I did some quick power measurements on a few Home Assistant “server” setups and common smart home gear to see what they actually draw in idle/standby. These are not lab measurements—just real-world readings with a plug-in power meter, but the differences are still pretty eye-opening.
TL;DR / takeaways
- Sonos standby power is surprisingly high
- A UPS can have significant self-consumption, even fully charged and with no load
- Smart relays tend to draw noticeably more when the relay is ON
- An old Mac mini can be very efficient in sleep
- Shutting down a Raspberry Pi doesn’t mean 0 W—you need to unplug the PSU from the Pi to eliminate draw
Running iTunes, Plex Server, VNC, plus a handful of smaller services.
Still wakes up automatically when an Apple TV (or another device) tries to access it over the network.
Light load (~10% CPU/RAM): ~4.0 W
Running Node-RED, deCONZ, Homebridge, etc.
Shut down (PSU still connected): ~2.7 W
This is basically the power supply standby draw while still plugged into the Pi. If you unplug the PSU from the Pi, it drops to 0 W.
Light load (~10% CPU/RAM): ~7.7 W
Running Home Assistant in Docker plus an NVR script.
Again: unplug PSU from the Pi for 0 W.
Shut down (PSU still connected): ~3.4 W
Again: unplug PSU from the Pi for 0 W.
Yderligere enheder nedenfor:
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