Cheap music server power tweak that is VERY good.

[sandyk]

I suspect the improvement is not from an improvement in how the SSD operates at all, but is a result of your USB card being now isolated from the large power spikes the hard drive injects back into the power supply itself (noise).

 

 

 

I agree.

[sandyk]

A USB Cable has 1 black wire, while a SATA cable has 2 black wire. Could you please help in this regard? Tks

 

A SATA power cable has 2 separate 0 volts (Earth) return wires for both +12V and +5V.

However,all of the black wires are connected together at a central point in the Power Supply.

(Yellow = +12V and Red = +5V.) A USB cable only has +5V and uses a red wire.

[sandyk]

Tks. But what's your point here? Which one in 2 black wires of the SATA Cable should I connect black wire of USB cable to? Or any will do?

 

I am not sure what you are trying to do here. USB power(+5V and 0 volts) is normally supplied from a motherboard USB socket with the red (+5V) wire monitored for current draw purposes etc.

If the SATA Power cable isn't being shared by other devices you could use either or both black wires for 0 volts. The correct black wire to use is next to the red or yellow wire in the 4 pin molex plug or the SATA Power plug.

[sandyk]

Hi mate, please read the 1st page of this topic. Also refer to the lines I quoted above. The story here is to use a USB battery pack to power OS SSD. Hence the black wires of USB cable and SATA one.

 

As written by ted_b:

 

 

 

I hope that Ted can sort you out .

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=sata+power+cable&biw=1097&bih=518&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjnlLT6qq7LAhVCHZQKHS8pCvgQ_AUIBigB#imgrc=tGKO-ZhL7rdNZM%3A

[sandyk]

I plan to use an internal HDD used in desktop PCs and power it by a 12 volt battery bank

 

What are the specifications of the internal HDD that you plan to use ?

Many HDDs would soon drain a battery bank.

[sandyk]

Generally all internal non ssd hard drives consume 12 volts if I am not wrong

 

 

I am getting a 20000 mah power bank. Even if I can make HDD work for 3 hours I will be happy

 

 

But the biggest question. Is wil it give expected result ?

 

Most HDDs require 12volts for the motor, and 5volts for the logic circuits.

[sandyk]

Hi

Its a data drive only. In a raspberry pi OS is saved on a micro SD card

That's what I am planning to do

Power the data drive buy a power bank. I will use a dual headed cable, one will connect to raspberry pi to get data and other to the power bank to get power

Also the raspberry pi will be powered by another power bank via GPIO pins, so fuse and protection circuit bypasses

 

A drawback with your plan is the need to have 2 power banks, as it will take at least 4 hours to recharge the one being used. Batteries work well for this , but are a P.I.T.A. That's why I power my internal SSDs from the main +12 V supply, using a voltage regulator to convert the voltage down to a much cleaner and isolated +5V supply for the SSDs.

[sandyk]

Rikhav

If you have a suitable NiMh battery charger you could try something like 4 x NiMh 2,600mAH batteries in a suitable holder with 2 wire output leads. You would need to recharge them quite regularly though, even with a low power consumption SSD like recent Samsung offerings.

No, you can't use a car battery unless it is followed by a 5V regulator PCB.

Batteries really aren't a good answer, and I don't see why so many persist with them, unless they have inadequate internal room for a low noise , and preferably very low output impedance, 12V to 5V voltage regulator PCB.

It's the low noise and isolation from the main PSU that you need, and a good voltage regulator provides both.

Alex

[sandyk]

I did it, randomly choosing one of two black wires in the SATA cable, connecting it to the counterpart in USB cable, and OS SSD is now powered by a 10000 mah Xiaomi battery pack. I must say SQ has increased considerably in almost every way except for volume. At least my wife firmly shares with me the feeling. Thanks, that's what CA is for.

 

Hi

That is good news. In hindsight you could have used both those black wires in parallel in this case.

Unfortunately, I also agree with SimoneF that a powerpack is far from the quietest battery source available, although it does provide isolation from the internal power supply. It would is possible to obtain further small audible improvements if the powerpack's DC output was further filtered, but you would need to have some DIY experience.

