Hi, I’m having a rather bizarre issue. My zynthian box only works when it is powered by my computer, and never works when it is powered by a USB power supply.
I tried dozens of times, with different power supplies (1A and 2.4A) and different computers (laptop and desktop), same result. At the engine screen, after pressing SELECT to select an engine, if it is powered by a USB power supply it freezes (well the wavelet gets animated forever). But if it is powered by a computer, it passes to the next screen in a fraction of second.
have a few questions for you.
is it a pi2 or pi3?
what else do you have plugged int the pi usb ports are thous devices have there own power supply or gets power via the usb cable?
When power was provided by power supplies (I tried with 3 different of them), the RP3 was the only device.
When power is provided by my computers (laptop or desktop) I have other USB components plugged as well, the usually mouse, keyboard, gamepad.
I should mention that I used the same USB cable to connect the RPi to my computers and to 2 of my power supplies (and the battery as well). So I know that the problem doesn’t come from the cable.
I found something else! Testing the audio in the admin menu works when the power is provided by my computers, but it doesn’t work wjen provided by my power supplies (no music is being played and I get a “can’t connect to socket” kinda message).
I really don’t know what could be the cause of that, maybe some flacky connections (likely especially the ones I soldered myself).
would check the solder connections not just that it is not a cold soldered joint but also that there are no shorts.
If you are plugging it in to a usb hub which is connected to your computer check the power supply of the hub for what the voltage / amp it is using. but sounds to be like a bad or shorted solder joint most likely the 40 pin connector.
When you say “USB Power Supply”, do you mean one of those standalone power supplies like this, or do you mean more like an AC/DC like this–
In other words, is it a standalone battery, or are you getting power from the wall directly and just converting it?
The reason I ask is that I have had similar issues in the past and the problem ended up being that even though my battery/standalone power supply said it was giving me 2 amps, I tested it with an amp meter and it was only giving about 1.1-1.2, which wasn’t enough to run what I wanted to run.
the issue is on a powered hub the amperage is shared across the hub. for example if you have a 4 port hub and a 2000 miliamps power supply each port does not get 500 milliamps but you could have all 1000 miliamps go to one port and only 100 go to the other depending on what is connected. USB hard drives are rather power hunger off of a hub so you could get two to work but not three.
But I would check you solder joints and probably will find a bad joint or a short which is causing the problem.
By USB power supplies I mean both of the types you put in your links. I doubt they would all 4 advertise over 2A and not deliver, I suppose the most likely is a bad joint or a short, likely on the 40 pin since it is the one I took care of. Thanks for you help guys!
I’m finally testing my 40pin soldering on the hifiberry (the only soldering I did myself), and I do get a lot “beeps” (detected shorts that is), but I have no idea whether they are normal or not. How can I know? Also the hifiberry is still connected to the RPi3, maybe I should disconnect it completely. Once I test the hifiberry on its own, I am supposed to find no short anywhere? Thanks.
I am not sure if I have understood right: You have the HB on top of the RPi and than you measure with a multimeter? This won’t work. becuase you are also measuring “through” the RPi and you get shortcuts. This can also kill your hardware! The RPi only accepts 3.3V…
The only way to check is the standalone HB. I used to measure between soldered pin connector and the factory soldered row connector. There should be no shortcuts.
So I continuity tested the standalone HB and I found several shorts. Most being far apart. Only one is between 2 contiguous pins, which I suppose is the culprit and the others are epiphenomena of this contiguous short. The problem is I have no idea how to remove it, on the visible side, where I applied the solder, there is clearly no short, so I assume the short might exist on the other side, hidden by 40pin connector.
I don’t know what to do at that point. Don’t tell me I have to unsolder the entire 40pin and solder it back!
Ahhh - sorry… I gave you a wrong information. Also if you test the HB only, you get “shorts” via the chip on the HB. You can check pin per pin but you cannot be really sure about the result.
The best way (maybe): Take a magnifying glass and look at the solder point if there are short cuts.
Using USB ports from computer it’s tricky. Not all the USB ports are really standard and the Zynthian box needs current.
I use the Samsung S4 original power supply. The result is ok. But If you like to be free of swiched power supply noises use this huge solar battery: 8 Amps! I’m very happy with it.The size is quite similar to your smart phone.
I only give advise about USB on PC if your computer are prepared for. I have one PC of last generation who includes a ‘special’ usb port to charge electronic devices. I repeat, it’s special, non standard.
