Supplying power to 3.5 inch hdd

Discussion in 'UDOO X86' started by Gronis, May 6, 2017.

  1. Gronis

    Gronis UDOOer

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    Hi,

    I'm trying to get my 3.5 inch hdd to work with my UDOO x86 with the added starting kit, which includes a harddrive power cable.

    Am I doing something wrong, or does the internal power supply not support 3.5 inch drives due to higher power drain?
     
  2. davidh2k

    davidh2k New Member

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    Nothing wrong. It just doesn't supply enough power.

    Greetings
    David
     
  3. Laura

    Laura UDOOer

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    A 3.5 inch HDD requires a 12v power rail, which the connector does not provide.
     
  4. Gronis

    Gronis UDOOer

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    Ok, thanks for the quick reply!

    Any suggestions for solutions to power my hdd? :)
     
  5. ccs_hello

    ccs_hello UDOOer

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  6. Markus Laire

    Markus Laire Active Member

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    Since UDOO X86 already has 12V from its own power source, I'm going to use split power cable to power both 3.5" HD and UDOO from same power source, probably 2-way split cable with screw terminal adapter (both from Adafruit, many nice cables there for 2.1/5.5mm connector).

    I'll then just connect 12V from SATA power cable to that screw terminal block.
     
  7. Gronis

    Gronis UDOOer

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    Ok, I think I'm going to split the power from the power supply directly and use the 4-pin molex connector. Adafruit is no solution for me though, as their shipping is 50$ to my country. I'll look around and post here when I get it working. :) I'll probably look around and see if I can use some old cables and a soldering iron to make it work.
     
  8. itimpi

    itimpi UDOOer

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    I would be very wary of trying to power a 3.5" HD and the UDOO from the UDOO power supply. Normally when separately powered a 3.5" HD wants something like 2A for itself and since the UDOO power supply is rated at 3A there may not be enough power left over for the UDOO itself to run reliably.
     
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  9. FirstGenGeek

    FirstGenGeek Member

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    Last edited: May 6, 2017
  10. Markus Laire

    Markus Laire Active Member

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    Yes, as I live in Finland I rarely order directly from Adafruit - but they do have many distributors.

    Also thanks @itimpi for reminding about power consumption. I checked specs of my 3.5" HD (WD Red 3 TB) and it says 1.73 A max peak.
     
  11. ccs_hello

    ccs_hello UDOOer

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    You really don't want to overload UDOO x86's internal 12V -> 5V inverter, since its primary use is to supply power to the board itself, not to external power hungry devices.

    P.S. check your HD spec to see if it needs both 12V and 5V (and each power rail's supply current needs.) Typically 3.5" HD needs both and 2.5" only needs 5V.

    ccs_hello
     
  12. Gronis

    Gronis UDOOer

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    I might have to purchase a new power supply then. Was looking at 60W ~ 5A which should be enough.

    I actually have the same drive! Not sure if 3A will be enough for both UDOO x86 + sata drive though.

    I'll will try to split the power between the udoo and 3.5 inch drive. For the hdd, I'll connect 12V and ground to a capacitor like this curcuit board: http://cubieboard.org/2013/09/24/how-to-support-3-5-inch-hdd-on-cubieboard/ circuit diagram: https://gist.github.com/Gronis/ddbb51ae5b6b1a675686f73fcb44f789

    I found out that the 12V pin on udoo sata power connector is unused (http://shop.udoo.org/eu/catalog/pro...ata-and-power-cables-for-udoo-x86/category/3/), so that'll go into the split 12V power. I'll come back with results.
     
    Last edited: May 7, 2017
  13. Markus Laire

    Markus Laire Active Member

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    UDOO developer said in other thread that SATA power connector can supply 4A at 5V. (However I noticed that my 3.5" drive only uses 12 V.)

    EDIT: Actually on drive it says that also 5V is needed, however spec sheet doesn't mention that for some reason.
     
    Last edited: May 7, 2017
  14. Gronis

    Gronis UDOOer

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    I have successfully splitted my cable and am now using my 3.5 inch hdd. An additional capacitor is located between 12V and ground, rated at 220μF and 16V.

    I measured the amp when I hooked it up to a adjustable power supply, and it maxed out at around 2A during startup and around 0.5A when idle, so I think UDOO's power supply should be enough. Note that I do not have any other hardware hooked to my UDOO x86 other than my 3.5 inch harddrive. hwhack.jpg hw_hack_1.jpg Screen Shot 2017-05-07 at 13.50.04.png
     
    Last edited: May 7, 2017
  15. Markus Laire

    Markus Laire Active Member

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    I just got my 3.5" drive ready and took some measurements.

    System is UDOO X86 Ultra with 128 GB SSD (M.2), 3 TB SATA (WD Red), 80x80mm fan, HDMI display, USB keyboard, USB mouse, ethernet (image). OS is Debian Stretch installed to SSD.

    During booting: 1.57 A max
    Idling on Xfce desktop: 0.77 A average (0.76 .. 0.83)
    Writing 10 GB from /dev/zero to HD: 1.23 A max (write speed was 172 MB/s)
    Writing from /dev/zero to HD with mprime torture test on background: 1.666 A max (clearly an evil test)

    With this setup it seems that 3 A power source will be enough.
     
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  16. Yogesh

    Yogesh New Member

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    I had sata power cable came with asrock 3160dc-itx. That fit perfectly in UdooX86. Disconnected 12V wires and attached to 12V 1.5A adapter and it is working fine with 3TB 3.5" hdd(1A adapter did not work). UdooX86 is working on another 12V 1A adapter. Been able to read all data from hdd in UdooX86.
    IMG_20170508_190301.jpg
     
  17. ugorur

    ugorur New Member

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    I just solder a pice of wire to 12V Power input to Sata powers first pin
     
  18. jonthe838

    jonthe838 New Member

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    For safer operations, Google for the picopsu. It's an extremely small psu. All you have to do is to bridge the atx connector so that it always supplies power and then hook up molex connectors that you split to the udoo x86 and the HDD. I would say that it looks better if you have a proper chassis for the udoo but I'm waiting for my mini itx case so that I can fit several HDDs, the udoo x86 and other accessories.
     
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  19. Yogesh

    Yogesh New Member

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  20. lukashann

    lukashann New Member

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    I am confused why the sata power connector sold by Udoo wouldn't work. As far as I can see, it has both a 5V and a 12V rail. According to this the board can output up to 4A at 5V and the 12V line comes straight from the power supply, so where is the bottleneck? Am I just missing something?
     

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