Arcade Power Setup

briankross

I started a thread a few days ago here about 5VDC power supplies for the rPi. My specific concern with a switching vs. linear power supply is the current switching can cause electrical noise problems if not carefully filtered.

Have you had any issues?

GreenHawk84

Thank you for the feedback. Yes, the powerstrip does appear to be easy.

I guess one thing I want to know is if I use the power strip, how should I do the Button LEDs and the Marquee LEDs? Cant I just use one 12V AC adapter?

briankross

@GreenHawk84 said in Arcade Power Setup:

Thank you for the feedback. Yes, the powerstrip does appear to be easy.

I guess one thing I want to know is if I use the power strip, how should I do the Button LEDs and the Marquee LEDs? Cant I just use one 12V AC adapter?

As long as the adapter can handle the load, I don't see why not. You may want to secure the wall wart to your power strip with cable ties. You can use an appropriate terminal block depending on your specific needs to bridge the two together.

Zigurana

@briankross said in Arcade Power Setup:

@Zigurana

I started a thread a few days ago here about 5VDC power supplies for the rPi. My specific concern with a switching vs. linear power supply is the current switching can cause electrical noise problems if not carefully filtered.

Have you had any issues?

I never had any issues. I use a USB powered AND driven speaker set (dismantled logitech S150), so am not using the 3.5mm plug for that. Other than that, how would a ripple on the power line affect anything?

rbaker

@Zigurana Some useful information here

Zigurana

@rbaker said in Arcade Power Setup:

@Zigurana Some useful information here

Yeah, thanks for that, but 1) I'm not an elec. engineer so I have difficulty parsing all the jargon (quickly enough before my attention span falters) 2) I am using a usb driven audio setup, so that type of noise is not an issue for me.

Plus, if I understand your link correctly, SMPS are used for audio as well? (Now that I think about it, maybe that was your point?)

briankross

@rbaker

I understand.

Voltage is voltage, and it's the circuit design that makes for quality power output. Cheaper switched power supply designs may not incorporate proper filtering, emi/rfi rejection, and voltage regulation suitable for circuits with processors. Dirty power can ruin equipment over time. My concern is if this attention is given to less expensive power supplies likely designed for industrial use.

With this, I've contacted Delta Electronics about the PMC-05V015W1AA, the power supply I'm interested in, and asked if it's suitable for use powering a computer. Their response was it's designed for industrial use, but can be used for IT / computing applications as well. That tells me the $17 USD AC to DC power supply (fairly cheap) is probably clean enough to power the rPi 3. I've ordered one, and will see what happens.

I've been a live audio engineer for 18 years, and have seen the impact of lighter more efficient power supplies for audio amplifiers. The difference is that's what they're designed for, and you get what you pay for. My goal here is to make sure I'm not going to ruin the rPi because I chose the wrong power supply. :-)

rbaker

@Zigurana Yes that was why I posted it, the article says that if it's designed with audio in mind, SMPS are fine and you can have all the efficiency benefits.

rbaker

@briankross Yes, the summary basically says:

Cheap mass-produced Switch Mode Power Supplies with poor filtering and bad interference rejection have tarnished the reputation of SMPS in the Hi-Fi audio world. It will take some top-quality SMPS in high-end equipment to overcome the damage that has been done. But there is no good reason why SMPS cannot be used to power audio circuits, large and small.

So my original intention was to suggest that a low cost one should be fine for our purposes based on that quite technical debate. I'd be interested to know how the one you have ordered performs.

briankross

@rbaker

It's on the way, shipped today.

briankross

@rbaker

So far so good! For about a week the Delta PMC-05V015W1AA seems to be working just fine, runs cool, the rPi runs fine, I'll test the analog audio output soon just to see if it's clean. It does have a soft high pitch harmonic tone, but inside any enclosure should be completely unheard.

rbaker

@briankross sounding good.