RetroPie forum home
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Home
    • Docs
    • Register
    • Login

    PowerBlock at powerstrip with switch powers on unintendedly

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved ControlBlock, PowerBlock & Co.
    powerblockpower supplypower strip
    13 Posts 2 Posters 1.1k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • S
      superpie3k
      last edited by superpie3k

      I have observed that the PowerBlock powers sporadically on a Raspberry Pi if the powerstrip is switched on, where the power supply (official Raspberry power supply for 3B variant) for the PowerBlock is connected to.

      This is a continuation of the thread PowerBlock stopped working ("t-t-t-t-t..." noise) .

      The hardware- and software setup is described under https://sslsites.de/superpie.3kelvin.de/index.html. The powerstrip is actually a PowerCube. Two other external harddisks are connected, too.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • P
        petrockblog Global Moderator
        last edited by

        Can you post the schematics of your project? Could it be that there is some sort of feedback loop back to the switch pins?

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • S
          superpie3k
          last edited by

          It cannot be more classical than that. It is the same as shown here: .

          In my setup it looks like this:
          The red-black cable-pair connects the PowerBlock switch pins to a toggle switch (original SNES switch).
          The green-white cable pair connects the PowerBlock LED pins to a LED (original SNES LED).

          Another red-black cable pair connects pins from the Pi-header to a reset switch (original SNES switch) according to: .

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • P
            petrockblog Global Moderator
            last edited by

            Sorry for this delayed reply.

            I guess it has to do with a transient voltage that originates from the power strip. Does this also happen, if the external hard disks are not connected to the strip? I have not heard of that behaviour so far, I am see that I am guessing at the moment.

            S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • S
              superpie3k @petrockblog
              last edited by

              @petrockblog said in PowerBlock at powerstrip with switch powers on unintendedly:

              Does this also happen, if the external hard disks are not connected to the strip?

              Thanks for your reply.

              Ah, I forgot to mention that there is another Raspberry Pi 3B+ attached to the powerstrip in a Pi-Desktop housing, again with the original Raspberry power supply for the 3B+ variant.

              I will watch the behaviour without having other devices attached to the powerstrip.

              As the spurious power-on takes place only sporadically, it will take some time before I can report observation results.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • S
                superpie3k
                last edited by

                Too bad, the second PowerBlock is dead. No reaction anymore. Raspberry still works, PowerBlock is gone.

                My assumption is that the official Raspberry power supply kills the PowerBlock. Either by hardware failure or by a software bug in the Atmel Controller.

                Let me know if I can help in investigating the failure. Anything to measure? Anything to try in software? Need some log-files?

                After all, the PowerBlock would have been the ideal solution for a retro SNES.

                P 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • P
                  petrockblog Global Moderator @superpie3k
                  last edited by

                  @superpie3k I am using the official Raspberry power supply for years now for testing. So far, I did not observe such issue.

                  Nevertheless, with the release of the Raspberry 4 two completely new power switch gadgets will be released soon. These new model are designed in different ways and they should not have this issue anymore in your case.

                  I would be happy to have you as beta tester.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • S
                    superpie3k
                    last edited by

                    @petrockblog Well, right now it is only my assumption that the power supply in combination with the powerstrip and other power supplies causes the problem. If you are interested in further investigations, I can send back the problematic PowerBlocks, or I could do a few simple measurements.

                    Being a beta tester would be fine, I am used to work with hardware/software in development status. However, it depends on the timeframe as I have have an eye on an alternative solution. But if we talk about one, two, three months, I would be glad in acting as beta tester.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • S
                      superpie3k
                      last edited by

                      Any news regarding the new power switch gadgets here?

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • P
                        petrockblog Global Moderator
                        last edited by

                        In the meantime, we have released the PowerBlockling, which is a minimal power switch solution with less features than the PowerBlock. The PowerBlockling does makes use of the standby mode of the Raspberry Pi and, therefore, does not add an additional USB socket for the power supply. Instead it uses the original Raspberry USB socket.

                        @superpie3k Please send me an email with your shipping address. I would send you one PowerBlockling for testing.

                        A completely new model of the PowerBlock is also in preparation. It has a USB-C connector and a completely redesigned power switch circuitry that allows up to 6 A while having a voltage drop of only about 6 mV. We expect to release it in one to two months.

                        S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • S
                          superpie3k @petrockblog
                          last edited by

                          @petrockblog Well, I require toggle-switch-functionality for the SNES-housing; the PowerBlockling seems to support momentary switches only. So I prefer to wait for the redesigned power switch. Furthermore, in fact, I have experienced undervoltage from time to time (have seen the lightining bolt occasionally as undervoltage warning for demanding emulations).

                          P 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • P
                            petrockblog Global Moderator @superpie3k
                            last edited by

                            @superpie3k Ok, I have the updated revision of the PowerBlock ready now. I could send you a board for testing, if you are still interested.

                            S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • S
                              superpie3k @petrockblog
                              last edited by

                              @petrockblog Still interested. Sent you an e-mail. Thanks.

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • First post
                                Last post

                              Contributions to the project are always appreciated, so if you would like to support us with a donation you can do so here.

                              Hosting provided by Mythic-Beasts. See the Hosting Information page for more information.