The Raspberry pi 4 has a power supply that can deliver a maximum of 15.5 watts. How much power exactly does the Raspberry use without overclocking at maximum power so that I can connect the appropriate peripherals.
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The Pi 4 typically uses 600mA. The Pi consortium suggests a 3A and says that maximum current drawn from USB is 1.2A. There are some safety margins that I suggest to respect, but it means that you should recon with 1.8A.
15.5W is very close to these recommendations. So you should respect the maximum of 1.2A.
Ljm Dullaart
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Thank you. So can I say that the Rasberry Pi 4 draws 6 Watt at full load? `1,2A * 5V` – Lano May 01 '21 at 17:06
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No. You should recon with 1.8A for the Pi. That means 9W. For your peripherals, you must respect the 1.2A. Note that I say peripherals, not USB devices. Using LAN and HDMI may also increase power consumption (see f.e. your own measurements) – Ljm Dullaart May 02 '21 at 09:34
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How much power exactly does the Raspberry use...?
There is not an exact answer to that question.
Why? It's due to the RPi's thermal management system. If you're interested in some details, you may wish to read this closely-related Q&A.
In other words: Your RPi will consume more power in a cooler ambient temperature with better airflow than it will in a higher temperature ambient with lower airflow.
In a "typical" environment with low-ish GPU loading, my experience is similar to the 3 Watt power consumption figure in Ljm Dullaart's answer. And FWIW, I have yet to find a power supply that will prevent all "Low Voltage Alarms" - even on the Lite (headless) distribution.
Seamus
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With HDMI and LAN, our Raspberry Pi 4 (4 GB version) consumes 3 watts when idling. We reached a maximum of 11 watts under deliberately generated full load.
Lano
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