On this page, you will find out how many watts an Xbox One draws.
The 3rd generation console from Microsoft is surprisingly efficient when it comes to power consumption. This is interesting considering the games you can run on it! That’s good news, as it means you can get lost in your games for hours on end churning through electricity. Adding to this, you could easily run it while living off-grid in an RV or campervan.
Below we will discuss and test Xbox One wattage, explain how to work it out for yourself, and calculate the total electricity required.
How Many Watts is an Xbox One?
The average Xbox One uses between 70 to 120 watts.
The exact number depends on what function you are using on your games console. For example, while sitting idle or streaming a movie it draws 70W or less. Power consumption will spike when playing games to over 100W.
This variation in power level is down to the internal computer components. High end games require an increased amount of computing power while simple tasks, like playing a DVD, are less demanding.
You should also be aware that an Xbox One will use 15 watts of power when switched off in standby mode. This enables the machine to be powered on remotely and perform basic tasks in the background.
To completely cut energy use you should switch it off at the mains or unplug the console.
How to Find Out Your Xbox One Wattage
There’s 3 ways you can work out the wattage of an Xbox One.
- Check Product Specification
The quickest way is to look at the Xbox One’s specification. The watts (W) is usually written on a sticker on the base of the appliance. If not, you can check the user manual or the manufacturer’s website for technical details. This information will refer to the maximum power rating and won’t give you an actual power consumption which will be much lower.
- Use a Wattmeter
A wattmeter is brilliant for getting a live wattage reading and tracking total energy usage of any appliance. You can simply plug it into your Xbox One to get instant information.
I used one to test an Xbox One which gave a live reading of 85.2W while playing Halo 5.
- Wattage Formula or Calculator
If you know the amperage and voltage of your Microsoft Xbox One you can use this to find the maximum watts. Simply use the formula Amps x Volts = Watts. Or you can head over to the ‘Watt Calculator’ to work this out.
How Much Electricity Does an Xbox One Use?
You can use Xbox One wattage to work out how much electricity it uses. Plus this can be useful in understanding how much it costs to run your Xbox One.
A watt (W) is a measurement of power at a single point in time. A watt-hour is the total amount of electricity used in an hour. For example, an Xbox One drawing 120W would use 120Wh when running for an hour.
Happily, electricity bills are recorded in kilowatt-hours (kWh). A kilowatt is simply 1000 watts. So a 120W Xbox One running for 1 hour uses 0.12kWh.
In reality, you use an Xbox One for 2 hours a day. This means gaming on an Xbox One uses around 240Wh or 0.24kWh electricity a day. That’s 7.2kWh a month and 87.6kWh a year.
That’s a rough electricity cost of $0.03 a day or $13 a year to play high end video games for 2 hours each day.
Using an Xbox One Off-Grid
If you’re planning to use your Xbox One in an off-grid situation, like an RV or boat, the information above is key. You can use it to select the correct power equipment and work out how long you can play your games.
You can either use a power inverter, portable power station, or generator to produce AC electricity.
To make sure everything runs smoothly you should check two things on this equipment – wattage capacity and total energy capacity.
Your power source, like an inverter, should have a wattage capacity of at least 20% more than your Xbox One. This ensures it will be able to deliver enough power as they are never 100% efficient. To run your console, you will need at least 400W of power capacity. This comfortably enables you to run the games console and a TV without overloading your equipment.
Secondly, you need to ensure your energy source, like a battery, has enough energy to run the Xbox One for the required amount of time. As we already know, it will use upto 120Wh electricity every hour. This is the equivalent to 10Ah on a 12V battery.
How Many Watts Does an Xbox One Use Summary
You should now understand how many watts an Xbox One uses.
When compared to other 3rd generation consoles, like the PS4, the Xbox consumes a lot less power. Even when running high-end games things are still very efficient. One thing to note is the higher power draw when left in standby mode. If you’re worried about electricity usage then make sure to completely kill the power when not in use. Plus if you want to run it off-grid then don’t forget to include the TV in your running calculations.
