Hello guys. I am measuring the power consumption of my server directly on the wall. It usually idled between 12.3 and 12.6W very consistently.

Since yesterday however it increased to 12.7W minimum and sparks to 14W every few seconds, sometimes even above that. I have no docker containers running, disks are spun down. I had Wireguard activated but disabling it didn't help either. Inbound and outbound network activity is below 20 Kbit/s. I see the CPU spike from 3 to 14% in the dashboard. It seems a little jittery there but it doesn't tell me much. I have no new services installed that would explain the power consumption increase. Do you have any ideas where I could look to find an explanation?

It is ~2W not 0,1W. Before it was 12.3-12.6W so 0,3W variance. Now it is 12.6W but mostly 13 or 14.1W. I know these devices are not accurate but it was very consistent for two weeks and now it is not anymore all of a sudden.

47 minutes ago, cheaptrick666 said:

Do you have any ideas where I could look to find an explanation?

Not without more information (Docker containers, VMs,...).

 

Please keep in mind that even a Docker container update which introduces a new feature to the application could cause such a power spike.

 

Do you have by any chance enabled Advanced View on the Docker page.

 

36 minutes ago, MAM59 said:

SERIOUSLY???

I know that English is not your first language but please DON'T TYPE IN CAPITAL SINCE IT CAN BE VERY OFFENDING!

Maybe you also miss read since he talks about ~1.5W more

6 minutes ago, MAM59 said:

His measurement means nothing!

Sorry but such sentences mean nothing to me and also not to the OP.

This isn't helpful in any way, if you have nothing constructive to post please don't post, it's that easy.

Hey @ich777 I have Jellyfin and Minecraft itzg docker containers but I disabled them. Same with Wireguard. Advanced view was turned off. Does that matter if the container is deactivatd? I am new to Unraid and have this server running for only 2 weeks so far and the increase started yesterday. I used Powertop to make everything as power efficient as possible and it worked quite well. I can't really explain the sudden spike even if it is minimal. As plugins I am running:

Community Applications

 

Dynamix System Temperature

 

Fix Common Problems

 

GPU Statistics

 

Intel GPU TOP

 

Tips and Tweaks

Edited December 2, 20241 yr by cheaptrick666

4 minutes ago, cheaptrick666 said:

Does that matter if the container is deactivatd?

In most cases yes.

 

4 minutes ago, cheaptrick666 said:

I am new to Unraid and have this server running for only 2 weeks so far and the increase started yesterday.

You can try to register a second Trail license on a different USB device and see if it runs at the lower W with that.

 

However you can open up htop in the terminal and see if something is using the CPU more than usual.

 

4 minutes ago, cheaptrick666 said:

Same with Wireguard.

Wireguard will not consume any more power if no tunnel is connected.

 

Please keep in mind if you keep the WebUI somewhere open that this could also cause such spikes since Unraid has to query the data somewhere if one is in the WebUI.

 

 

It might be also the case that a plugin is causing the spikes.

Please check if you changed anything on the configuration from your server or installed anything in that time frame.

4 minutes ago, ich777 said:

You can try to register a second Trail license on a different USB device and see if it runs at the lower W with that.

I will try that. Can I transfer my license from one USB stick to another (I am running Unraid Unleashed) and apparently my USB stick turned out to be a counterfeit.

 

6 minutes ago, ich777 said:

It might be also the case that a plugin is causing the spikes.

Please check if you changed anything on the configuration from your server or installed anything in that time frame.

I restarted my server. So my logs are gone apparently. Is there a way to see when a plugin was updated? I think the Community applications were updated yesterday but I can't say for sure.

3 minutes ago, cheaptrick666 said:

I will try that. Can I transfer my license from one USB stick to another (I am running Unraid Unleashed) and apparently my USB stick turned out to be a counterfeit.

No, that is not possible.

 

3 minutes ago, cheaptrick666 said:

Is there a way to see when a plugin was updated?

Just look at the dates on the plugin page.

 

3 minutes ago, cheaptrick666 said:

I think the Community applications were updated yesterday but I can't say for sure.

Again, as long as you are not on the WebUI nothing should do anything.

 

The first thing that I would try is to enable SSH, connect to the Server through SSH and then call htop and see what spikes, at least that would be what I would do to diagnose the issue.

 

However we are talking about a real minimum change in power draw, which power socket do you use to measure the power draw? Do you by any change have a second power socket at home that you can measure the power draw?

Please note that most power sockets below 20W to 15W are measuring not that correct any more.

I am not sure what you mean by power socket. I am using an ELV Energy Master Basic 2 device directly plugged into the wall. I haven't tried a different outlet so far. Now that I am not on the WebUI the powerdraw is lower. 12.1W to 12.5W but much higher spikes to 16-17W every 60 seconds or so. Disks are still spun down. I will try to SSH into the server later and give an update on what process is causing spikes if I can identify any. It updates pretty fast so I might record it to find the correlation.

49 minutes ago, cheaptrick666 said:

I am not sure what you mean by power socket. I am using an ELV Energy Master Basic 2 device directly plugged into the wall.

A second one of these just to rule out something is off with the ELV Energy Master Basic 2.

 

50 minutes ago, cheaptrick666 said:

I will try to SSH into the server later and give an update on what process is causing spikes if I can identify any.

I think this is the best way to diagnose this.

3 hours ago, cheaptrick666 said:

Can I transfer my license from one USB stick to another (I am running Unraid Unleashed)

Paid for licences can be transferred - Trial ones cannot.

Short update. It was running fine after a restart and then I installed a new Docker container and since now it is spiking again despite all containers being disabled. It feels like something is triggering the system in intervals in the background.