Powering a raspberry pi 4

PompeyLights

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Hi,

how are people powering their raspberry pi when they are part of the controller enclosure?

I’ve just build my enclosure and will be mounting the raspberry pi close to the falcon f16, but the pi is powered by a usb c adapter.
Are people running mains power to the enclosure to plug the adapter into, or are you running it from a psu?
 

LawrenceDriveLights

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I personally use a separate PSU for the pi (and in particular for the pi4 I use a genuine rasp pi PSU as have seen some people having with pi4's with USB-C adopters etc).

Main reason for separate PSU is I leave my pi running for the entire month whilst I turn off the other PSU's inc the pixel controller when display not running.
 

scamper

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I have mine in my control box that has a 5v supply in it so I have hard wired it to the supply. I used to run power supplies for my pi, ethernet switch and fm transmitter but figured it was a waste of space seeing as I had a supply in there anyway.
 

BAZMick

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Hanson Electronics RPi-28D+ hat will power up the pi and you can also run a couple of pixel strings from it as well
 

Pavle

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Hanson Electronics RPi-28D+ hat will power up the pi and you can also run a couple of pixel strings from it as well

I am running this setup (using a single 5V power supply) this year and it works well.

My only concern is temperature having the unit running continuously. Inside the house, the pi never exceeded 45 degree Celsius , but today on the first hot day since I've placed it outside, we hit 38 degrees and the little pi was showing 75 degrees. It cooled to under 55 mid afternoon and returned to it's normal running temp prior to sunset. It remained below the pi shut down temperature, but I can't imagine it will do it much good if that's a daily occurrence.
 

sjstanley

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Hanson Electronics RPi-28D+ hat will power up the pi and you can also run a couple of pixel strings from it as well

Sorry for such a late response to this post but I'm just getting into this hobby and the rPi-28D+ is the first controller I bought. I'm running a 5V power supply which my controller and Pi are powered from. I have a single string of 50 lights plugged into the controller but can't get the lights to work. I don't think I have it wired right to get power to the lights. Is there anyway you could show a picture of how you have yours wired?

Thank you in advance for any help or advice!!
 

Pavle

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show a picture of how you have yours wired?

This is my configuration:

IMG_5745.jpg

I've got the hat and subsequently the pi powered independent of the string of lights.
The pixels are then powered direct from the power supply (fused) and data being picked up from the RPi-28D+

Do you have a multi-meter & a pixel tester?
Can you get a measurement that the pixels are receiving adequate power?
Run them independently with a pixel tester if you can to eliminate any problems at the string / pigtails (if you're using them).

Are you using xLights? Configuration of the hat and Falcon Player is pretty straightforward - I asked for help with this earlier this week here
My biggest challenge was that a lot of the guides were out of date to how xLights performs today.
 

BAZMick

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I am running this setup (using a single 5V power supply) this year and it works well.

My only concern is temperature having the unit running continuously. Inside the house, the pi never exceeded 45 degree Celsius , but today on the first hot day since I've placed it outside, we hit 38 degrees and the little pi was showing 75 degrees. It cooled to under 55 mid afternoon and returned to it's normal running temp prior to sunset. It remained below the pi shut down temperature, but I can't imagine it will do it much good if that's a daily occurrence.
Maybe some passive cooling is in order, have a look at David_AVD's website for a vent and cooling fan for your enclosure?
 

BAZMick

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Sorry for such a late response to this post but I'm just getting into this hobby and the rPi-28D+ is the first controller I bought. I'm running a 5V power supply which my controller and Pi are powered from. I have a single string of 50 lights plugged into the controller but can't get the lights to work. I don't think I have it wired right to get power to the lights. Is there anyway you could show a picture of how you have yours wired?

Thank you in advance for any help or advice!!
I don't actually have the RPi-28D+ but I can think of a couple of things that you could check.
Make sure you haven't wired the string in backwards? Check your DI wire is connected to the string port and not the DO wire.
Check out the thread Palve linked for the xLights and FPP config.
Make sure ground is common between the power supply, RPi, and the pixel string. If all aren't connected to the same ground then you will get problems.
 

Pavle

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Maybe some passive cooling is in order,

I’ve got a little 5v fan in it exhausting any hot air. I tried to skip the need for another power supply so the fan is only tiny (30mm) - it probably should be larger.

before I do anything else, I’m going to add a layer of shade cloth over the box. If it doesn’t do anything I’ll have to get a larger fan or work out a way to shut down during the peak heat of the day and start it up again after it cools a little
 

Dez

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My Pi came with a plug for a standard power point. I split the wires coming in from 240V to power the power supplies and it hooked it up to a standard power point.
 
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