Although maximum volume will not normally sound louder, you will now have the appearance of a greater dynamic range with some material. If you are also using an internal SSD for music storage, the same methods will further improve SQ.

Regards

Alex

[sandyk]

Your talking of powering the PI itself or OS or USB card, not the external hard drives?

 

If powering external data hard drives, non OS, then the power source doesn't matter as long as it's separate from the streaming components power source.

 

If the external HDD also contains stored music, and not just Data, the power source does matter.

[sandyk]

I didn't know music was nothing but data before being streamed? Thus if not streaming from the HDD, then it's just data and the power source doesn't matter.

 

I am not going to waste my time further arguing with you over this.

Many people have verified that Linear PSUs offer advantages with external storage devices, even those with CD/DVD writers inside, over the SMPS plugpacks normally supplied with them, or external storage cases. Many external SMPS plugpacks have very poor voltage regulation as well, with supplies having both a +12V and a +5V output typically only regulating the +5V output, with the +12V output often varying as much as 1V under varying load conditions.

Linear PSUs for external devices also result in much less RF/EMI being sent back into the AC mains sewer.

[sandyk]

Surely you've been here long enough to know that real time playback isn't what Alex is talking about.

 

Only somebody like Kumakuma would play audio directly from a CD/DVD Rom, whether internal or external ! Most members here do now accept that computer audio markedly improves in all aspects, even when exported via USB, if very clean Linear Power is used to replace original SMPS.

How many members use SMPS with their servers, other than perhaps on pure cost grounds ?

[sandyk]

I got my answers for how bad a wall wart and a mobile power bank is or how a good a linear power supply is

 

I have got a teradak linear PSU for few days on loan from a friend

 

I am using raspberry pi running moode audio 2.5

Muisc is stored in a thumb drive connected diretc to raspberry. Hifiberry digi+ is also connected to raspberry

 

What should I say ?

 

The raspberry pi is outputting some serious sound

I myself can't believe my setup can sound so good or there can be such vast change in sq by only providing good power to music PC working as transport

 

I am lucky that a hardcore diyer has agreed to make me a lpsu to power my raspberry and external powred hdd

 

Your improved results are pleasing to see.

You are a lucky man having someone make a Linear PSU for you, as there are quite a few man hours involved in making a good quality and presentable Linear PSU, and DIYers pay WAY more for the components than a manufacturer.

I have previously made a couple for friends as a gift.

[sandyk]

Deleted.

[sandyk]

I just got bought an Anker 2nd Gen E5 to power my SSD. I have a Seagate 600 512GB SSD, and the E5 smart IQ port does not want to rev up its current to high enough level to power up my SSD. The SSD powers up when I plug in my iphone into the second smart IQ port, so the E5 seems to increase its current output on both ports when an iphone is plugged in.

I'm wondering if there is a way to force the smart IQ port to always output 1A? I have tried shorting the D+/D- data pins on the battery, or adding 10kohm/33kohm to supply 1.2V to D+/D- of the battery, but that does not work either. I cannot get the smart IQ port to supply higher current to properly power my SSD by itself.

 

You could try connecting something like a 47 ohm PW5 resistor across it's output to see if that helps.

That's an additional 100mA current draw on the supply.

[sandyk]

I tried 47 ohm resistor between the 5v and ground on the battery output, and that didn't provide enough current to the ssd either. Then I tried it with a 10ohm resistor. That worked and the ssd is recognized. However it seems to heat up the resistor really fast! I had to disconnect the cable before it burns out. So it looks like the 2nd gen battery current is controlled by demand and not by D+/D- voltage.

I wished I got the 1st gen with dumb ports, that would've solved all my problems. But the 2nd gen E5 was on sale at newegg last week for $15 after rebate.

 

Did you use a 10 ohm PW5 ( 5 watt) resistor? At 5V it will dissipate 2.5W in heat,(500mA) but that is well within the ratings of a PW5 resistor. Just ensure that it has relatively long leads and plenty of air circulation around it.

It is also possible that a 20 ohm PW5 resistor will do the trick. If you have 2 x 10 ohm resistors you could try them in series across the output.

Alex

 

P.S.

You may be able to disconnect the load resistors after the SSD is recognised.