Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Weaver]

Is anyone up for measuring the power consumption of a modem?

[IanG]

Depends which one. What were you thinking of, and why?

[Weaver]

I have four ZyXel VMG 1312-B10A devices. In discussing UPSs in previous threads and talking about lifetime I have been stuck because I have no idea about power (or current) consumption, so can’t get a rough estimate of lifetimes.

It’s not something that I can’t easily do because I lack the necessary kit aside from my practical limitations.

I presume all modems are very approximately the same power consumption, especially if you confine your group to one manufacturer’s product line? I have wireless turned off which might contribute to reducing differences. Of course, a very large majority of home users, soho users and small businesses are using combination wireless modem-routers rather than just straight modems or devices configured as simple modems. So very many people might be interested in with- and without wireless figures.

[johnson]

Just measured my trusty testing 1312. Tried 2 PSUs just to see, a 3A and 1A one.

3A:
4W - 4.2W idle wireless off
4.4W - 5W idle wireless on

1A:
4.2W idle wireless off
5W idle wireless on

These are both taken with a single ethernet cable connected and no ADSL/VDSL sync.

Generic cheapo plug in power meter, make of it what you will!

[IanG]

There is one way of getting an accurate estimate, but you will need some assistance. It depends on the UPS being the type that pops up a shutdown message on a connected PC, saying that the UPS has only a short time left. If so, ask someone to turn off the mains power to the UPS, turn it on again when the message appears, and note the time difference. With and without the WiFi enabled.

[Weaver]

@IanG - Yes, I understand. Thank you, I can’t remember how the shutdown I/f works on the low-end APC UPSs - USB or some proprietary cable. I’m assuming the former and they probably have shipped drivers for APC, being so common, in recent versions of MS Windows.

@johnson Wow. Thank you so much. It doesn’t have to be super-accurate, but it gives me some idea to put into a spreadsheet for calculating the overall total. Given that I have four modems though they might well dominate the power budget. Firebrick is supposed to be quite economical.