Power Supply/Case/Hard Drive

[Spacecowboy1]

Hi Guys,

I'm wanting to put a raspberry Pi in a case with a 2.5 internal hard drive but would like a power supply that will power both, I want to avoid using a hub if possible and would like to be able to use an actual power supply (like what you would find in s PC) Is this achievable? I've seen many hifi pi projects that have internal power supplies but no mention of an internal drive been inside.

Many Thanks

[stderr]

Hi Guys,

I'm wanting to put a raspberry Pi in a case with a 2.5 internal hard drive but would like a power supply that will power both, I want to avoid using a hub if possible and would like to be able to use an actual power supply (like what you would find in s PC) Is this achievable?

If you use a PC power supply without the PC, note that depending on the power supply, it will have minimum loads that are required for proper operation. Some power supplies will handle this themselves at least on some of the voltages.

What would be nice is a PC power supply with significant 5 volt stand by current available so you could power your pi and put the PC itself to sleep. I've not found such a thing although I have looked. Most seem to have just enough power to deal with their intended use and light up the USB ports in a modest manner.

[fruitoftheloom]

Hi Guys,

I'm wanting to put a raspberry Pi in a case with a 2.5 internal hard drive but would like a power supply that will power both, I want to avoid using a hub if possible and would like to be able to use an actual power supply (like what you would find in s PC) Is this achievable? I've seen many hifi pi projects that have internal power supplies but no mention of an internal drive been inside.

Many Thanks

Western Digital sell products which may offer you a solution:

http://store.wdc.com/store?Action=Displ ... .y=7&Go=Go

[GTR2Fan]

There's no point in going to all of the added complication of using a PC power supply. You can run the 2.5" drive in a caddy directly from the Pi's USB port if it's a Pi B+ or later. Just add...

Code: Select all

max_usb_current=1

...to config.txt and it should power the drive just fine if the Pi PSU is chunky enough. If it's a Pi3 then this is already the default setting so doesn't need adding.

Even if this means specifically buying a caddy, they're a lot cheaper than any PC PSU that I'd ever consider trustworthy as any that are worth buying are upwards of £40. It would also be massive overkill as even the lowest powered ones readily available (typically around 250W) are 100 times more powerful than you actually need.

[Spacecowboy1]

Hi Guys,

I'm wanting to put a raspberry Pi in a case with a 2.5 internal hard drive but would like a power supply that will power both, I want to avoid using a hub if possible and would like to be able to use an actual power supply (like what you would find in s PC) Is this achievable? I've seen many hifi pi projects that have internal power supplies but no mention of an internal drive been inside.

Many Thanks

Western Digital sell products which may offer you a solution:

http://store.wdc.com/store?Action=Displ ... .y=7&Go=Go

Thanks for the reply.

I have seen the USB cable kit but there is a slight issue as was wanting to cut out the rear of the case so it exposes the USB ports, which would mean I would have to come back out of the case with the USB extension to plug into the Pis USB ports.

Hope that makes sense!

[Spacecowboy1]

There's no point in going to all of the added complication of using a PC power supply. You can run the 2.5" drive in a caddy directly from the Pi's USB port if it's a Pi B+ or later. Just add...

Code: Select all

max_usb_current=1

...to config.txt and it should power the drive just fine if the Pi PSU is chunky enough. If it's a Pi3 then this is already the default setting so doesn't need adding.

Even if this means specifically buying a caddy, they're a lot cheaper than any PC PSU that I'd ever consider trustworthy as any that are worth buying are upwards of £40. It would also be massive overkill as even the lowest powered ones readily available (typically around 250W) are 100 times more powerful than you actually need.

Hi thanks for the reply.

That's really interesting, I didn't realise you could do that! Would there be limitations to the size of the hard drive? A 2TB drive would be amazing if I could get one of those in there.

[Spacecowboy1]

There's no point in going to all of the added complication of using a PC power supply. You can run the 2.5" drive in a caddy directly from the Pi's USB port if it's a Pi B+ or later. Just add...

