Found a 10ft USB cable setup that powers the Pi3 (Also using an overclock)

scrappbrapp

I didn't know where to post this, but I wanted to pass on the info in case someone out there is trying to accomplish the same as I:

I was looking for at least a 10ft USB cable that could power the Pi3, while also supporting a future overclock for better RetroPie performance.
I know there's the official Pi charger, but its only 4 or 5 ft, and it would still require I use an extension cord... it just didn't look clean. My purpose was to move the Pi closer to the players.

I learned a lot about cable thickness, and wall charger output while researching all this, I didn't realize how much a difference this kind of stuff can make.

Please dont flame me too much, I have normal computer overclocking experience, but for the Pi, I just found a few internet posts, plugged in their specs, and watched what happened.
Currently I have it running at 1.4gz CPU with 550mhz RAM, and an "over_voltage 5" setting, i haven't done extensive playing around, but unless the Pi is ignoring my OC specs... (I also used Arctic Silver Thermal adhesive to attach the heatsinks to the chipsets)... Its running fine so far:

alt text

Here are the links to what I bought that works:

Cable: http://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=103&cp_id=10303&cs_id=1030307&p_id=8642&seq=1&format=2
Power Supply: http://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=116&cp_id=10851&cs_id=1085102&p_id=13916&seq=1&format=2

scrappbrapp

UPDATE

I think its only fair to inform that this setup still is not perfect. I have no problems with NES/SNES games ( with the overclock as well) but I started recently getting into trying my hand at N64, and after 10 mins or so (never showed the rainbow square) the raspi would freeze.

When I ordered this cable, I also ordered a 6ft of the exact same thing... went ahead and switched it out as a test, and so far, just under 40 mins of playing Blast Corps and F zero, it has not frozen.

SO unfortunately, the 10 ft is only useable for less intensive emulators.. stick to the 6ft variant for anything more. I may just give in and go back to something shorter or an actual Pi charger.

I tried. at least I did some experimentation to let y'all know.... unsure if this was already common knowledge, because I had a heck of a time finding out any info pertaining to this issue.

glennlake

@scrappbrapp I don't know if this may be your problem but you could experiment with a shorter hdmi cable with your 10 ft usb power cable and see how that works. Have you ever seen how thin the wires in the hdmi cable are? That may have caused your pi to freeze up without a low power indicator on the screen. What I do if I am playing on our big tv is use and extension usb cable for the controller. It seems to work fine.

darthpaul

The Pi3s also like 5.25V, it looks like your power supply is 5V. Believe be, that extra bit of voltage made a big difference for me.

scrappbrapp

@glennlake I actually do have a few spare hdmi cables. a 6ft and a 3ft. maybe another... I didn't think that would be such an issue, but I'll give that a try and see what happens.

@darthpaul where did you see 5v? that makes me sad. I just can't get lucky. I'm about to give up and just get an official Pi charger. So not fair.