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    Please do not post a support request without first reading and following the advice in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

    Blinking Red Light Of Death

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Help and Support
    raspberrypi 3b+powerboostscreen
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    • T
      taiJones00 @Efriim
      last edited by

      @Efriim Step down? I still have to study up on the fundamentals of electricity so I don't know any of these terms

      EfriimE 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • EfriimE
        Efriim @taiJones00
        last edited by

        @taiJones00 I mistyped the measurement over time. The 1000c can convert 3.7V xxxxmAh battery to 5V 1000mA-2500mA current.

        The battery while depleted may only give 3.2V so yeah charging it for a while with the battery connected may work.

        The 3.7V to 5V that the Pi requires is called a step-up conversion. A 9V to 5V would be called a step-down.

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          taiJones00 @Efriim
          last edited by

          @Efriim I'm going to try plugging the battery and the power adapter in at the same time now. Fingers crossed. I'll also try to decipher what you just said while the battery's charging

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          • EfriimE
            Efriim
            last edited by Efriim

            I didn't learn very much in electricity, mAh (Milliamp Hours) is used for the capacitance capacity as it is an Amperage over time.

            Volts and Watts and Amps and Impedance all with conversions I can not remember any of the little that I learned.

            The power adapter(charger) is plugged into the powerboost which has the battery and pi attached right?
            And the charger you are using, does it output 5V 2.5A?

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              taiJones00 @Efriim
              last edited by taiJones00

              @Efriim Sure is. So i'm dumb. I had the fear that I would send too much electricity to my components and damage them if I had both things plugged in. But I just plugged them both in and I have a yellow light in the charging area and a flashing red light in the low power area (I guess to reinforce that it's charging). We'll find out soon if this will work.

              The battery is 3.7 V at 2500 mAh. This is the one the pigrrl 2 official tutorial said to use and it's the one that came with my pigrrl 2 kit. Should I use 5 V instead for the pi 3 b+?

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              • EfriimE
                Efriim @taiJones00
                last edited by Efriim

                @taiJones00
                If you unplug the wall charger there on the head of it is a label and somewhere it will read something like

                Input  : AC 110V 7W
                Output : DC 4.6V 900mA
                

                sometimes they are impossible to read labels.
                I had the overlooked that you used this charger to do the initial installation it should work fine.
                Yes 5.1V and 2.5A is nominal.

                It looks like the thing was designed with the battery in mind, but since it is a 3B+ it will use more amps and so doing a step-up conversion from 3.7 to 5V ~+variable amperage its probably going to be everything this battery has got.

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                  taiJones00 @Efriim
                  last edited by

                  @Efriim ...What kind of cantanese debockary is on this charger? Anyway, it's output: 5.1 V and 2.5 mAh

                  EfriimE 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • EfriimE
                    Efriim @taiJones00
                    last edited by

                    @taiJones00
                    I don't want to mislead you though, I gleaned a lot of misinformation from what I read on all this in only a couple hours. If that battery doesn't work, I still don't know for certain that a different battery will work. I wouldn't try the 9V yet, because even though it is being converted, 9V is too much for a pi and could damage it.

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                      taiJones00 @Efriim
                      last edited by taiJones00

                      @Efriim Well here's the thing. The very first time I hooked everything up, the power LED was blue and blue means it's working. Meaning, I probably just have a low battery

                      Yeah the last thing I want is to damage a pi. I have like 3 other projects to make for this reverse career fair and lest I waste $30 from a silly mistake

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                        taiJones00 @Efriim
                        last edited by

                        @Efriim This is actually pretty funny. I like that your profile picture is of an xbox 360 given the title of this post

                        EfriimE 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • EfriimE
                          Efriim @taiJones00
                          last edited by

                          @taiJones00 I was looking for a picture to use in the retroarch-assets on my computer and the idea that raspberry pi succeeded the xbox360 made me laugh. Because of pi, like circles.

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                            taiJones00 @Efriim
                            last edited by

                            @Efriim Ah! I get it!

                            EfriimE 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • EfriimE
                              Efriim @taiJones00
                              last edited by

                              @taiJones00
                              They definitely have a penchant for red rings of death. How about yours? Is the battery working now?

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                                taiJones00 @Efriim
                                last edited by taiJones00

                                @Efriim Interesting. The light was blue for like 1 second and now it's back to blinking red. My guess is once I leave it be for about an hour, it should be working

                                Mounting my components to the case in the meantime

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                                • EfriimE
                                  Efriim @taiJones00
                                  last edited by Efriim

                                  @taiJones00
                                  It looks like my previous figures were off, and the powerboost can only push 1.8Amps not 2.5Amps.

                                  1.8 might be like the minimum requirement for the RPI3B+ with a Screen attached, I'm sorry but I just don't think it is enough, and if it was then it would likely encounter problems as soon as the wifi and bluetooth turned on. Which may be why it was blue for only a second.

                                  A different battery probably wouldn't help here as it is limited to the powerboost module. And the 9V battery is probably just a bad idea, as I couldn't find that reference.

                                  I think the Pi2 is a better choice because all though you lose the wireless capabilites it will run reliably without the need for a fan because it uses less power.

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                                    taiJones00 @Efriim
                                    last edited by taiJones00

                                    @Efriim I see. I've got a pi 2 on my desk as well. I'll try that one if the pi 3 b+ doesn't work within the next 2 hours

                                    @taiJones00 Can you post the link that says the pi 3 b+s power requirements?

                                    EfriimE 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • EfriimE
                                      Efriim @taiJones00
                                      last edited by

                                      @taiJones00
                                      https://www.pidramble.com/wiki/benchmarks/power-consumption

                                      https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/hardware/raspberrypi/power/README.md
                                      M'hmm I didn't read the benchmarks before.

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                                        taiJones00 @Efriim
                                        last edited by taiJones00

                                        @Efriim It's alive! You beautiful person you fixed it! Now i've just got to figure out how long the battery will last for and how to tell when it's at full charge

                                        Now we know that a 3 b+ can indeed be powered with a powerboost 1000c

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                                        • EfriimE
                                          Efriim @taiJones00
                                          last edited by Efriim

                                          @taiJones00
                                          https://forums.adafruit.com/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=77277
                                          The screens use 100mA according to this source, there may be hope I guess.

                                          Maybe I was completely wrong, about 1.8A capabilities seeing as the other forums read they only get 1A and how 940mA+100mA sort of fits into its gap.

                                          ...oh, yay!

                                          In that case, I think it could possiblly benefit from small modifications in the OS as well as possibly a 4.2V battery for reliability.

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                                            taiJones00 @Efriim
                                            last edited by

                                            @Efriim Yep. I'll handle the rest of the research. You've done more than enough. Thanks bud

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