Power Consumption

Let us now figure out how much power the TerraMaster TD2 Plus needs in standby, idle, and during heavy throughput, both while it is and isn't charging my power-hungry MacBook Pro.

A GW Instek GPM-8213 power analyzer takes all power consumption measurements.

Sleep, Idle and Load

Power Consumption Comparison Charts

Power Consumption in Standby Mode

Vampire power, or phantom load, is the amount of power a device consumes when switched off but still plugged into the power grid. According to the ErP Lot 6 2013 directive, vampire power should be below 0.5 W.

Infrared Images

While I was charging my MacBook Pro 15.4 and transferred data to and from it, I took several infrared images of the power adapter and the DAS with a modified FLIR E4 camera, which is able to deliver an IR resolution of 320x240 (76,800 pixels). The ambient in the lab during these IR shots was close to 25 °C.


The adapter gets hot, but not to where it is alarming.