Eli5: Does increasing the volume on a battery operated music device increase power usage?
In: 16
Yes, but not by a lot in most cases.
While the exact figures of voltage and current will vary wildly from device to device, increasing the volume of a speaker increases the amount of voltage sent to the speaker to make it create louder sounds. With this slight increase in voltage, you also get a slight increase in current, which will draw ever so slightly more energy from the battery. With something like a cellphone, the difference in current draw between a low speaker volume and a high speaker volume will be minuscule when compared to other parts of the cellphone like the cellular/WiFi connection, screen brightness, and the processor. On something like a giant portable guitar amp, the difference in current draw between low volume and high volume will be much greater and will have a bigger effect on battery life.
Think of your music device like a toy car that needs batteries to run. When you push the toy car really fast, it needs more energy from the batteries to keep going. Similarly, when you turn up the volume on your music device, it needs more energy from the batteries to make the music louder.
So if you turn the volume up really loud, your music device will use up the battery’s energy faster than if you keep the volume low.
Yes, but not by a lot in most cases.
While the exact figures of voltage and current will vary wildly from device to device, increasing the volume of a speaker increases the amount of voltage sent to the speaker to make it create louder sounds. With this slight increase in voltage, you also get a slight increase in current, which will draw ever so slightly more energy from the battery. With something like a cellphone, the difference in current draw between a low speaker volume and a high speaker volume will be minuscule when compared to other parts of the cellphone like the cellular/WiFi connection, screen brightness, and the processor. On something like a giant portable guitar amp, the difference in current draw between low volume and high volume will be much greater and will have a bigger effect on battery life.
Think of your music device like a toy car that needs batteries to run. When you push the toy car really fast, it needs more energy from the batteries to keep going. Similarly, when you turn up the volume on your music device, it needs more energy from the batteries to make the music louder.
So if you turn the volume up really loud, your music device will use up the battery’s energy faster than if you keep the volume low.
Think of your music device like a toy car that needs batteries to run. When you push the toy car really fast, it needs more energy from the batteries to keep going. Similarly, when you turn up the volume on your music device, it needs more energy from the batteries to make the music louder.
So if you turn the volume up really loud, your music device will use up the battery’s energy faster than if you keep the volume low.
Yes, but not by a lot in most cases.
While the exact figures of voltage and current will vary wildly from device to device, increasing the volume of a speaker increases the amount of voltage sent to the speaker to make it create louder sounds. With this slight increase in voltage, you also get a slight increase in current, which will draw ever so slightly more energy from the battery. With something like a cellphone, the difference in current draw between a low speaker volume and a high speaker volume will be minuscule when compared to other parts of the cellphone like the cellular/WiFi connection, screen brightness, and the processor. On something like a giant portable guitar amp, the difference in current draw between low volume and high volume will be much greater and will have a bigger effect on battery life.
Yes, but this may or may not be a significant amount.
In any device there will be some “background” level of power draw which is independent of the volume (such as the CD motor, or cassette drive, or MP3-playing microprocessor) plus a variable amount of power that depends on the volume.
With a small analogue FM radio receiver it’s possible that the receiver-part draws very little power, and most of the power goes to the speaker, so the volume-setting will make a significant difference (easily halving or doubling the battery life depending on the volume). Also in one example the three AA batteries lasted for 100’s hours on headphones, but only 20-30 hours on speaker. It takes a lot less power to drive headphones than a speaker.
If it’s a modern digital radio receiver, MP3 player, or mobile-phone (with WiFi etc), driving headphones, then it’s likely that the “background” power-consumption is much higher than the power to the headphones, so the volume will make little difference.
Yes, but this may or may not be a significant amount.
In any device there will be some “background” level of power draw which is independent of the volume (such as the CD motor, or cassette drive, or MP3-playing microprocessor) plus a variable amount of power that depends on the volume.
With a small analogue FM radio receiver it’s possible that the receiver-part draws very little power, and most of the power goes to the speaker, so the volume-setting will make a significant difference (easily halving or doubling the battery life depending on the volume). Also in one example the three AA batteries lasted for 100’s hours on headphones, but only 20-30 hours on speaker. It takes a lot less power to drive headphones than a speaker.
If it’s a modern digital radio receiver, MP3 player, or mobile-phone (with WiFi etc), driving headphones, then it’s likely that the “background” power-consumption is much higher than the power to the headphones, so the volume will make little difference.
Yes, but this may or may not be a significant amount.
In any device there will be some “background” level of power draw which is independent of the volume (such as the CD motor, or cassette drive, or MP3-playing microprocessor) plus a variable amount of power that depends on the volume.
With a small analogue FM radio receiver it’s possible that the receiver-part draws very little power, and most of the power goes to the speaker, so the volume-setting will make a significant difference (easily halving or doubling the battery life depending on the volume). Also in one example the three AA batteries lasted for 100’s hours on headphones, but only 20-30 hours on speaker. It takes a lot less power to drive headphones than a speaker.
If it’s a modern digital radio receiver, MP3 player, or mobile-phone (with WiFi etc), driving headphones, then it’s likely that the “background” power-consumption is much higher than the power to the headphones, so the volume will make little difference.
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