Power Consumption Benchmarks

I use the PowerJive USB Power Meter (for older Pis with micro USB power inputs), or the SATECHI USB-C Power Meter (for the Pi 4 and newer) to measure power consumption with the Dramble and individual Raspberry Pis, in all cases with nothing plugged into USB (unless otherwise noted). I will be adding power consumption statistics to this page as time goes on.

There are a few different ways you can reduce power consumption on the Pi (any model):

  • Disable HDMI
  • Disable onboard LEDs
  • Minimize accessories

See this post for more information and instructions how to do all of the above: Conserve Raspberry Pis power consumption.

Raspberry Pi 4 B

Pi State Power Consumption
Idle 540 mA (2.7 W)
ab -n 100 -c 10 (uncached) 1010 mA (5.1 W)
400% CPU load (stress --cpu 4) 1280 mA (6.4 W)

Raspberry Pi 3 B+

Pi State Power Consumption
Idle 350 mA (1.9 W)
ab -n 100 -c 10 (uncached) 950 mA (5.0 W)
400% CPU load (stress --cpu 4) 980 mA (5.1 W)

Raspberry Pi 3 B

Pi State Power Consumption
Idle 260 mA (1.4 W)
ab -n 100 -c 10 (uncached) 480 mA (2.4 W)
400% CPU load (stress --cpu 4) 730 mA (3.7 W)

Raspberry Pi 2 B

Pi State Power Consumption
Idle 220 mA (1.1 W)
ab -n 100 -c 10 (uncached) 450 mA (~2.3 W)
400% CPU load (stress --cpu 4) 400 mA (~2.1 W)

Raspberry Pi 2 B with external USB 3.0 SSD

Pi State Power Consumption
Powering on, 1x USB 64GB SSD 900-1400 mA (~4.5 W)
Idle, 1x USB 64GB SSD 960 mA (~4.8 W)
ab -n 100 -c 10 (uncached), 1x USB 64GB SSD 1100 mA (~5.5 W)
400% CPU load, 1x USB 64GB SSD 1250 mA (~6.25 W)

Other Raspberry Pi models

For the below power tests, stock Rasbpian Lite was installed, and the measurement was taken after the Pi had been running idle for 1 minute, with nothing connected except onboard or USB WiFi as noted.

Pi Model Pi State Power Consumption
4 B HDMI off, LEDs off TODO
4 B HDMI off, LEDs off, onboard WiFi TODO
3 B+ HDMI off, LEDs off 350 mA (1.7 W)
3 B+ HDMI off, LEDs off, onboard WiFi 400 mA (2.0 W)
3 B HDMI off, LEDs off 230 mA (1.2 W)
3 B HDMI off, LEDs off, onboard WiFi 250 mA (1.2 W)
2 B HDMI off, LEDs off 200 mA (1.0 W)
2 B HDMI off, LEDs off, USB WiFi 240 mA (1.2 W)
Zero 2 W HDMI off, LED off 100 mA (0.6 W)
Zero 2 W HDMI off, LEDs off, onboard WiFi 120 mA (0.7 W)
Zero HDMI off, LED off 80 mA (0.4 W)
Zero HDMI off, LED off, USB WiFi 120 mA (0.7 W)
B+ HDMI off, LEDs off 180 mA (0.9 W)
B+ HDMI off, LEDs off, USB WiFi 220 mA (1.1 W)
A+ HDMI off, LEDs off 80 mA (0.4 W)
A+ HDMI off, LEDs off, USB WiFi 160 mA (0.8 W)

Also, as a point of reference, when you power off a Raspberry Pi (any model), it typically uses 20-30 mA (0.1W) until you physically disconnect the power.