Pacarana powering itself off or crashing.

Question

Hi Guys,

I just connected up my Pacarana that has been sitting in a cupboard for a few years, updated the firmware. It all works but after a short amount of time using it it just powers off or crashes. I'm now connected up via ethernet rather than firewire with a Konnekt48.

With the simple output test running it will power off after a few minutes, the temps look fine 40 for case and around 60 for the dsps.

It does the same if I disconnect the Konnekt48 and use a silent device.

Anyone any ideas of how to get at a log that might show what is happening.

Edit: A bit more info I just left it running with the DSP being displayed. After 18 minutes I heard the fans had stopped so quickly looked, screen was dark, then it flashed up the dsp screen for a fraction of a second, then it displayed "Calibrating" then the screen went off, totally powered down.

Thanks

Andy

Answer 1

Hi Andy, the Calibrating message appears when power is applied to the Pacarana, so it could be that there is a loose mains connector to the Pacarana power supply or that the power supply is failing. IS the green (or blue) light on the power supply solidly on or does it flicker?

Comments

Hi,

Thanks for the answer.

The supply light is always solid green as far as I can see,

It also seems to be related to temperature.

I have done some more tests:

so in order with nothing apart from power connected:

lasts 43 minutes from cold
then 18 minutes from warm.
then 11 minutes from warm
then repeatedly 1 minute from warm until it cools right down again. I checked the led on the supply when this was repeatedly happening, stays solid.

Case at around 40 degrees.

Connecting the ethernet and setting the DSP fans and case fan on full doesn't seem to affect these times much. The 48 minutes and 18 minutes were spookily exactly the same, then it varied a bit but still got to the lasting 1 minute stage.

So some power issue caused by the unit being hot? Or maybe the power supply overheating?

It was working fine when It went in the cupboard a few years ago, the first thing I did was update the firmware, is there anything in the firmware that might cause this do you think?

Thanks

Andy

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Aha,

More testing today, taking close notice of the green led on the power supply.

It does go out and then back on when the pacarana restarts, so you have the smoking gun, thanks :)

Are these standard power supplies I can get in the UK?

Thanks

Andy

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There are 2 possible replacement power bricks that you could use, both manufactured by XP Power: AHM85PS12 and ALM120PS12. The first one would be preferable since the second one is larger and less power efficient.

You can use the following links to find stocking distributors:

AHM85PS12: https://www.trustedparts.com/en/search/AHM85PS12

ALM120PS12: https://www.trustedparts.com/en/search/ALM120PS12

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Super, thanks very much for the links. I will grab one and see if it sorts the issue.

Cheers

Andy