Ultimate Power Supply

[xd3l]

I purchased a 5V 2A PSU for my Pi 2 B. The intent was to follow a couple guides I’d seen on casing in it a Playstation 1, with an external USB hard drive inside.

All was well when I was using a 128Gb USB Memory stick, but with the hard drive…
…well the hard drive just clicks and demands to be plugged into a self powered USB HUB in order to work.

Seeing as I want everything internal, and seeing as I paid $15 less for a 300Gb external USB hard than I would for a 256Gb (off brand) USB Memory Stick, I really want this to work, so my question is, can I use a 5V 2.5A (or better) PSU without frying everything, and more than that, will it be enough to power my Hard Drive?

[gonzothegreat]

you can use a normal Pi sower supply (altho you may need to buy a Y cable via eBay) for the following..

via command line..

sudo nano /boot/config.txt

then right at the bottom add this…

max_usb_current=1

then press ctrl+x then Y then enter to save your edit

then restart you pi

[xd3l]

All right, thanks, I remember reading about that now. Though I have a question, does it matter that the OS is actually hosted on the USB drive and not the SD?

Edit: Tested and no it still does not. So apparently, in order to use USB as host, I am limited to using something like a 128Gb (or higher) Sandisk Cruzer, which thankfully can be picked up at a starting point of $25 shipped.

[gonzothegreat]

have you tried with a Y cable?
thats what you need, i just looked at my retropie & my OpenELEC and both are external hdd’s using a Y cable

[xd3l]

I did, but does your OpenElec run off USB or SD?

[gonzothegreat]

runs from usb

[MRKane]

I actually found that I was getting low power warnings from my Pi with the standard 2A supply and four USB controllers connected and ended up sourcing a 3.5A supply which really helped things out and seemed to supply enough power for the unit. In saying that I’m also relaying the connection through a few wires and a switch so it might not be all that’s going on here ;)

[gonzothegreat]

very true

[xd3l]

gonzothegreat: So you are booting from SD, but hosting your OS from USB?

In that case I’ve no idea what is up, but if I can go 3.5A then I’ll upgrade to a better power supply and see how that pans out.

[Anonymous]

This is what I use. Thing is a beast.

[xd3l]

I ordered one…
…still no go, the drive still clicks, and I’m using dual USB for power which is connected directly to the Pi.

[labelwhore]

Power output on the Pi’s USB ports is limited by software AND hardware.

There is a hardware hack that might be able to get this to work. It also could brick your pi. At ~$35 though, I think it’s worth experimenting.

More Power For Raspberry Pi USB Ports

I’ve never actually done thins, but am considering it for another project. If anyone goes through with it, please let us know it it works.

from that article a key piece of info:

There is a reason the Raspberry Pi foundation set the current limiting of the USB ports so low. The Pi was originally intended to run off of a micro USB phone charger. There aren’t many phone chargers out there that will supply more than 1A, and the CPU and related peripherals will take half of that. If you’re going to change the /boot/config.txt file, you’re going to need a beefy power supply. Increasing the current limiting of the USB ports to 2A will require an even bigger, beefier supply.

Given that, you may need to make some more power mods to your pi, such as modding it so that you can use a standard wallwart type power supply (the type with a with a barrel plug). That would open up your options in terms of the power supply itself.

[petrockblog]

and you are using the usb power option mentioned before and it is set correctly in the right/active config (on the sd card in /boot/config.txt) ? (http://elinux.org/RPiconfig#USB_Power)

[xd3l]

He he, SOB, I forgot to re-edit the config.txt

I’m running on Jessie now and forgot I’d updated since I last posted here.

OK, it works now, as does this much cheaper alternative:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/252043305364?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[rdhanded2]

https://solarbotics.com/product/34045/

I have had good luck with these chargers. Cured my low power issues because of voltage drop with everything plugged into my pi.

[xd3l]

[quote=117236]https://solarbotics.com/product/34045/

I have had good luck with these chargers. Cured my low power issues because of voltage drop with everything plugged into my pi.

[/quote]

That’s basically what I began with, which is fine if you are not planning on using a USB to SATA adapter for your storage, or don’t intend on experimenting with the recent OpenGl beta release for Raspian.

2.5A is a happy medium for about the same price (as I linked above), and 3.5A is ideal if you don’t mind spending $15 on your power pack and want to be able to do everything.

[xd3l]

I don’t think the 3.5 is enough… might just have to rig up a self powered USB HUD inside of the PSX case as well.

EDIT:

Correction, the 3.5 is in fact enough, I just had a glitch I had to iron out…
…still not sure what it was, but yes, 3.5 works, and 2.5 work with a 2.5″ Sata HD.

Though, I believe I’m going to add in a self powered USB hub to my next PiStation just for extra coverage.

[xd3l]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/5V-12V-24V-1A-2A-3A-5A-6A-8A-10A-15A-Power-Supply-AC-to-DC-Adapter-for-LED-Strip-/252003443787?var=&hash=item3aac93644b:m:m80k8jXUSwgqMlZistzf3SA

Could this be used to feed power to everything connected to the Pi assuming I rigged it to plug into the MiniUSB port?

I was thinking of stripping it down and putting it inside of my Pistation.

[Author]

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