Power adaptor for RaspberryPi 4

DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT TOUCH ELECTRONICSCOMP WITH A 10 FOOT POLE.

Edit - My anger boiled over when I saw the name on the link and hence the terse message.

More details on why they are a scummy brand - Placed an order for all components that were in stock in 2022. It was supposed to be delivered within 7 days and all was fine. I got updates as per usual saying order received, packed, etc. No cause for alarm. On the 7th day no delivery happens. This is where the ordeal starts.

I call their customer care but no one picks up. I send mails but no one responds. I send whatsapp messages and I get harsh replies.

Finally I get a mail saying one product is not in stock (this is almost 15 days  after the promised delivery date) and that they will send me the rest now and I can pay for shipping for the other product. I reply immediately stating I have lost faith in the company and demand a full refund. No replies. I then keep sending mails and calling them but no one picks up or replies. Sometimes by sheer luck and patience (I made over 30-40 calls each day) you may get through to the customer care via phone. Those guys will promise the world to you but not act on anything they say. I was promised 4 different times by 4 different agents that my product is in stock, and order will be shipped today or refund is processed and it should be credited today.
None of that happened.

I keep sending emails and 3 times I get a bluedart tracking number but the parcel isn't handed over or picked up. This happens across 3 weeks. And finally some 3 months after I placed the order, I get the parcel. I was dreading that something would be wrong and I'd have to do this entire rigamarole again to return a product but thankfully nothing was wrong.

I reiterate DO NOT DEAL WITH ELECTRONICSCOMP IN ANY WAY WHATSOEVER. THEY ARE THE WORST BRAND.

****End of Edit****​

They are the worst company to deal with in DIY electronics.

The Pi has a limited 1.2A for all downstream peripherals (all 4 USB ports combined). Check if your nvme drives draw lesser than that. Otherwise a powered USB hub is better.

For a PSU, the official one is the best. This is because the official one has thicker gauge wire which means lower losses. Also it's 3M long so length shouldn't be an issue.
 
Last edited:
badwhitevision said:
DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT TOUCH ELECTRONICSCOMP WITH A 10 FOOT POLE.

Edit - My anger boiled over when I saw the name on the link and hence the terse message.

More details on why they are a scummy brand - Placed an order for all components that were in stock in 2022. It was supposed to be delivered within 7 days and all was fine. I got updates as per usual saying order received, packed, etc. No cause for alarm. On the 7th day no delivery happens. This is where the ordeal starts.

I call their customer care but no one picks up. I send mails but no one responds. I send whatsapp messages and I get harsh replies.

Finally I get a mail saying one product is not in stock (this is almost 15 days  after the promised delivery date) and that they will send me the rest now and I can pay for shipping for the other product. I reply immediately stating I have lost faith in the company and demand a full refund. No replies. I then keep sending mails and calling them but no one picks up or replies. Sometimes by sheer luck and patience (I made over 30-40 calls each day) you may get through to the customer care via phone. Those guys will promise the world to you but not act on anything they say. I was promised 4 different times by 4 different agents that my product is in stock, and order will be shipped today or refund is processed and it should be credited today.
None of that happened.

I keep sending emails and 3 times I get a bluedart tracking number but the parcel isn't handed over or picked up. This happens across 3 weeks. And finally some 3 months after I placed the order, I get the parcel. I was dreading that something would be wrong and I'd have to do this entire rigamarole again to return a product but thankfully nothing was wrong.

I reiterate DO NOT DEAL WITH ELECTRONICSCOMP IN ANY WAY WHATSOEVER. THEY ARE THE WORST BRAND.

****End of Edit****​

They are the worst company to deal with in DIY electronics.

The Pi has a limited 1.2A for all downstream peripherals (all 4 USB ports combined). Check if your nvme drives draw lesser than that. Otherwise a powered USB hub is better.

For a PSU, the official one is the best. This is because the official one has thicker gauge wire which means lower losses. Also it's 3M long so length shouldn't be an issue.
Click to expand...
Thanks a ton buddy! Zillion times thanks! I was pretty tempted about the power supply. Thanks buddy!
ibose said:
I would go with their official one -
pibox.in

Raspberry Pi 15.3W USB-C Power Supply for Raspberry Pi 4 Mobel B (1GB/2GB/4GB Model) | Pibox India® - Home for Raspberry PI | IoT products | Audio Data & Video Accessories and beyond!

AC 100-240V 50Hz/60Hz input DC 5.1V 3A Output Short circuit, overcurrent and over temperature protection 1.5m 18 AWG captive cable with USB-C output
pibox.in pibox.in
The link you shared has a barrel plug. How were you looking to make that work ?
Click to expand...
Aye! I overlooked indeed!
Btw, I badly needed a robust smps for RPi. Overlooked!
 
tamocha11 said:
Btw, I badly needed a robust smps for RPi. Overlooked!
Click to expand...
Please check the power consumption of the SSDs before you buy any SMPS. As stated in my OP
badwhitevision said:
The Pi has a limited 1.2A for all downstream peripherals (all 4 USB ports combined). Check if your nvme drives draw lesser than that. Otherwise a powered USB hub is better.

