by daveesl77 » Sun Aug 13, 2017 8:35 am
It has now been about 8 months with the Pi3, running all types of configurations. My SSD got fried in a lightning strike that took out my modem, 2 routers, 3 power supplies and 2 SSDs. And yep, everything I have is behind supposed "surge protectors"! The Pi wasn't hurt though, but the wired network adapter on my big computer 8 core rendering computer and the video card on my backup 6 core rendering computer got toasted. The strike literally melted Comcast's cable at the pole.
Anyway, back to the Pi3. I put in a 9-30v DC regulator to bring any DC input voltage down to 5.5v. Output can go up to 10a. Pi worked great with the SSD, but using Berryboot on an SD card to direct which OS to use. Puppy Linux doesn't work well, yet as the development is still in the "alpha" stage. Mate 16.04 works fine, but does lag due to the overhead. Lubuntu works well. Raspbian is good, but I don't like the OS. LibreElec runs well. I have had no problems using the built in wifi or a Panda PAUO6 dongle. Logitech wireless keyboard works great, as does any number of cheap Chinese mini keyboards.
I put heat sinks on the Pi when I first got it and it uses a small fan. I added in a 4 port powered hub. The regulator feeds the power side of the hub. The hub powers the Pi, SSD and fan. The Pi USB output feeds back into the hub and this in turn signals the SSD. I have an on/off switch to shut the Pi down when not using.
1080 streaming video is ok, but does have some lag issues. 720p displayed on a 65" works fine. 1080 from the SSD works fine.
Power requirements for the Pi and SSD at 12v input to regulator are about 1 amp - Pi and 1 amp SSD (both run at 5+v). Now to the converted TV, there are numerous control cards available to convert them to 12v use from a variety of sources on ebay. Unfortunately neither my Phillips TV or the monitor work with these cards. I can manually cut out the 120v side, but then I would need to use a buck-boost to get the backlight voltage up to 30v for them. Many (most?) laptop monitors can be easily converted, so I think my wife's laptop needs to have an "accident" and I'll replace it with another computer. Then I can use her screen for the 12v monitor side. Not sure what the power requirements would be for the monitor as of now, but I'll try to find out.
So that's it for now. The Pi3 works, works pretty darn good.
dave