Off grid PC (under 15w)

[DevonBreeze]

I'm trying to make use of a mini pc in an off grid cabin. And I'm hoping people can suggest things to help save power. The idea is that it acts like a server, mostly for security camera recordings so it's up and running 24/7. Currently it draws up to about 15watts (about 10watts in normal use, when a display isnt attached).

I'm using an n100 based gmktec g3 mini pc with 8gb ram and 500gb nvme ssd. And a generic touch screen ips lcd display. I wanted a gui, so it runs Win11 Pro, and does the job adequately. I know that a linux build could possibly be a bit more efficient but I have limited experience with Linux and prefer running Windows. I've been down the, Raspberry Pi as a server, route but it wasn't powerful enough for my needs without adding hats and all sorts of extras and that soon gets expensive. And I don't have the time to learn new OS's and how to set it all up. For the most part, it's an offline setup, running a media/file server when desired and occasionally going online for various light tasks, web-browsing, etc.

I run a relatively small solar setup (720w of panels), paired with a Bluetti ac200max unit. I cannot add or change this setup for anything larger so I'm forced to save power through software options or small (cheap) hardware tweaks.

Things I have done so far are:
-disabled any unused windows services
-set power option to 'high efficiency'
-enabled all the power saving stuff in the power options settings
-enabled cstate in bios
-set power option to 10w max in bios
-underclocked cpu slightly
-removed the wifi and bluetooth card
-changed the cpu thermal paste for higher quality (reducing the temp by 10c so the fan comes on less often)
-improved airflow into the case
-no usb devices plugged in
-runs directly off 12v from the Bluetti unit

The mini pc runs through an ethernet switch (3w max), which has several raspberry pis connected, again via ethernet. Each pi runs at 2w max with camera modules attached. It runs Contacam (I've yet to find better software for recording footage with motion detection in windows). And I only plug a small hdmi lcd touch screen panel in when necessary, so there is no monitor drawing any power in standby in the mean time. It's remotely accessable when needed too.

Overall the entire setup runs under 30w. I used to use a laptop as the server and that was 35w just on it's own.

I'd be very grateful for any tips, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant the power drop might be with your suggestions. It all runs fine in summer but in winter when solar panels generate considerably less power, powering things becomes more challenging, when other necessary devices are also draining power. Switching it off at certain times is not an option unfortunately, in my situation every watt is precious.

Is there anything anyone can think of to reduce power draw as I'd love to hear it? Seems to be a lack of info out there on low powered computing setups. Maybe there's a community out there I haven't heard of you could recommend? Thanks.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Any devices using the Bluetti AC power?

 

[DevonBreeze]

Yes a mini fridge and other devices, but most are 'temporary' uses, lighting, a water pump, etc. I'll be switching the lighting to dc soon though.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Yes a mini fridge and other devices, but most are 'temporary' uses, lighting, a water pump, etc.

Do you occupy this cabin full time, or are you often off-site. If offsite, these AC devices are not running, and you've turned off the AC output?

 

[Glock24]

Get O&O Shutup10 and disable all tracking and telemetry, this will reduce resource usage.

On a side note, if you're recording to the NVMe SSD it won't last long unless it's a high endurance (usually enterprise grade) model. SSDs have limited writes and are usually carry a TBW (TeraBytes Written) rating. Cheap SSDs have very low endurance.

 

[EnergizerNate]

Disable the virus scanning in Windows and just run a manual scan now and then when it has been online to maintain security.

 

[CVCPJared]

I think you hit the nail on the head in saying you looked at both Pi and Linux, as both those would be lower power than W11 Pro. Its just a resource hungry OS by default, and resources require power. What about a chromebook? That's a similar interface/familiarity to Windows. You can find chromebooks with 50-60wh batteries claiming 10-15h battery life, and I doubt that's disabling everything including the screen like you are. You might be able to get in the 3-4w range. I think Chromeboxes can be in a similar range.

But 15w is not at all bad. Most laptops suck more than that and i don't think you'd be under that with a DVR even.

