B2 Power Supply

[redw0001]

I'm about to totally refresh my B2 which has sat on the shelf for most of this year (having bought a B3). I now cannot find the B2 power supply. My error.

Can somebody please tell me the spec I need to find for a new supply?

thank you, robin

[Ubi]

The main issue is that you need a high-powered PSU, which is not easy to find. I have no access to my B3 atm, but anyone responding should especially notice the output wattage.

[wm.bubba]

Hi Robin,

The PSU supplied with the B2 has an output of 12V @ 3A.
I currently have 2 x B2's and a Storage running off a single PSU with an output of 12V @ 5A.

Hope this helps.

[Harry]

Same here, 12volt 3amp.
A good start is to look for a universal laptop replacement power supply, they often go upp to 5amps in the 12volt range, its just a matter of choosing the right connector on the dc side to get the right voltage.

Cheers Harry.

[Gordon]

I was actually amazed at first to see the PSU being rated at 3 amps. Turns out however that the drive will take a lot more power while starting up. In case of a 2TB WD green this rates at 14 watts - about 8 watts more than when running idle. And that in fact does not completely compute with the whole B3 device being rated at 7 watts. I suppose that this figure is only valid when the apparatus is equipped with the 500GB SSD?

In any case, top power usage as seen at startup should stay within 7+14 watts if you have a WD green drive. So a 2 amp PSU (24 watts) should be regarded as the minimal requirement. Running two units and an additional storage on a single 5 amp PSU (60 watts) does sound a bit like stretching it when everything powers on at the same time, but there should still be some spare milliamps. Of course these PSU ratings refer to nominal power - they should all be capable to supply at least 10% more power for a short time and that should be sufficient to get a drive started and return to its regular power usage of ~6 watts.

[redw0001]

Thanks to all for the info. I'm particularly interested in the 12V5A to drive 2xB2 and an S. Does your supply come with a splitter/multiple tails or did you acquire them separately? Just thinking about futureproofing to save making a second mistake!

[wm.bubba]

My PSU (12V/5A) comes with just one output. I'm not aware of any which have multiple outputs as standard.

Initially I was using a double splitter to power a single B2 & Storage. After I acquired a second B2, I purchased a triple splitter from ebay (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DC-Power-Plug ... 43bf9064af) and still using the same PSU.

I have been running the 2xB2 & Storage (effectively 3 1TB WD green drives) set-up since April, and have not had any problems running off a single 12V/5A PSU.

If I get a chance sometime, I'll try to measure the start-up load on the PSU and post the results here.

[Gordon]

It's been mentioned before, but there are other options than just replacing the PSU with a similar unit. THIS little thingy that is marketed for USD 35,- will take an input of 13-16 volts non-regulated DC and allows attaching a lead acid battery (as used in consumer type UPS's) to provide a regulated 12 volt at upto 10 amps and protect against power outage. It may not be the cheapest, but it is a cool solution.

[johannes]

Yep, can confirm specs:

12V +/- 10% (hence you can NOT connect it directly to a 12V car battery, which drops all the way to 0 while discharged, and is often charged with ~14V).

3A or more. As people mention here this is due to the spin-up-power required.

If you need a spare PSU we sell those as well: http://excitostore.com/sv/store/b3-b2-s ... wer-supply (same for B2 and B3).

[johannes]

I was actually amazed at first to see the PSU being rated at 3 amps. Turns out however that the drive will take a lot more power while starting up. In case of a 2TB WD green this rates at 14 watts - about 8 watts more than when running idle. And that in fact does not completely compute with the whole B3 device being rated at 7 watts. I suppose that this figure is only valid when the apparatus is equipped with the 500GB SSD?

Nope, the B3 does actually just use 7-9 W when idle, depending on which disk you use. This is measured with a 1 TB Green drive, which is around 5,5W IDLE, and the B3 itself is around 1,5W when idle.

However maximum usage is a cold-start (spin-up) with both USB ports popualated at max allowed current, where we have:
Drive spin-up: ~25W (some old drives actually have this)
2 x USB: 5W
B3: ~2W
Total: 32W. Our standard PSU is rated 36W for continous load, so there is some margin.

[Gordon]

Didn't mean to offend...

It's just that for the 2TB WD Green I found 6.3 watts for idle usage and 7 watts as stated on the box seemed a bit optimistic. Admittedly I did forget the USB connectors and for safe usage one should stick to the manufacturer's specs which state a 3 amp PSU. And if I had to buy a new PSU I would never deviate from those specs, but with the numbers given here I would not have any issue with (temporarily) using the 2 amp laptop PSU I already got or even a 1.5 amp PSU. I apologize if I gave any other impression than this.

[Puma]

Hello,

My PSU of B3 broke down as well, yesterday lot of noise (sparkling) and psu was extremely hot.
I was very happy i had a 2nd B3 (summer sale) which is now out of function.

I would like to have a robust power supply and found this one.

http://www.conrad.com/ce/en/product/512 ... 1-15Vdc-4A

Maybe I can run 2x B3 or 1B3 and Bubba Storage from it.

Puma

[johannes]

Didn't mean to offend...

Didn't mean to sound offended.

It's just that for the 2TB WD Green I found 6.3 watts for idle usage and 7 watts as stated on the box seemed a bit optimistic. Admittedly I did forget the USB connectors and for safe usage one should stick to the manufacturer's specs which state a 3 amp PSU. And if I had to buy a new PSU I would never deviate from those specs, but with the numbers given here I would not have any issue with (temporarily) using the 2 amp laptop PSU I already got or even a 1.5 amp PSU. I apologize if I gave any other impression than this.

And you are right, for that drive 7W IS optimistic, it's probably around 9-10W there. And again you are right, there is plenty of margin to use in our calculations, the drive specs are all maxumum specs (real world is usually lower) and if you don't use double USB cup heaters people rarely use 5W from the two USB ports. Also the spin-up current is only for a few seconds and all power supplies have headroom for higher intermittent loads. Finally, nothing would probabgly break if using a too-weak supply, it's just that the drive wouldn't spin up.

[Ubi]

and if you don't use double USB cup heaters

would this thing still be OK?

[Cheeseboy]

Can I just add a perhaps irrelevant and stupid question here?

I've owned every "Bubba" product ever produced by Excito.
The power-units have always been slightly different. Understandable: Excito have found better sub-providers for your parts - which means less production cost, and more money for Excito to spend on more important things (like R&D).

However, I have noticed one thing:
Every server unit has had the ugly "anti-RF"-knot that you usually see on the cable between a transformer and the appliance very near the server itself.

Every external disk-unit has had it the other way around: the ugly knot on the cable is near the transformer, rather than near the appliance.

Is this a coincidence?
I recently bought a second hand S1 unit. I immediately spotted that the ugly "knot" was in the other end (compared with the other disks - i.e. near the device rather than near the transformer). As he also sold a B3 unit at the same time, I reckoned he got the two power units mixed up and sent me the one for the B3 rather than for the S1...

Can someone tell me if this is just a coincidence, or is there a reason where these ugly bumps are placed on the cable?
And in that case, what is the difference? Wouldn't it just be simpler, nicer looking and more neat in general to shield the whole föcking cable?

Please note that there is no criticism intended with this post, I'm just curious...

Cheers,

Cheeseboy