For a PSU, the official one is the best. This is because the official one has thicker gauge wire which means lower losses. Also it's 3M long so length shouldn't be an issue.
Click to expand...
If the nvme drives draw more than 1.2A, the Pi will start showing undervolt warnings.

Essentially what this is means is - if you power the Pi via the USB C connector, you can only use a maximum of 1.2A for all 4 USB ports combined. Anything above this will have to have it's own power supply, preferably via a powered USB hub.

Please read the max current specification of the nvme drive. If they draw anything around 1A combined, please use a powered USB hub like this to avoid undervolt warnings on the Pi. Only if the max current drawn by both nvme drives together is less than 1A, proceed with the official power supply.
 
badwhitevision said:
If the nvme drives draw more than 1.2A, the Pi will start showing undervolt warnings.

Essentially what this is means is - if you power the Pi via the USB C connector, you can only use a maximum of 1.2A for all 4 USB ports combined. Anything above this will have to have it's own power supply, preferably via a powered USB hub.
Click to expand...

The official R-Pi charger mentioned by @manohar5321 can take care of this issue.
 
chyawanprash said:
The official R-Pi charger mentioned by @manohar5321 can take care of this issue.
Click to expand...
I believe not.

The Pi documentation clearly mentions that the power is limited in all cases irrespective of the PSU.

The only advantage to the official PSU compared to any other PSU is that it is supplied by the Pi foundation and it's known to supply 5V3A at the USB C connector.

The 3A is divided as 1.8A for the SoC/ethernet and others on the board and 1.2A for the USB peripherals.

Even if you attempt to use a 5V5A PSU(such as the official one for the new Pi 5) the power IC on the Pi 4 board can only use upto 3A.

In this case also, attempting to connect anything more than 1.2A combined on the USB ports will lead to undervolt warnings on the Pi.

I reached this conclusion after spending a ton of time researching for my own use case.
I'm happy to be corrected.

Cheers
 
badwhitevision said:
I believe not.

The Pi documentation clearly mentions that the power is limited in all cases irrespective of the PSU.

The only advantage to the official PSU compared to any other PSU is that it is supplied by the Pi foundation and it's known to supply 5V3A at the USB C connector.

The 3A is divided as 1.8A for the SoC/ethernet and others on the board and 1.2A for the USB peripherals.

Even if you attempt to use a 5V5A PSU(such as the official one for the new Pi 5) the power IC on the Pi 4 board can only use upto 3A.

In this case also, attempting to connect anything more than 1.2A combined on the USB ports will lead to undervolt warnings on the Pi.

I reached this conclusion after spending a ton of time researching for my own use case.
I'm happy to be corrected.

Cheers
Click to expand...

I agree, the pass through is not as high as OP thinks.
 
copy-pasting from the accompanying documentation:
Code: 
The Raspberry Pi 27W USB-C Power Supply is an ideal power supply for Raspberry Pi 5,
especially for users who wish to drive high-power peripherals, such as hard drives and
SSDs, from Raspberry Pi 5’s four Type A USB ports.
Delivering a maximum of 5.1V, 5A, it supports USB PD (Power Delivery), so Raspberry Pi 5
can communicate with it and select the most appropriate power profile. This enables
Raspberry Pi 5 to increase the USB current limit automatically from the default 600mA to
1.6A, in order to provide extra power for devices connected to the four Type A USB ports.
Additional built-in power profiles mean the Raspberry Pi 27W USB-C Power Supply is also
an excellent option for powering third-party PD-compatible products. The available profiles
are 9V, 3A; 12V, 2.25A; and 15V, 1.8A, all limited to a maximum of 27W.
 
Thank you.

I believe there is some confusion. The OP has asked PSU for a Pi 4. I have provided information with regard to the Pi 4.

The documentation you have posted is for the Pi 5.

Pi 5 is the first Pi to have varying limits based on the PSU (only the official PSU will allow 1.6A for the 4 USB ports, other PSUs will be limited to 600 mA and can be overriden via the config.txt file)

Cheers
 
badwhitevision said:
Thank you.

I believe there is some confusion. The OP has asked PSU for a Pi 4. I have provided information with regard to the Pi 4.

The documentation you have posted is for the Pi 5.

Pi 5 is the first Pi to have varying limits based on the PSU (only the official PSU will allow 1.6A for the 4 USB ports, other PSUs will be limited to 600 mA and can be overriden via the config.txt file)

Cheers
Click to expand...
Yes, I saw the limitation. Mine is 4. I use this Pi4 with an old OnePlus power adaptor of 4A and seldom I get the "low voltage" warning.
Thanks everyone for the inputs. Thanks a ton!
 
If you are planning to get an external powered usb hub, find one that doesn't backfeed power to your pi via usb port. This creates issues when you want to reboot pi.

Check the hub reviews thoroughly before byuing. I have a cheap one from amazon and a tplink hub which has high price. Both of them have the same issue with the pi4.

Suprisingly pi 2 and pi 1 doesn't exhibit the same behavior.
 
I've tried this on 3 different SBCs and none of them have issues. The Pi 5, the Pi zero 2W and the Pi 4 v1.2.

Has the power management IC changed or a diode added between v1.1 and 1.2?
 
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