Dead power brick, what to buy

[Fandangles]

I put the v2 into a protected bag on the day we bough a new streaming tv and when I dug it up and put it all together, it was dead as a dodo.

Threw a multimeter (Not literally!!!) at it and there was no power. All I did was put it away and it seems the power brick has fallen off the perch.

Where do I buy one (V2 power brick) here in Melbourne and what specs do I look for please?

[Paul_oz53]

According to the unofficial comparison guide it's:

12 volts, 2 amps minimum, 5.5 mm plug, 2.1 mm centre positive

Generally available on amazon and Ebay and some computer/electronics stores and maybe Officeworks.

[Fandangles]

Thanks Paul. This is going to be fun.

[peteru]

Jaycar will have one.

12V DC, 2.5A. Just under $40.

or

High quality 12V DC, 5A. Just under $70. It may be overkill for a V2 without peripherals, but it is a high quality unit. It's got enough capacity to be used for other devices, if needed.

Don't buy the cheap $20 units of eBay or other marketplaces. It's false economy.

[Fandangles]

Jaycar will have one.

12V DC, 2.5A. Just under $40.

or

High quality 12V DC, 5A. Just under $70. It may be overkill for a V2 without peripherals, but it is a high quality unit. It's got enough capacity to be used for other devices, if needed.

Don't buy the cheap $20 units of eBay or other marketplaces. It's false economy.

Hmm. My v2 just has the external hdd that it originally came with and the extra tuner I bought from them so the 2.5a one should be just enough. Thanks peteru.

What always amazes me is that my 4 terabyte 5 1/4" drive for my computer draws less current than my fancy 3.5" SSD that's supposed to be so efficient and touted to use less power than bigger peripherals so I never take it for granted with other devices.

[peteru]

I don't think anyone ever made 5.25" 4TB drives. Even if they did, you'd need to take into account that they need both 5V and 12V rails. 5.25" HDD platters are heavy, so it takes a fair bit of power to get them spinning.

SSD power draw (and consequently the heat generated) is very variable. When they are idle, they can draw very little current. Because there are no physical parts slowing down the transition between active and power saving modes, SSD can spend more time in low power states. Spinning rust drives have a higher base load just because it takes more energy to keep those platters spinning.

In other words, with SSDs, the power used is proportional with the workload and the difference between minimum and maximum is very big. With mechanical HDDs, the difference between min and max is lower.

[Fandangles]

I don't think anyone ever made 5.25" 4TB drives. Even if they did, you'd need to take into account that they need both 5V and 12V rails. 5.25" HDD platters are heavy, so it takes a fair bit of power to get them spinning.

Must be going mad but with my eyesight, I am never sure what I read is correct. These 4TB WD NAS drives are 4 inches wide, 5 1/4 inches deep and just under 1 inch thick. WD40EFRX.

5VDC 0.50A, 12VDC .45A

If they are 4 inches wide, do they still refer to them in the shops as 3.5 inches? (First time I ever measure them). Anyway, looks like I will be off tot he local Jaycar and the dopey salespeople.

[peteru]

Those are 3.5" drives.

The datasheet for WD40EFRX shows the peak 12V DC current at 1.75A (that's 21W during spin-up) and sustained power draw between 3.3W (idle) and 4.5W (write 180MB/s).

By comparison, a 4TB Samsung 990 Pro drive consumes between 0.055W (idle) and 8.6W (write 6,900MB/s).

Power draw is only one of many factors when choosing a solution. More often than not, TB/$ is the primary motivator. I've got 13 spinning rust HDDs in my NAS, ranging from 8TB to 22TB. That cost a lot of money. It would be completely unaffordable for me to have that much capacity on SSD storage.

[peteru]

Oh, if you can, bring your V2 with you and make sure that the power brick plug makes good contact. This kind of plug comes in two variants for the centre pin and when mismatched it's either loose or won't go in. There are a few manufacturers that use plugs that can accommodate both variants, with an expanding spring loaded mechanism. I'm not sure of the Jaycar units are in that category.

[prl]

These 4TB WD NAS drives are 4 inches wide, 5 1/4 inches deep and just under 1 inch thick. WD40EFRX.

3.5" HDD drives are in a 4" wide housing. I suspect the 3.5" size refers to the platter diameter, but I haven't been able to confirm that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_d ... ctors#List