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" I wonder if the author could try disabling HDMI to see if power is reduced...." from comments ~ http://www.midwesternmac.com/comment/3216#comment-3216 http:/

" I wonder if the author could try disabling HDMI to see if power is reduced...." from comments ~ http://www.midwesternmac.com/comment/3216#comment-3216 http://www.midwesternmac.com/comment/3216#comment-3216 in this article, "Controlling both the PWR and ACT LEDs on the Raspberry Pi 2" ~ http://www.midwesternmac.com/blogs/jeff-geerling/raspberry-pi-zero-power http://www.midwesternmac.com/blogs/jeff-geerling/raspberry-p...

throwawydfje 11y ago
(could you clarify why you include the second link? Your second link is our article link.) The comment that you mention mentions savings of "28ma" - could it really be so high? This is hard to believe, or hard to believe that it would translate the raspberry pi zero, as our article link says the idle is 50-70 mA (third photo caption on page) - so if true and the same for this board, disabling HDMI would reduce current by up to 56%! However, on the other hand that might not be true at all. Perhaps the A has a dedicated chip for HDMI, whereas this chip drives it directly; or perhaps the hearsay on current savings from the HDMI is simply wrong. I've submitted a version of this comment as a comment to the author's blog, since he's all set up to investigate. (I think the post is pending moderation.) Probably there will be 0 power savings. EDIT: Thanks, author!
- geerlingguy 11y ago
  I just tested this three times, and it looks like it's right around 30 mA saved, so the rumors are true! I'm going to tinker a little bit and see how low I can get the power consumption (disable HDMI, disable LED, and just have Pi running by itself). I'll post back here with more details.
  - throwawydfje 11y ago
    Wow! That is an astounding difference. Thanks for your quick action. If your numbers are correct looks like you just reduced idle usage by close to 50% - 0.2 watts to 0.1 watts or something - if a solar panel has to get through fog and night-time on an attached battery, that is a huge difference!
    - geerlingguy 11y ago
      Running barebones I can get down to 40 mA at idle. Almost Arduino territory!
      - throwawydfje 11y ago
        going to sleep so you won't be getting more comments from me, but thanks for the interaction and your article! great result. I hope you'll have a chance to incorporate the new numbers/savings into your write-up.

throwawydfje 11y ago

(could you clarify why you include the second link? Your second link is our article link.) The comment that you mention mentions savings of "28ma" - could it really be so high? This is hard to believe, or hard to believe that it would translate the raspberry pi zero, as our article link says the idle is 50-70 mA (third photo caption on page) - so if true and the same for this board, disabling HDMI would reduce current by up to 56%! However, on the other hand that might not be true at all. Perhaps the A has a dedicated chip for HDMI, whereas this chip drives it directly; or perhaps the hearsay on current savings from the HDMI is simply wrong. I've submitted a version of this comment as a comment to the author's blog, since he's all set up to investigate. (I think the post is pending moderation.) Probably there will be 0 power savings. EDIT: Thanks, author!

geerlingguy 11y ago
I just tested this three times, and it looks like it's right around 30 mA saved, so the rumors are true! I'm going to tinker a little bit and see how low I can get the power consumption (disable HDMI, disable LED, and just have Pi running by itself). I'll post back here with more details.
- throwawydfje 11y ago
  Wow! That is an astounding difference. Thanks for your quick action. If your numbers are correct looks like you just reduced idle usage by close to 50% - 0.2 watts to 0.1 watts or something - if a solar panel has to get through fog and night-time on an attached battery, that is a huge difference!
  - geerlingguy 11y ago
    Running barebones I can get down to 40 mA at idle. Almost Arduino territory!
    - throwawydfje 11y ago
      going to sleep so you won't be getting more comments from me, but thanks for the interaction and your article! great result. I hope you'll have a chance to incorporate the new numbers/savings into your write-up.