. I will probably use both SKUs, the Zero is for this application and the 4B for something that I have in my mind that requires more USB ports and some more CPU power.

I will post back if I make any meaningful discoveries that might help people who struggle with power budget.

Statistics: Posted by seppo — Mon Dec 02, 2024 1:04 pm

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