Cheap music server power tweak that is VERY good.

[Amar]

Earlier this year I tried it as well but too many times I forgot to switch off the battery and I found it drained the next time I wanted to play music so I bought a JCAT batteru PSU. Problem solved as this device autocharges and switches the active battery if one runs low (to recharge the other one)!

 

edit: and I use it to power my JCAT USB card as well.

[JDOz]

Hi guys,

I'm using the Aires streamer connected to SSD music library via USB. Trying to see if I can improve SQ at this level via things like battery powering the SSD and having data-only cable to Aires USB input. Hoping you could comment with some ideas or maybe just tell me if you think I'm wasting my time. So similar to this thread but I'm lost trying to work out what might be relevant in my context...no PC, no internal Aires mods; just powering external SSD and feeding data to Aires USB-input.

 

Thanks kindly,

John

[aps]

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'm a bit late to the party but understand the general idea. My question, though, is whether this same benefit would occur if I had a dedicated 5V/2A linear PSU driving the OS SSD? And what about a rail within a multiple rail linear PSU? [i'm thinking of using the Keces LPU with 5V sent to SSD and 12V to drive CPU but concerned that this wouldn't properly isolate the USB card from the SSD generated noise.]

[John G]

I'm a bit late to the party but understand the general idea. My question, though, is whether this same benefit would occur if I had a dedicated 5V/2A linear PSU driving the OS SSD? And what about a rail within a multiple rail linear PSU? [i'm thinking of using the Keces LPU with 5V sent to SSD and 12V to drive CPU but concerned that this wouldn't properly isolate the USB card from the SSD generated noise.]

 

I tried this with the Keces powering both a Paul Pang USB card and the computer itself. Didn't work; the sound was all crackly and fuzzy. But that makes me wonder: if the SSD and USB are supplied w/linear DC, is there any benefit to also providing linear power to the motherboard?

[ted_b]

Adam (Eberoth) an experienced audiophile with good ears and equipment wrote a mini-review of a battery powered SSD experience using the JCAT/Bakoon ps here:

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f10-music-servers/battery-powered-solid-state-drive-tweak-really-works-23292/#post393016

[chauphuong]

I took a 5V power supply (ifI iUSB) and took a USB cable and cut it, found the black and red power wires and attached them to the black and red SATA power leads. Then plugged it into the SSD. It is on 24/7, regardless of whether I reboot the pc, etc. When I try the Anker battery version I will not leave it on 24/7, of course.

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

[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.

[chauphuong]

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?

[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.

[chauphuong]

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 took a 5V power supply (ifI iUSB) and took a USB cable and cut it, found the black and red power wires and attached them to the black and red SATA power leads. Then plugged it into the SSD. It is on 24/7, regardless of whether I reboot the pc, etc. When I try the Anker battery version I will not leave it on 24/7, of course.

 

After all of those, do you have any more advice?

[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

[rikhav]

Hi allWill this battery tweak will work with a raspberry bi as music server ?

The raspberry will be powered by 5volt 2A power bank via the GPIO pins , thus bypassing the fuse and protective circuitry if any

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

[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.

[Richard Dale]

Hi allWill this battery tweak will work with a raspberry bi as music server ?

The raspberry will be powered by 5volt 2A power bank via the GPIO pins , thus bypassing the fuse and protective circuitry if any

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

 

I've tried an Anker Astro E5s (and similar Tecknet batteries) with a Raspberry Pis and BeagleBone Blacks, and it works fine and might have sounded better than a cheap Stontronics linear PSU I was using. However, as soon as you tried to charge the battery the Pi/BeagleBone would crash. In the end I found rebooting every two days meant that the music servers were no longer 'appliances' that just sat there and worked for months on end.

 

To me, it doesn't seem a very good idea to bypass the fuse and protective circuitry whatever computer you are using.

[rikhav]

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

Many HDDs would soon drain a battery bank.

 

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 ?

[rikhav]

Hi RichardI place the raspberry in such a way on the audio rack that removing the battery is fairly easy to charge it

 

 

Its not even safe when we are just playing with 12 volts ?

I can understand equipment getting ruined , but surely no damage to ourselves

[Richard Dale]

Hi RichardI place the raspberry in such a way on the audio rack that removing the battery is fairly easy to charge it

 

 

Its not even safe when we are just playing with 12 volts ?

I can understand equipment getting ruined , but surely no damage to ourselves

 

No, I was talking about damaging the Raspberry Pi, not ourselves!

 

It was quite easy for me to access the battery when I was trying them, the problem was that it meant needing to reboot the Pi every two days. The ideal thing to have is a 'charge switch' on the box with Pi and possible hard disk and batteries, and put the box on charge when not listening. I don't think that is easy to do with phone charger batteries - or not the ones I tried anyway.

[rikhav]

Hi Richard

 

If damaging the Pi is the issue I can assure you there is nothing to worry. I have been powering my pi via the hifiberry digi plus board. So in this case too all fuse and other protective circuits are bypassed

Faced no issues till now. Have been using it for 4 months now

[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.

[rikhav]

My badThanks for making me aware

 

 

So a portable USB drive makes more sense as high capacity ssds way too expensive

[Pepsican]

No, I was talking about damaging the Raspberry Pi, not ourselves!

 

It was quite easy for me to access the battery when I was trying them, the problem was that it meant needing to reboot the Pi every two days. The ideal thing to have is a 'charge switch' on the box with Pi and possible hard disk and batteries, and put the box on charge when not listening. I don't think that is easy to do with phone charger batteries - or not the ones I tried anyway.

 

 

Buy a timer switch to turn the socket on and off. Most timer switches also have a manual on/off. IKEA sells them for a few Euros.

[ElviaCaprice]

My badThanks for making me aware

 

 

So a portable USB drive makes more sense as high capacity ssds way too expensive

 

Buy the 5V HDD's 2.5". Can get a 2TB one for under $90. Makes it easy to power separately from the motherboard power supply.

 

But I would only do this if using the SATA connectors, not USB and powering from the same motherboard supply on separate rail (all for simplicity of singular power supply). With USB use external enclosure with normal 3.5" HDD's and external power supply. For SQ, it's not going to matter what power supply your using as long as it's external (or separate rail) from the motherboard and the drives are only used for data.

 

Every once in awhile they go on sale.

SAMSUNG Spinpoint M9T ST2000LM003 2TB 5400 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 2.5" Internal Notebook Hard Drive Bare Drive - Newegg.com

[rikhav]

Buy the 5V HDD's 2.5". Can get a 2TB one for under $90. Makes it easy to power separately from the motherboard power supply.

 

Every once in awhile they go on sale.

SAMSUNG Spinpoint M9T ST2000LM003 2TB 5400 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 2.5" Internal Notebook Hard Drive Bare Drive - Newegg.com

 

 

I want to connect it to a raspberry pi and so i will need to find something to convert usb to sata

So instead of this will prefer a USB portable hard drive

[ElviaCaprice]

I want to connect it to a raspberry pi and so i will need to find something to convert usb to sata

So instead of this will prefer a USB portable hard drive

 

Are you connecting the hard drive (Data input) via USB or SATA? Is this hard drive to be an Operating System drive or DATA storage drive?

 

I wouldn't recommend powering a 5V HDD 2.5" via USB 5V motherboard power, not sure if any power spikes would play havoc on SQ.

 

If the drive is to be a data storage non operating system drive then power separately through enclosure or other non motherboard source for best SQ.

[ElviaCaprice]

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

 

Note: Ted used an external USB source other than the motherboard USB when making this 5V power connection. Thus you only need the one ground.

 

SATA has both 12V and 5V with respective grounds.