looking for a low power modem and router
 

I was wondering if anybody can recommended a router/modem with the least amount of power consumption preferably with wireless N? I own a Motorola Cable Modem, Netgear draft N router, Hd homerun tv tuner and an Ooma telo. Those four devices are drawing 24 watts. They are on 24/7.
At one point I had the setup on a timer. Unfortunately I bought an Ooma telo for free phone calls, the Ooma needs to be on all the time. I'm curious if anybody has had luck with an all in one cable modem router, or knows of a separate combo that uses less energy.

Not sure how well this functions as the review states...but here:
wireless router » Low Power PCs

I think my netgear router (no idea on the model number, its older) draws about 4-5W constant. Its not horrible, but I wouldn't mind having one that draws less.

This guy has a few good ideas:
You could shut off the wireless transmitter (if it has one and you don't use it all of the time).

He also reduces the supplied voltage to his modem with a bit of a hack, but it is more than I would wish to do. If you were going to go that far, you may get some benefit from one power supply that provides DC to all devices.

Some ideas from me:
If it is available for your router, you can install dd-wrt which allows you to do all sorts of nifty things with it. It has some settings that would affect power consumption, mostly to do with the wireless transmitter. You can check if your device is supported here.

Also, 24 watts seems like an ideal application for solar - you may want to check out Xringer's series on his backup solar project.

I used to have a Netgear all in one Modem/Router that used only 6 watts.
It failed after a few months. I have been reluctant to try another all in one device.

Solar is the sole reason I am putting so much thought into lower all my appliances. I have two 110 panels, and plan on finding a place to set them up after all this snow melts.
I installed the DD-WRT filmware about a month ago, it helped with dropped wireless signal. I would be really interested DD-WRT tweaks that could decrease power.

Thanks for your suggestions.

My solar backup system is wired to run all my PC hardware, Fios box, combo wifi-modem unit.
It uses a MSW inverter and I've tested it out on my loads. Seems to work okay.
But, I have not been using it during times of bad weather or snow melting.
Since my primary app for back-up is to run my sump pumps.

Using Solar PV to take over a (12V 2A) 24w 24-7 load would likely cost you more than it's worth.
You would need to be able to quickly recharge the battery and feed the load at the same time.



Maybe you could build it bare-bones and could manually switch back to the grid when the battery got low.?.
A few cloudy days in a row.

Maybe a 100w panel and a charge controller that had a load controller built in.
The load output would shut down when the battery got too low. Like this one. Saves the life of you battery..

Morningstar SunSaver Charge Controller, 10A, 12 VDC

I am using the Tomato firmware which is similar to DD-WRT.
To reduce power consumption and add security I reduced the Wi-Fi transmit power and reduced the time that Wi-Fi is enabled.

On my router I reduced the transmit power from 42mW to 30mW and disabled wireless from 12PM to 5AM.

My router is a Linksys WRT54G V2.0 with Tomato 1.28.


(I finally registered here after being a member at ecomodder for a year)

Welcome to ER. :)

What kind of power reduction at the plug did you see from your tweaks?

@Xringer

I have a real amateur setup Two Mitsubishi 110 panels
Xantrex 1,500 Watt Portable Powerpack and an extra 63ah Concord deep cycle battery, It's enough energy to power my small devices for several hour.
The powerpack has a built in inverter and it beeps really loud when the batteries are getting low.

I had the Morningstar charge controller you posted and sold it.
I need one that could support more than one panel.
I picked up Sunforce 30 Amp Digital Charge Controller.
I really want to see what it would cost to grid tie, and pick up a few more panels. You can purchase 200watt panels for the around the same price I paid for the 100watt panels

@Angmaar
I will surely be looking at the Tomato firmware

Thanks!

I don't have a KillAWatt yet. I'll test it if/when I get one though.

I was only trying to point out the type of controller. One that has a set of Load terminals
(that can handle your 24w load).


If I wanted to power 24w 24/7, I would likely use a single panel 80-200w
and a charge+load controller with a 115ah marine-RV battery.
I would likely have to switch it back to the grid at times,
depending on the size of the PV and the weather.
That process could be made fully automatic.

Anyways, the system should be able to run your load & simultaneously
give you battery a full charge within about 4 hours of good sun.
So, a good sized PV is required. It has to daily store enough watt-hours
to run that 24w load all night long and then some.

But whatever the size you pick, there is going to be cloudy days followed
by more cloudy days, once in a while.. :(


Have you checked all the Low-Hanging-Fruit? There might be some other
place where you can save 24w.. CFL etc..

