Raspberry Pi 4B low Voltage errors

[VP9KS]

Lately I have been seeing random "Low Voltage, Please check Your Power Supply" errors on my 4GB model 4B. Some days they would pop up only once, some days multiple times. Watching the red led on the board, it would go out for a second, then come back on, add the error would pop up in the upper right corner of my right monitor. Interestingly, the computer did not restart, or even appear to glitch.
I considered that the USB sound bar and built in switch on the bottom of the left monitor might be loading down the supply, so I disconnected it, and switched to the audio from one of the the HDMI outputs. This worked for a few days, and the problem reared it's ugly head again.
When I purchased my Pi, I bought it as a starter kit from Canakit.com. Included in this kit is a small switch with a power led. This is inserted between the power supply and the Pi, to allow for easy shut down and startup. A couple days past, I noticed that when I turned the switch on, it did not work. Bugger! I pressed the button a second time, and a third time before the power came on. After a few days of this and the low voltage errors, I removed the inline switch, and I have had no further Low Voltage errors since. It would seem that the switch was making a high resistance connection at times. So if anyone else has the same problem, before purchasing a new supply, consider taking the switch out of the equation, and see if it cures the problem.

Happy Trails,
Paul

 

[GatorsFan]

Lately I have been seeing random "Low Voltage, Please check Your Power Supply" errors on my 4GB model 4B. Some days they would pop up only once, some days multiple times. Watching the red led on the board, it would go out for a second, then come back on, add the error would pop up in the upper right corner of my right monitor. Interestingly, the computer did not restart, or even appear to glitch.
I considered that the USB sound bar and built in switch on the bottom of the left monitor might be loading down the supply, so I disconnected it, and switched to the audio from one of the the HDMI outputs. This worked for a few days, and the problem reared it's ugly head again.
When I purchased my Pi, I bought it as a starter kit from Canakit.com. Included in this kit is a small switch with a power led. This is inserted between the power supply and the Pi, to allow for easy shut down and startup. A couple days past, I noticed that when I turned the switch on, it did not work. Bugger! I pressed the button a second time, and a third time before the power came on. After a few days of this and the low voltage errors, I removed the inline switch, and I have had no further Low Voltage errors since. It would seem that the switch was making a high resistance connection at times. So if anyone else has the same problem, before purchasing a new supply, consider taking the switch out of the equation, and see if it cures the problem.

Happy Trails,
Paul

glad that worked for you

 

[VP9KS]

glad that worked for you

Yeah, me too! The giveaway was when the switch failed to turn on the first time, and the problem got worse at the same time. The Engineer in me just couldn't walk away from a challenge like that, don't ya know!
Ciao for now,
Paul

 

[VP9KS]

I had an old light timer, that had failed, in the junk box. I took the cabling from it, and notched the side of a plastic project box for the strain relief. I then added a SPST toggle switch to it, and we are back in business. This configuration is even better than the old one, because the power supply is not on all the time, just when I need it. It took me longer to notch the side of the case with a file, and drill the hole for the switch, than it did to put it all together.

Happy Trails,
Paul

 

[wizardfromoz]

G'day Paul - when you get a chance, you could mark this as solved.

Just go to your first post choose Edit - No Prefix - Solved.

Cheers

Chris

 

[VP9KS]

Ya know, Wiz, I didn't think about that. Sorry, mate!