If sticking with Windows and looking for something other than Contactcam, Blue Iris is a good option. I think they had a trial to mess around in

And seconding what Glock said - we have had customers buy WD greens and throw them in a DVR. They'll be dead in a couple of months.

Assuming the storage is mostly for cameras - take how many days of footage you get on that 500gb before it writes over, divide 1 by that number (IE 5 days footage = 1/5 =0.2) - that's the DWPD you need to expect a good 3-5 years from your SSD

Good luck!

Edit: Not sure how resource hungry Blue Iris is. I use it but have never looked into resource usage as mine is a workstation that's already sucking down

And you could also check task manager for power usage of different programs/processes, just be careful what you end

 

[AntronX]

I was going to suggest direct 12V supply but you got it already. Use 12V > 5V dc-dc converters for 5V powered stuff. DC lights. You can get inexpensive NVR board from Aliexpress to run your cameras and replace Pi cams with IP cams. I run my Lorex NVR from 12V via 12>48V dc-dc boost converter. Need to figure out how to bypass internal 48V POE circuit and make it run on 12V direct. IP cams run on 12V already and consume 2.5 watts.

 

[Glock24]

Edit: Not sure how resource hungry Blue Iris is.

I've never used it but when I was looking for a DVR software I was exploring it, turns out it's very CPU intensive so I ruled it out as I was looking for power efficiency. I ended up using Shinobi.

 

[AntronX]

I got my i5 Intel NUC to idle at 6.8 watts by changing CPU max speed to 50% in power options. My PC monitor runs on 6 watts on low brightness. Both on 13.6Vdc.

 

[DevonBreeze]

@Glock24
That 'O&O Shutup10' thing sounds useful, thanks for the suggestion, I will check that out.

The contacam software is set to only record on motion, it doesn't write to the nvme continuously (I monitored what windows stuff wrote data to the drive early on too and disabled a few things to help that). The tbw of most ssd's is well in excess of anything I'll be doing with any of my drives. Although I do back up the files to another drive in a laptop in case.

@EnergizerNate
Thanks, thats a good idea. I totally overlooked it.

@CVCPJared
I looked into chromebooks but they seemed to use more power than a mini pc with win11 on. I've used old netbook computers as servers before but they were underpowered, but had similar specs to older chromebooks. Unfortunately prices can be an issue for me. A chromebox was quite a bit more expensive when I looked a while back but I will look into those again thanks. I tried out Blue Iris but it was pretty buggy, maybe it's time to retest it.
My setup doesn't record 24/7, only on motion events, so ruining an ssd/nvme drive isn't really going to happen. But of course a drive could decide to fail at any time. I've run a similar setup using a laptop elsewhere for 2 years without any issues and the drive in that is still fresh as a daisy (WD blue), seems as fast as when I bought it too which is much better than I expected after all that time. I get about 2 months of footage on a 256gb drive (4 cameras), which is more than enough for my purposes. Thanks for your suggestions though.

@AntronX
Thanks but my cameras already use less power than those. They're probably a higher resolution too. NVR boards can use quite a lot of power. I've reduced the cpu max speed to slightly on mine, I've been wathcing it closely to see at what point it really affects things and about the 80% mark seems to be the sweet spot for mine. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[AntronX]

To reduce standby losses consider replacing your Bluetti with Victron mppt with 12v LFP battery and separate 120vac inverter that you can keep turned off when not needed. You could be losing substantial energy into keeping your Bluetti powered up. With 720 watts of PV you should be making 50 - 70w in overcast weather and a good portion of that could be wasted in standby losses.

 

[kampto]

Get POE security cameras that have on board SD card storage. Log into them with your phone or laptop to review event footage. I stopped using a NAS or separate storage device years ago because of the constant power draw, fan noise, and its just one more thing for them to steal.

 

[wpns]

The new RPi5 can take solid state disks, so maybe that's an avenue to explore. I've just got my first two fired up, so I can't say much about them yet (and I do all headless, so apples and oranges).