I pay a lot for my power, 21 cents per kWh.. 24 watts 24 hours would cost me, about
0.576 kwh x .21 = $0.12096 or $3.63 per month or $43.50 a year.

LOL! I pay over $200 a year for the town newspaper!

Really, how much do you pay a year for 24 watts?

My goodness. I think I would cry if I was paying 21 cents per kwh.
I have National Grid, all told it's 14.5 cents per Kwh. So it's like 30.50 a year to run 24 watts.
I am sure come April National Grid will raise prices, just look at the price of oil and gas. It's not all about the money. I dream of living off the grid.

Hehaha! Be careful what you wish for. We might all be off the grid before you know it.

Gasoline and heating oil at 10 or 20 bucks a gallon isn't going to work..

If our economic situation continues to worsen, only very rich people
will be able to afford electricity.

I expect to see a massive migration from the NE to the Sunbelt during my life time.
No one will want to spent their entire life savings to heat their homes,
so they will not want to live up here.. And freeze to death.

My plan is to strip the abandoned houses in my neighborhood for firewood. :D
My boiler can burn any fuel but nuclear.. :p

Of course, if we get some smarter people in government, that could all be avoided..

On at least some models, dd-wrt also lets you underclock the CPU. Probably only worth a tiny fraction of a watt, though...

Maybe not. One word - drought. It's pretty darn dry in the Southwest and all signs point to things getting even drier in the future.

I keep voting for the smart(er) ones, but sometimes I get outvoted.

FWIW,
Tim

IEEE 802.3az & Green Ethernet
 

You'll have to cut&paste links cause I'm not alowed to post them having less than 5 posts.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_Efficient_Ethernet

I actually first found out about it from Sapido products which I found searching for a router that can use a USB wimax/clear 4G modem (or phones for that matter - go to support resources FAQ to check supported phones & modems). Interestingly a google products search that includes terms 802.3az or "Green Ethernet" finds very few other products that are compliant and Sapido being the cheapest.

The cheapest one with the lowest power supply rating is: RB-1800 @ 5V 0.6A, though You might want a more full featured products: such as RB-1232 sapido.com.tw/EN/product_router.htm or the "Network Attached storage" GR-1222 which lets You hook up a HD (and schedule donloads to it so You can turn the computer off while it's downloading), webcam ( to monitor online remotely without a comp running at the location, just the router, webcam & modem), printer etc. sapido.com.tw/EN/product_nas.htm

While those are rated at 1+A that is just the power supply, not the idle usage. The idle usage on all models might be just as low as the RB-1800 for all I know cause they all have the 802.3az certification it is just that the more full featured ones run more stuff so need higher peak power which might be worth it if You want those features.

Search for them on google products by part number and manufacturer name (sapido) to get best pricing.

OFF TOPIC:

On a sidenote, I was looking for a remote webcam setup with clear/wimax 4G connection for a boat. A setup that would not require a comp running and be solar powered.

I will probably get the RB-1232 and this camera: lonestargrp.net/shop/article_45/Wireless-IP-Camera-PAN_TILT-Cell-Phone-View.html cause it has motion detection, infra red, pan/tilt, built in web server & recording to a remote server, Supports two-way audio function.

Sapido g series NAS rauter has motion detection, but it's $200+.

Possibly I'll get "Gum USB DV Camera Video Voice Camcorder Motion Detector" BMW Spy Car Key Covert Camcorde motion Detector Camera (~$20) or even "Hidden Camera Towel Hook Motion Sensor" ($50 on ebay) and hook them up to a 5V supply, but that doesn't give me real time notification nor remote storage of the recorded video.

I've kind of been looking for a new router and I remembered this thread. I started poking around looking for something that would work for me and I ended up finding this product. I haven't read any reviews (except the one on newegg), but the power saving features sound really nice. As of right now newegg is selling it for $61 which seems pretty reasonable. Unfortunately it doesn't actually tell you how much power the unit draws in power saving mode or max.

LevelOne Global - WBR-6020 300Mbps Wireless Router

I look forward to having a router and modem that idles at very low power (0.1 watt perhaps ?) but in the meantime I wonder if the better part of valor is to focus on efficient power supplies.

Insight ?

Pretty much everything now comes with switching mode power supplies which are really very efficient.

If your device isn't using a switching mode power supply, changing over to one could save you a couple watts of constant draw.

I still haven't replace my very old dlink router (not netgear), and its getting worse. I find myself resetting it at least weekly if not more often. I'll be posting what I find.

So far I've found this one. It looks to fit the bill and newegg has it for $25 shipped...

Edimax BR-6428n - 300Mbps Wireless Broadband iQ Router


If anyone has suggestions I'm all ears!