Code: Select all

max_usb_current=1

...to config.txt and it should power the drive just fine if the Pi PSU is chunky enough. If it's a Pi3 then this is already the default setting so doesn't need adding.

Even if this means specifically buying a caddy, they're a lot cheaper than any PC PSU that I'd ever consider trustworthy as any that are worth buying are upwards of £40. It would also be massive overkill as even the lowest powered ones readily available (typically around 250W) are 100 times more powerful than you actually need.

Hi thanks for the reply.

That's really interesting, I didn't realise you could do that! Would there be limitations to the size of the hard drive? A 2TB drive would be amazing if I could get one of those in there.

Ps...what would you consider to be a chunky power supply?

[GTR2Fan]

I think you're only limited by the capacity the caddy chipset will recognise, but don't quote me on that. a 2TB drive certainly isn't a problem as I've seen others using them in this way.

A Pi PSU rated at 2A and upwards will handle the largest load the USB ports can supply if it's a B+ or Pi2B. Make it at least a 2.5A if it's a Pi3. There's no harm in having a little in hand, so anything up to around a 3A supply is still sensible if you can pick one up cheaply.

Bear in mind that the extra current draw will cause a little more voltage drop across the USB cable supplying power to the Pi, so if you get a blinky red LED on the Pi indicating a low voltage warning, buy a chunkier USB cable too.

[Spacecowboy1]

I think you're only limited by the capacity the caddy chipset will recognise, but don't quote me on that. a 2TB drive certainly isn't a problem as I've seen others using them in this way.

A Pi PSU rated at 2A and upwards will handle the largest load the USB ports can supply if it's a B+ or Pi2B. Make it at least a 2.5A if it's a Pi3. There's no harm in having a little in hand, so anything up to around a 3A supply is still sensible if you can pick one up cheaply.

Bear in mind that the extra current draw will cause a little more voltage drop across the USB cable supplying power to the Pi, so if you get a blinky red LED on the Pi indicating a low voltage warning, buy a chunkier USB cable too.

Nice one.

I'll give it a go before I buy the case and see how stable it is.

Like I mentioned earlier I won't be able to cut out the rear of the case if I go down that route as the cables would have to come back out of the rear of the case to go into the USB port. I was thinking about using a USB extension cable that I could plumb into the rear of the case so I can use it to backup the pi every now and then.

[GTR2Fan]

Like I mentioned earlier I won't be able to cut out the rear of the case if I go down that route as the cables would have to come back out of the rear of the case to go into the USB port.

My homebrew Pi Mini-PC has the USB cable for the hard drive as an external loop-through. It's a very handy feature to have as the drive is formatted to NTFS so the main Windows PC can write to it directly via a long enough USB cable. That removes the bottleneck of trying to shift large volumes of media to or from the drive from the Windows PC via the Pi's USB and WiFi.

I just used an ABS instrument case to house mine as it made it easy to make the necessary cut-outs for sockets, switches, etc. No photos yet though as I've not got around to spraying it, but it all fits inside a 250x180x50mm box with bags of room to spare, and that's with a 3.5" drive.

[Spacecowboy1]

Like I mentioned earlier I won't be able to cut out the rear of the case if I go down that route as the cables would have to come back out of the rear of the case to go into the USB port.

My homebrew Pi Mini-PC has the USB cable for the hard drive as an external loop-through. It's a very handy feature to have as the drive is formatted to NTFS so the main Windows PC can write to it directly via a long enough USB cable. That removes the bottleneck of trying to shift large volumes of media to or from the drive from the Windows PC via the Pi's USB and WiFi.

I just used an ABS instrument case to house mine as it made it easy to make the necessary cut-outs for sockets, switches, etc. No photos yet though as I've not got around to spraying it, but it all fits inside a 250x180x50mm box with bags of room to spare, and that's with a 3.5" drive.

Pictures would be great. I've been looking at similar boxes from Maplins.

I really like this box though.

0905 Full Aluminum Enclosure Mini AMP Case Preamp Box PSU Chassis New https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00M2JCR4O/ ... 6wbRPMKFP6

As I mentioned before a few guys have used these for hifi pi builds.

