FaceTime HD Camera Power Consumption?

Hi guys,

Firstly a happy holiday season to you all.

The other day, while using my MacBook Pro (13", early 2012 model (non-Retina), i7) I needed to free up another USB port, so I plugged in a non-powered hub & an extra external hard drive to be told by OS X that my devices were consuming too much power & hence one had been shut down...

I opened up System Information via Applications, Utilities & found that the FaceTime HD Camera, while turned off, was still being allocated it's 500m amps of power. I thought this interesting as there were no applications open that would require the camera to be available, etc.

I could see that on the other USB Hi-Speed Bus that controls the Bluetooth adaptor that there was no power being used while it was switched off, even though it had been allocated 500ma of power. Why does the HD Camera use 500ma of it's allocated 500ma while switched off, while other adaptors do not use any of their allocated power while switched off? Apart from being a wasted of power & battery life, this limited two USB channels are further limited by this issue...

Has anyone else come across this anomaly, or is it there for good reason?

Any help or feedback would be most appreciated.

Cheers guys,

mez

* Bump - Anyone post-Christmas..? *

Not sure what you're seeing for the Camera but this is what mine shows:

FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in):

Product ID: 0x850b
Vendor ID: 0x05ac (Apple Inc.)
Version: 7.55
Serial Number:
Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: Apple Inc.
Location ID: 0xfa200000 / 3
Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): 500

That does not mean the camera is using 500 mA but only that when it's turned on, it requires 500 mA to function properly.

If you're seeing something different, copy and paste into your next reply so we can get a look at it.

I suspect the non - powered hub and the hard drive together is what caused the overdraw of current and not any inactive devices. I recommend purchasing a good quality powered hub with built in protection instead of using the non - powered hub. It may cost more but it's worth it as an overdrawn USB circuit could damage your logic board and wind up costing you a lot of $$ to repair.

Many thanks for your reply.

Mine shows the same as yours, except for the Bluetooth adaptor shows the following:

Bluetooth USB Host Controller:

Product ID: 0x821d
Vendor ID: 0x05ac (Apple Inc.)
Version: 1.00
Speed: Up to 12 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: Apple Inc.
Location ID: 0x1d181300 / 9
Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): 0

I was wondering why when my Bluetooth is OFF that is doesn't require any current, while the FaceTime HD Camera ALWAYS requires current, even when turned OFF.

Before upgrading to Mountain Lion from Lion I never had the USB bus power-related problems that I do now with a simple non-powered hub & external HDD...

I hope that gives you a better understanding of my situation. Thanks again for posting mez

chscag said:

Not sure what you're seeing for the Camera but this is what mine shows:

FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in):

Product ID: 0x850b
Vendor ID: 0x05ac (Apple Inc.)
Version: 7.55
Serial Number:
Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: Apple Inc.
Location ID: 0xfa200000 / 3
Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): 500

That does not mean the camera is using 500 mA but only that when it's turned on, it requires 500 mA to function properly.

If you're seeing something different, copy and paste into your next reply so we can get a look at it.

I suspect the non - powered hub and the hard drive together is what caused the overdraw of current and not any inactive devices. I recommend purchasing a good quality powered hub with built in protection instead of using the non - powered hub. It may cost more but it's worth it as an overdrawn USB circuit could damage your logic board and wind up costing you a lot of $$ to repair.

Click to expand...

I was wondering why when my Bluetooth is OFF that is doesn't require any current, while the FaceTime HD Camera ALWAYS requires current, even when turned OFF.

Click to expand...

Where do you see that the FaceTime Camera always requires 500 mA even when it's off?

I think you're misunderstanding what the system profiler is telling you. The HD Camera only requires 500 mA when it's powered on not when it's off. You don't leave your camera on all the time do you?

Blue Tooth does not require or use any noticeable amount of current since devices are paired not attached.

Like I advised you before, the hub you're using is probably the reason you're having USB current draw problems. The HD Camera and Blue Tooth have nothing to do with that.