I've had really good luck with used (intel) Mac minis as Debian machines, the hardware is really reliable, and there's plenty of horsepower even after a decade of service with macOS.

I've got an Intel NUC that I'm surprised is still working, and have had mixed results with off-brand mini-PCs.

 

[rogerheflin]

Get POE security cameras that have on board SD card storage. Log into them with your phone or laptop to review event footage. I stopped using a NAS or separate storage device years ago because of the constant power draw, fan noise, and its just one more thing for them to steal.

You can also setup some POE cameras to upload the footage (it just wrote to the SD card) to a NAS when it detects motion. So long as the NAS is low powerish that makes things easier than having to go to each camera, and it reduces the cpu load on the NAS since it does not have to handle processing the camera's stream to see if there is motion.

 

[rogerheflin]

The new RPi5 can take solid state disks, so maybe that's an avenue to explore. I've just got my first two fired up, so I can't say much about them yet (and I do all headless, so apples and oranges).

I've had really good luck with used (intel) Mac minis as Debian machines, the hardware is really reliable, and there's plenty of horsepower even after a decade of service with macOS.

I've got an Intel NUC that I'm surprised is still working, and have had mixed results with off-brand mini-PCs.

None of my Intel brand NUC's have died. I have lost at least 2-3 of the off-brand mini-pcs. Too bad Intel has stopped making them.

 

[DevonBreeze]

Are there any poe cameras that actually use less than my current 2w per camera setup? Most I can see online are at least 5w minimum. Plus I'd then need a new network switch or whatever capable of powering them. They're also huge in comparison to the raspberry pi camera modules, and a lower resolution.

 

[rogerheflin]

Most of the POE camera's use high watts (5-12w) when the IR lights are enabled. If you disable the IR/visible lights then they use significantly less power. I am not sure if the manufacturers list the wattage that the cameras use when the lights are disabled.

You can get fully weatherized 4k POE that will survive outside so long as you use dielectric grease on the rj45 "weatherproof" connectors.

 

[MakeMePower]

i think your pretty much maxed out, maybe a passive heatsink vs fan based, if the fan even runs. I do think you are chasing diminishing returns. headless gui less linux is about the only thing that may reduce it more, but when we are talking 3-5 watts I feel like an additional solar panel is a better option

 

[rogerheflin]

i think your pretty much maxed out, maybe a passive heatsink vs fan based, if the fan even runs. I do think you are chasing diminishing returns. headless gui less linux is about the only thing that may reduce it more, but when we are talking 3-5 watts I feel like an additional solar panel is a better option

You can take a modern low power cpu (laptop and/or NUC) and intentionally limit the max cpu speed and significantly reduce power consumption (at the expense of speed). I have done it on a few laptops that I keep running to reduce their heat and power. An extra panel or 2 is probably easier and simpler.

 

[MakeMePower]

You can take a modern low power cpu (laptop and/or NUC) and intentionally limit the max cpu speed and significantly reduce power consumption (at the expense of speed). I have done it on a few laptops that I keep running to reduce their heat and power. An extra panel or 2 is probably easier and simpler.

yes he already did that. i actually think his numbers are impressive

 

[DevonBreeze]

I don't think the poe option is good for me as I'm trying to reduce power use.

I understand it probably sounds daft to most people to be trying to reduce power in this way getting the most out the power available to me, I'm just striving for the most efficient system possible. A few of the suggestions above have already dropped the power use by a little bit so I'm not quite maxed out on everything I could do so I'm thankful for any of your suggestions.

A fanless system is a good suggestion and would be ideal, I didn't want to modify the pc casing to do that initially as the processor is on the rear side of the board (same side as the vesa mount) which means id need to make a new enclosure for the pc, as that's how it's currently mounted to a wall. Ive thought about doing that but Ive not had the time yet.

I do have a spare 120w solar panel that I've been thinking of using with a car battery and a cheap charge controller, dedicated to only powering the mini pc, I've yet to try it but I don't see why it wouldn't run fine. I had wanted to use that panel with the bluetti but it would take me over the max input so I couldn't use it for that.