4 ms·

How much energy does it use?

slownews45 5y ago
110W peak usage. I've seen wifi hotspots use this much and they don't have to connect to space. Is this really "energy pig" level of usage for space based communications? My former experience was with gimbled / gyro pointing dishes which were very energy intensive by comparison. 100W and little physical movement would have been considered very efficiant. How do other space com platforms handle deployment / install of end user terminals. I've not seen ones with the spaceX approach (simple end user install). Perhaps the professional installs get the energy use down to 10W or whatever is not considered "energy pig" usage. As a point of reference, tesla's cars hit energy draws of 900,000W when driving. Their semi is likely to use even more. So I think worth being careful about energy pig label.
- smachiz 5y ago
  No wifi hotspot is using 110 watts. 110 watts is a fair amount of power - at $0.20/kWh you're going to add $16 to your power bill monthly. It's similar to leaving a desktop computer on 24/7.
  - slownews45 5y ago
    My Netgear R8500 was 50 watts easily I'd say. My friends gaming computer DEFINATELY uses more than 100W. Basic computer use for cryptomining seems to use a lot more as well. It just doesn't seem like 100W for what this thing does is a ton.
    - rconti 5y ago
      > Under load, the Netgear R8500 uses 21.5 Watts of power making it the most consumptive router we have tested [1] Of course a gaming computer uses more than 100w. Of course a crypto rig uses more than 100w. And that's not "basic computer use", it's the most power-hungry computer use. Meanwhile, my UniFi UAP-AC-Pro APs are powered via PoE and are using <4w. 1: https://www.legitreviews.com/netgear-nighthawk-x8-r8500-ac5300-wifi-router-review_178341/6 https://www.legitreviews.com/netgear-nighthawk-x8-r8500-ac53...
    - brigade 5y ago
      More like 50 watts max, and 20 watts under normal load. The power supply can't even provide more than 60W. And gaming computers are more like 2-5W suspended, 20-50W idle/browsing, 200-500W gaming.
      - mcguire 5y ago
        Exactly. https://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/R8500/R8500_UM_4jan2016.pdf https://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/R8500/R8500_UM_4... The power supply for an R8500 gives 19V / 3.16 A DC maximum. And yes, a gaming PC can use a few hundred watts---that's why it has to have all of the thermal management and all of the hot air blowing out of it. P.s. https://kb.netgear.com/23003/Maximum-power-consumption-for-NETGEAR-WiFi-Routers https://kb.netgear.com/23003/Maximum-power-consumption-for-N...
      - ohyeshedid 5y ago
        I'm curious about the browsing figures. As someone that used a Surface Pro 3 for browsing, js or flash pegged it. I'm curious on a i7 desktop what the real average is for my browsing habits, and I'm going to have to test this. bah.
- southerntofu 5y ago
  According to international standards, your wifi antennas should have a maximum of 0.1/0.2W power (up to 4W for some specific 5Ghz frequencies). Wifi router hardware is really basic, you need something as powerful as a computer from the late 90s... which on todays hardware runs on a few watts. Something like a rpi is really beefy for a home router. So 100W may not be a big deal if you have an abundance of electricity around. But on the order of energy you can produce yourself, it's quite a lot.
- mcguire 5y ago
  Hughes Gen5 HT2000W .98m 1-watt Satellite Internet System (https://ispsat.com/product/hughesnet-gen5-ht2000w-98m-1-watt-satellite-internet-system/ https://ispsat.com/product/hughesnet-gen5-ht2000w-98m-1-watt...) has a 73W power supply. Normal use seems to be about 40W (https://community.hughesnet.com/t5/Products-and-Plans/Gen5-HT2000W-Power-Usage/td-p/73982 https://community.hughesnet.com/t5/Products-and-Plans/Gen5-H...). 900,000W? Wow, that's about 1200HP.
- shaklee3 5y ago
  Typical satellite internet uses about 30W.

110W peak usage. I've seen wifi hotspots use this much and they don't have to connect to space. Is this really "energy pig" level of usage for space based communications? My former experience was with gimbled / gyro pointing dishes which were very energy intensive by comparison. 100W and little physical movement would have been considered very efficiant. How do other space com platforms handle deployment / install of end user terminals. I've not seen ones with the spaceX approach (simple end user install). Perhaps the professional installs get the energy use down to 10W or whatever is not considered "energy pig" usage. As a point of reference, tesla's cars hit energy draws of 900,000W when driving. Their semi is likely to use even more. So I think worth being careful about energy pig label.

smachiz 5y ago
No wifi hotspot is using 110 watts. 110 watts is a fair amount of power - at $0.20/kWh you're going to add $16 to your power bill monthly. It's similar to leaving a desktop computer on 24/7.
- slownews45 5y ago
  My Netgear R8500 was 50 watts easily I'd say. My friends gaming computer DEFINATELY uses more than 100W. Basic computer use for cryptomining seems to use a lot more as well. It just doesn't seem like 100W for what this thing does is a ton.
  - rconti 5y ago
    > Under load, the Netgear R8500 uses 21.5 Watts of power making it the most consumptive router we have tested [1] Of course a gaming computer uses more than 100w. Of course a crypto rig uses more than 100w. And that's not "basic computer use", it's the most power-hungry computer use. Meanwhile, my UniFi UAP-AC-Pro APs are powered via PoE and are using <4w. 1: https://www.legitreviews.com/netgear-nighthawk-x8-r8500-ac5300-wifi-router-review_178341/6 https://www.legitreviews.com/netgear-nighthawk-x8-r8500-ac53...
  - brigade 5y ago
    More like 50 watts max, and 20 watts under normal load. The power supply can't even provide more than 60W. And gaming computers are more like 2-5W suspended, 20-50W idle/browsing, 200-500W gaming.
    - mcguire 5y ago
      Exactly. https://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/R8500/R8500_UM_4jan2016.pdf https://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/R8500/R8500_UM_4... The power supply for an R8500 gives 19V / 3.16 A DC maximum. And yes, a gaming PC can use a few hundred watts---that's why it has to have all of the thermal management and all of the hot air blowing out of it. P.s. https://kb.netgear.com/23003/Maximum-power-consumption-for-NETGEAR-WiFi-Routers https://kb.netgear.com/23003/Maximum-power-consumption-for-N...
    - ohyeshedid 5y ago
      I'm curious about the browsing figures. As someone that used a Surface Pro 3 for browsing, js or flash pegged it. I'm curious on a i7 desktop what the real average is for my browsing habits, and I'm going to have to test this. bah.
southerntofu 5y ago
According to international standards, your wifi antennas should have a maximum of 0.1/0.2W power (up to 4W for some specific 5Ghz frequencies). Wifi router hardware is really basic, you need something as powerful as a computer from the late 90s... which on todays hardware runs on a few watts. Something like a rpi is really beefy for a home router. So 100W may not be a big deal if you have an abundance of electricity around. But on the order of energy you can produce yourself, it's quite a lot.
mcguire 5y ago
Hughes Gen5 HT2000W .98m 1-watt Satellite Internet System (https://ispsat.com/product/hughesnet-gen5-ht2000w-98m-1-watt-satellite-internet-system/ https://ispsat.com/product/hughesnet-gen5-ht2000w-98m-1-watt...) has a 73W power supply. Normal use seems to be about 40W (https://community.hughesnet.com/t5/Products-and-Plans/Gen5-HT2000W-Power-Usage/td-p/73982 https://community.hughesnet.com/t5/Products-and-Plans/Gen5-H...). 900,000W? Wow, that's about 1200HP.
shaklee3 5y ago
Typical satellite internet uses about 30W.