Is the 2.0A power enough?

Community Graveyard WD Labs Products
1

I just got my 250GB pidrive and ordered the power supply with it. Now that I’m reading the quick start guide, it says that a 3A power is recommended. Then why is the power that was offered to me with the drive only 2A?!? I’m afraid that that won’t be enough to power both my pi and the drive as I have previously had some problems with power with a 2.1A power.

I just noticed that there’s also a 3A power available, but I would rather not spend more money ordering that and paying for the shipping :frowning:

2

Oh dear… Now I read this in another thread as a reply to another question:

“Hi Robert- glad you’re making progress! Providing sufficient power to the system is one of our top focal areas working with the Pi (and other Single Board Computers). We recommend a 3A adapter for Pi-3 with PiDrive, plus using the included PiDrive cable and using a good-quality, short, USB power cable between the 5V adapter and the PiDrive cable.”

So why on earth are you selling 2A power if 3A is the recommended one!??!!?

3

Just as I feared. I started installing Raspbian this morning and there’s almost a constant lightning icon on the upper right corner. So the 2A isn’t nearly enough. So I guess I need to buy the 3A :frowning:

4

Hi, for Pi-3, we recommend our 3A adapter (or the official R-Pi 2.5A unit). We offer the 2A for other Pi platforms (Pi Zero, Pi-1, Pi-2). Can you describe your set-up:

Pi-3?
Using the Pi-Drive cable that was included with the PiDrive 250GB?
Are you using the USB power cable that came with the 2A power kit?
Are you using the preloaded sdcard (with Foundation Edition software) included with the PiDrive 250?
What other USB peripherals are attached?
Is Ethernet connected?
Are you using the audio jack?

We’ll get you a solution.

Thanks.

5

Hi,
Yes I’m using a Pi-3 and the cables and usb power cables that came with pidrive and the kit. Also currently using the preloaded sdcard. Only other USB peripheral attached is a wireless keyboard & touchpad. Ethernet not connected, but Wi-Fi is. No audio jack.

So I guess my mistake was purchasing the 2A unit as I did not realise it wouldn’t work for pi-3. I have the official R-Pi 2.5A unit on it’s way to me, probably next week. I will try it out with that.

I’m just a bit worried as I read in other forum threads that even the 3A might be too small to power both the pi & the pidrive.

Thanks for your help and sorry if I came off sounding a bit snarky, but I was a bit frustrated as I have been waiting to get my server up and running and was waiting to get my pidrive to start setting it up.

6

Thanks for the info on your set-up, it helps to eliminate variables. The Pi-3 consumes significantly more power than Pi-2.

I want to make sure we nail this down, so if you’d like to send me your shipping info (including phone number), I’d like to get a 3A adapter to you. My email is: dave.chew@wdc.com.

I really appreciate you coming to the forum to share the issue and seek help. Thanks!

7

Thank you very much. And again, sorry for the way I brought this thing up.

8

No problem- no apology needed. If there is pain, we’ll try to feel it and fix it :wink:

9

Just got the 3A adapter. Looks like it’s working. I had it running on two adapters until now (one for pi and one for the drive). Now it looks like it’s working just fine with just the one 3A adapter. Thank you for all the help!

10

Great to hear! Let me know if any other issues or questions arise. Thanks.