Does anyone here know how to get my computer's approximate power consumption while running a node? My wife keeps asking me why my computer is always open 24/7. She is already threatening me about our electricity bill.
We can't know what components your computer consists of. Turn off any internal or external monitor when not in use.
I have nodes (RaspiBlitz, Umbrel, RaspiBolt; don't ask why
) running on Raspi 4B with 8GB RAM, those consume on average 5-6W each, all measured with good watt-meters. A Lenovo ThinkPad T540 (don't know how old this thing is, I bought it refurbished) with 8GB RAM, a Crucial 1TB SSD runs 24/7 with Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and a Bitcoin Core daemon headless. This laptop consumes on average somewhere in the ballpark of 12-14W. Lowest power consumption is little less than 10W for shorter moments but mostly between 11-12W. When a new block is seen power consumption spikes up to 26-27W as long as the new block is verified. This doesn't take long for a block, maybe around 10s or so (never measured precisely).
Internal screen of this ThinkPad is all the time off, lid is closed. In the evening I do some browsing the forum and other stuff with a larger external monitor. During those periods this laptop consumes somewhere between 12-18W depending on what I'm doing and of course with the block verification spikes when bitcoind is busy with new blocks.
Desktop computers are usually worse than laptops or power efficient small form factor modern office gear. As Pmalek said: get a decent power-meter (Kill-a-watt or similar) and measure your stuff yourself.
If your water is heated by electricity you can almost forget about the consumption of such devices like above. Cooking (to lesser extend), hot water, electric heating, washing machine, dryers and air condition are the power hogs.
