[mythtv-users] Two mysteries

[Matt B]

>With regards to the RPi comment: that devices is very sensitive to it's powersupply and that's one of the reasons there's different revisions out with changes in powercircuits. Complaints are random reboots and freezes(been there, done that :().

>I wouldn't base my decision on getting another power brick based on experiences made with completely other devices.


To paraphrase sherlock: everything else was impossible so I tried the merely improbable. 
Tests with a kill-a-watt power meter showed consumption peaking around 140W during boot and settled to around 25W in steady state.  Even playing back HD content barely moved it above 25W (Go VDPAU!).  So I'd previously thought that my 150W supply would be sufficient.  Tonight I tried replacing the 150W brick with a 240W one.  When I shut down the mythbox the flashing of my IR repeater stopped (as I'd seen before) and after powering up with the new one there's been no spurious flashing all evening.  Bliss!

So the evidence seems to support the theory that crappy power supplies (and/or ones used near their maximum output) are unreliable and lead to all kinds of bad behaviour.  I haven't tested yet but I'm wondering if my old MCE receiver will work now.  The flirc has also been reliable.  A little more tweaking with the harmony/flirc software and I should be all set.

Let this be a cautionary tale about power supplies.

peace and thanks for all the suggestions and comments.
Matt

P.S. thanks too to the devs!
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