Any chance I could get any of you guys to check your router's power usage? Mine is pretty old and I'm wondering if the new ones with multiple antennas use more power (I assume they do).

Wooo, I found a nice site that lists power consumption of a bunch of routers! Looks like the one I have running at 5W isn't all that bad power wise compared to most. Most seem to be in the 5W-10W range.

WIFI Routers Power Consumption

I went ahead and rolled the dice on the Edimax BR-6228nC router. Its has the lowest power consumption (1.5W!) of all the routers on the power consumption database site and has the features I want (wireless N basically). It is also dirt cheap at $20 shipped from newegg. I'll update you all on how it works out.

Product webpage: http://www.edimax.com/en/produce_det..._id=1&pl2_id=2

Best advice I know of is to get all equipment that runs from 12V and then connect them all to a 12V battery with a 13.8V float charge (and/or alternative energy) to run them. It's far more efficient to have a single converter than many and also much more reliable.

I agree that would be nice. I'm pretty sure my current router runs on 5V and this new one I'm know runs on 5V.

Do you know of any good/simple way of kicking down 12V to 5V. I know there are the linear voltage regulators like a 7805, but they just waste the excess energy as heat, right?

IThe phone company provided me with a modem and Wireless-N wifi router combined in one unit. Total consumption is just 9 watts

Modem: Zyxel P660R-D1

http://i43.tinypic.com/2rhtyfs.jpg

I really like the TI voltage regulators. They're switchers that are almost as easy to use as linears.

You can also look at those automotive USB power supplies. Derate them significantly and they should last a good time.

i want a wifi repeater

The TL-WR703N appears to be cheap, popular, and well supported. It accepts 5V, so you'll need a DC/DC to run it from a 12V system. A cheap car USB charger will work fine and the power usage is very modest (less than a watt) so just get a charger rated for at least 500mA (derating it since you'll be using it for continuous duty) and you should be good to go. As a bonus, it can also work as a NAS, though plan on using a larger converter (one designed for charging tablets should work nicely) if you're going to use a hard drive.

I have my new router, but I have yet to set it up. Hopefully sometime this weekend...

I got the new router setup finally. According to the kill-a-watt it pulls a solid 2W continuously. That is less than half of what the older d-link used. I know its not a lot (2kWh/mo), but since I needed a new one anyways, why not go for something more efficient. :) It was pretty cheap too!

I'll report back with how it works out. It is a single antenna router just like my older dlink. I plugged both in and walked around the house a bit with my smart phone and reception seems to be nearly identical.

If they are near each other, run the modem off the computer's power supply.
Most take 5V, and the 5V lead stays hot even while a PC is in standby

I use it to cut out the losses from the wall wart, and a quality PSU is about the best efficiency you can get.

That isn't a bad idea if you keep your computer on all the time. I don't keep my computer on 24/7. I only turn it on to use it. I do use wifi with my smart phone. I use republic wireless, and they make VOIP calls when you're connected to wifi to keep your bill down, awesome plan and highly suggest them ($20/mo unlimited everything). So I need wifi up 24/7.

Correct, BUT note I said that all PSU leave the 5V live, even when the PC is powered off but still plugged in - hence how it responds to the power button.

If you have a quality PSU, you can get the few watts needed and it will not be too awful power factor wise. Many PSUs can be erratic though as they were not meant to deliver any usable power in that state.
If you normally leave your PC in standby or hibernate when its 'off', you again can use the 5V line and its stable as that is what supplies the memory chips.

Won't work if you use laptop, hard switch the PSU or use a power strip.

It's easy to test if you have a spare plug around compatible to your router/modems power input


I tried running my alarm clock off it too - really just about anything will run off a PSU if you bypass the internal ac/dc converter - but it seems either the voltage drop on the long line along with the voltage changes were too much for the clock to handle; it expected a fixed voltage and wasn't happy with voltage spikes (relative) when the PC went from standby to on.

It did cut measurable power usage of the clock to nill.
I couldn't measure an increase from the PSU AC input; the voltmeter only said a couple watts of DC were going to it. The clock AC input measured avg 12 watts in, most of it lost to heat in ac/dc conversion.

I also charge my phone. If your phone is happy with 500mA then you can use the USB port. If it wants more, you wire a 12v car charger adapter to the 12v output of the PSU - better safe than sorry and have the built in adapter protection as you could wire your phone directly to the 5V PSU output.


I'm using a Seasonic 400 fanless gold with active PFC.

Netgear N150 Wireless Router JNR1010 is best for my side

How much power does that router use vpiya?

Also, welcome to the site. :)