[GTR2Fan]

That looks really nice. Much nicer than mine, although mine will be nearly there when it's sprayed black. I'm just waiting for a dry sunny day so I can get outside with the spray can.

[Spacecowboy1]

That looks really nice. Much nicer than mine, although mine will be nearly there when it's sprayed black. I'm just waiting for a dry sunny day so I can get outside with the spray can.

Shame your not in Yorkshire, my mates got a spray shop. I could have got him to do it for you.

[GTR2Fan]

Shame your not in Yorkshire, my mates got a spray shop. I could have got him to do it for you.

I'd have only drank all his tea. I'm half Yorkshire myself.

[Spacecowboy1]

Shame your not in Yorkshire, my mates got a spray shop. I could have got him to do it for you.

I'd have only drank all his tea. I'm half Yorkshire myself.

Haha

Thanks for all your help. I'll keep you all posted on the build.

[DarrenHill]

Look at a PlusBerry Pi case. Comes with a built-in powered hub, 2.5" mSata drive interface (and space for a drive), IR receiver (GPIO connected, normal GPIO #18 set-up) and a 3A power supply to run everything including the Pi.

I run one at home and it works a treat, and you end up with 8 USB ports when using a Pi2 or 3 (3 internal on the Pi itself for dongles etc, 1 on the front of the case and 4 round the back).

[hal8000]

My Model B running Kodi is housed in an old PC midi case. I used the old ATX internal power supply as well
and has been running for over a year.

It is important to measure the no load voltage on the +5 and +12v lines but no load or with load it deviates by only
a few millivolts. I used the case to house a 160G SATA HD (only drive I had at hand) and a USB to SATA converter from Ali-Express. The SATA disk required external power also from the ATX PSU.

Its not the greatest looking case but will upload a picture if you're interested.

[Spacecowboy1]

Look at a PlusBerry Pi case. Comes with a built-in powered hub, 2.5" mSata drive interface (and space for a drive), IR receiver (GPIO connected, normal GPIO #18 set-up) and a 3A power supply to run everything including the Pi.

I run one at home and it works a treat, and you end up with 8 USB ports when using a Pi2 or 3 (3 internal on the Pi itself for dongles etc, 1 on the front of the case and 4 round the back).

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I like the concept but I'm not too keen on the design. It also takes the fun out of doing it myself.

I'm surprised that more people haven't developed things like this though.

[Spacecowboy1]

My Model B running Kodi is housed in an old PC midi case. I used the old ATX internal power supply as well
and has been running for over a year.

It is important to measure the no load voltage on the +5 and +12v lines but no load or with load it deviates by only
a few millivolts. I used the case to house a 160G SATA HD (only drive I had at hand) and a USB to SATA converter from Ali-Express. The SATA disk required external power also from the ATX PSU.

Its not the greatest looking case but will upload a picture if you're interested.

Nice.

Pictures would be great.

[Spacecowboy1]

I think you're only limited by the capacity the caddy chipset will recognise, but don't quote me on that. a 2TB drive certainly isn't a problem as I've seen others using them in this way.

A Pi PSU rated at 2A and upwards will handle the largest load the USB ports can supply if it's a B+ or Pi2B. Make it at least a 2.5A if it's a Pi3. There's no harm in having a little in hand, so anything up to around a 3A supply is still sensible if you can pick one up cheaply.

Bear in mind that the extra current draw will cause a little more voltage drop across the USB cable supplying power to the Pi, so if you get a blinky red LED on the Pi indicating a low voltage warning, buy a chunkier USB cable too.

I've been doing some research and came across this.

Do you think it could be used for supplying power for the pi and USB drive?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Switching-power ... B00MWQD43U

[hal8000]

3 Pics uploaded to Imgur:

http://imgur.com/a/A0T4b

Sorry about quality.
The bottom picture is the case, originally light grey, which I sprayed black,
The blue LED voltage meter are available from Ebay monitoring the 5Volt
supply but you dont need the meter.