[Hardware] Power Help

hansolo77

Yeah, it's pretty sucky!

TMNTturtlguy

@hansolo77 at least on the bright side the pi's are fairly reasonably priced.

hansolo77

True.. I'm going to go with my first best option.. the direct plug - inline switch. I ordered 3 of those spring loader ones during a sale when I did the Sega build. I just figured I could do the same thing, without remembering how badly I suck at soldering. I'm getting a heck of a lot better than I used to be. You'd die laughing if you saw my original PlayStation modchip solder job. All the contact points got lifted and I had to solder to traces, then I put down 3 sticks worth of hot glue to make sure it stayed. Not pretty at all!

I'm going to go ahead and marked this as resolved then, since there's not really anything anybody can do at this point. The Pi is toast. The switch circuit might be ok, doesn't appear like any damage or crossed over traces exist. I'm off to the internet store for a new Pi and circuit.

Darksavior

While I've been soldering for over 15yrs, I'm still not that great at it. Instead of soldering the wires directly to the pi, I just bought a pack of microusb connectors for $1 and soldered the thick wires to that. Wasn't easy (I broke two of them) but it's tons safer. I finished it off with a ton of hot glue for support.

hansolo77

LOL! Hot glue... computer nerd's duct tape.

Darksavior

Hot glue is love. Hot glue is life. My wiring still works a year later :P

moosepr

If you want an easy life, there are 5v and gnd pins hidden in the gpio pins they can be used for in and out.

The lightning bolt is low voltage rather than low power. Some power supplies can't keep to 5v when the current draw increases

TMNTturtlguy

@moosepr correct, per my earlier post there is to much voltage drop with all the wires ands connections.

hansolo77

Yeah, the disappointing thing was that even with nothing connected other than the controller, I was getting the lightning bolt. But when I switched to a different power supply and had it directly connected, it went away. I thought a 5.1v would be better than a 5v because it gives it that extra .1. Guess I was wrong. What would happen if you used like a 6v? Would it burn out the circuits?

moosepr

@hansolo77 yeah 6v would let the magic smoke out! The 5v one is probably more precise with its voltage

hansolo77

So whats a good power supply to get? That iEssentials one, even though specifically marketed with Raspberry Pi logos on the package is clearly crap. I have 2 of them and they both did that. I've had the CanaKIT supplies in the past, and they've been pretty solid. Is there a better brand? What about the charging adapters that are basically female USB plugs that you connect a standard USB->microUSB cable to? Like this:
alt text

Darksavior

@hansolo77 What's wrong with with using the official pi power supply?

hansolo77

Nothing really. It's probably more expensive coming from the UK and overseas shipping can get crazy. I have to be realistic and use supplies I can easily get my hands on.

Darksavior

@hansolo77 I got mine from arrow.com, a US seller back when they had the free pi3 deal. Not sure if that's the best place but there are other US sellers. Not sure what made you think it was Uk exclusive.

TMNTturtlguy

@hansolo77 you mentioned microcenter before. Get the microcenter brand QVS 2. 5Amp micro USB. They have it with the pi3 stuff and it is made exclusively for raspberry pi 2 & 3. It costs $10.99 US. I have 3 of them on 3 units and have never had a problem. I have one with a 1350 overclock and it runs perfectly. As for it working when you try to modify or solder, I am guessing that will be in the number of wires and components you are trying to pass through and the quality of the connections.

hansolo77

@Darksavior said in [Hardware] Power Help:

Not sure what made you think it was Uk exclusive.

I just assumed, given that the Raspberry Pi is made in the UK, so the power supply would be too. I ordered a powered USB hub from them for my Nintendo build, and it was UK exclusive. No biggie, thanks for letting me know!

@TMNTturtlguy said in [Hardware] Power Help:

@hansolo77 you mentioned microcenter before. Get the microcenter brand QVS 2. 5Amp micro USB. They have it with the pi3 stuff and it is made exclusively for raspberry pi 2 & 3. It costs $10.99 US. I have 3 of them on 3 units and have never had a problem.

I've seen those QVS brand products. I've always been kinda shy to buy stuff like that. Sure, generic food and drugs is ok.. but when it comes to electronics I prefer to stick with a higher class brand. That said, I never even heard of this "iEssentials" brand before. But I saw it was cheaper than the QVS and just went with that. I suppose you do get what you pay for. I sort of impulse bought the 2nd one, because I couldn't remember if it was THIS one I had trouble with, or if it was the one inside the MCM Media Center kit (CanaKIT branded). It's good to know that the QVS brand is decent quality. Might consider that for my next project (whatever that will be lol).