Need some help on powering 16 PINEs

[pineresearch]

I'm a software guy.
I'm good at software engineering, and I have purchased 16 pines recently to run as a slave nodes in my cluster (using a 2xRaspberry Pi as main nodes).
Some academic stuff will be tested on this, later to be executed on Denmarks largest super computer, as part of my PhD.

The question is now: what's the wiring instructions for powering this cluster?
16 china-wall chargers next to each other, does sound like a nice way to burn down your house. So I'd rather not do that. Plus it's a wonky implementation.

I've been suggested this: http://www.amazon.com/Tanbaby-Switching-...typ_im_1_3

By user jproffer on here - and on several discussion threads online.
I see 2 terminals for +- and one for ground.
And then I see 2 terminals for connecting a 230V mains cord, which does worry me a little as I have little to no experience with wiring stuff, so my instinct tells me that working with lethal shock dangers like this, isn't good practice.

However, I do need this cluster powered.

Those 4 terminals I see: 2 for plus, 2 for minus.
How do I expand those into the 16 that I need?
What do I wire into ground..?

Could anyone explain this in a very dummy way to me?

[rahlquist]

I'm a software guy.
I'm good at software engineering, and I have purchased 16 pines recently to run as a slave nodes in my cluster (using a 2xRaspberry Pi as main nodes).
Some academic stuff will be tested on this, later to be executed on Denmarks largest super computer, as part of my PhD.

The question is now: what's the wiring instructions for powering this cluster?
16 china-wall chargers next to each other, does sound like a nice way to burn down your house. So I'd rather not do that. Plus it's a wonky implementation.

I've been suggested this: http://www.amazon.com/Tanbaby-Switching-...typ_im_1_3

By user jproffer on here - and on several discussion threads online.
I see 2 terminals for +- and one for ground.
And then I see 2 terminals for connecting a 230V mains cord, which does worry me a little as I have little to no experience with wiring stuff, so my instinct tells me that working with lethal shock dangers like this, isn't good practice.

However, I do need this cluster powered.

Those 4 terminals I see: 2 for plus, 2 for minus.
How do I expand those into the 16 that I need?
What do I wire into ground..?

Could anyone explain this in a very dummy way to me?

There is a lot of ways you could do this. Looks very similar to this http://www.aliexpress.com/item/High-Qual...53000.html which has better pcitures. So I will make the assumption that it is a similar hookup.

If that is the case looking at the connections your Pine will be connected to the V+ and V- connection. I would recommend avoiding the USB port completely and wire them all through one of the bus connectors. Probably on the Euler bus, looks like pins 2 and 4 are voltage in. Then pick a ground on the Euler bus http://files.pine64.org/doc/Pine%20A64%2...160119.pdf

The remaining leads on the power supply are 7 Earth Ground, 8 Neutral, 9 Line. Those go to your AC source. 

Always test everything with a meter before hooking it to anything.

[pineresearch]

I'm a software guy.
I'm good at software engineering, and I have purchased 16 pines recently to run as a slave nodes in my cluster (using a 2xRaspberry Pi as main nodes).
Some academic stuff will be tested on this, later to be executed on Denmarks largest super computer, as part of my PhD.

The question is now: what's the wiring instructions for powering this cluster?
16 china-wall chargers next to each other, does sound like a nice way to burn down your house. So I'd rather not do that. Plus it's a wonky implementation.

I've been suggested this: http://www.amazon.com/Tanbaby-Switching-...typ_im_1_3

By user jproffer on here - and on several discussion threads online.
I see 2 terminals for +- and one for ground.
And then I see 2 terminals for connecting a 230V mains cord, which does worry me a little as I have little to no experience with wiring stuff, so my instinct tells me that working with lethal shock dangers like this, isn't good practice.

However, I do need this cluster powered.

Those 4 terminals I see: 2 for plus, 2 for minus.
How do I expand those into the 16 that I need?
What do I wire into ground..?

Could anyone explain this in a very dummy way to me?

There is a lot of ways you could do this. Looks very similar to this http://www.aliexpress.com/item/High-Qual...53000.html which has better pcitures. So I will make the assumption that it is a similar hookup.

If that is the case looking at the connections your Pine will be connected to the V+ and V- connection. I would recommend avoiding the USB port completely and wire them all through one of the bus connectors. Probably on the Euler bus, looks like pins 2 and 4 are voltage in. Then pick a ground on the Euler bus http://files.pine64.org/doc/Pine%20A64%2...160119.pdf

The remaining leads on the power supply are 7 Earth Ground, 8 Neutral, 9 Line. Those go to your AC source. 

Always test everything with a meter before hooking it to anything.

Hey. Thanks for your reply.

A few followup questions, and yes, it is the very same model as the one you linked:
V+ goes to pin 2 and V- goes to pin 4?
Then it looks like pin 6 is ground, so I hook ground there?

My AC source would be a wall plug. How on earth I'll get a earth ground, a neutral and a line there is beyond me. Keep in mind I've never touched a wire before.
I know these terms, I just don't know what they really mean.

I did buy myself an expensive meter, in order to not fry the entire rack.

[rahlquist]

I'm a software guy.
I'm good at software engineering, and I have purchased 16 pines recently to run as a slave nodes in my cluster (using a 2xRaspberry Pi as main nodes).
Some academic stuff will be tested on this, later to be executed on Denmarks largest super computer, as part of my PhD.

The question is now: what's the wiring instructions for powering this cluster?
16 china-wall chargers next to each other, does sound like a nice way to burn down your house. So I'd rather not do that. Plus it's a wonky implementation.

I've been suggested this: http://www.amazon.com/Tanbaby-Switching-...typ_im_1_3

By user jproffer on here - and on several discussion threads online.
I see 2 terminals for +- and one for ground.
And then I see 2 terminals for connecting a 230V mains cord, which does worry me a little as I have little to no experience with wiring stuff, so my instinct tells me that working with lethal shock dangers like this, isn't good practice.

However, I do need this cluster powered.

Those 4 terminals I see: 2 for plus, 2 for minus.
How do I expand those into the 16 that I need?
What do I wire into ground..?

Could anyone explain this in a very dummy way to me?

There is a lot of ways you could do this. Looks very similar to this http://www.aliexpress.com/item/High-Qual...53000.html which has better pcitures. So I will make the assumption that it is a similar hookup.

If that is the case looking at the connections your Pine will be connected to the V+ and V- connection. I would recommend avoiding the USB port completely and wire them all through one of the bus connectors. Probably on the Euler bus, looks like pins 2 and 4 are voltage in. Then pick a ground on the Euler bus http://files.pine64.org/doc/Pine%20A64%2...160119.pdf

The remaining leads on the power supply are 7 Earth Ground, 8 Neutral, 9 Line. Those go to your AC source. 

Always test everything with a meter before hooking it to anything.

Hey. Thanks for your reply.

A few followup questions, and yes, it is the very same model as the one you linked:
V+ goes to pin 2 and V- goes to pin 4?
Then it looks like pin 6 is ground, so I hook ground there?

My AC source would be a wall plug. How on earth I'll get a earth ground, a neutral and a line there is beyond me. Keep in mind I've never touched a wire before.
I know these terms, I just don't know what they really mean.

I did buy myself an expensive meter, in order to not fry the entire rack.

The V+ should go to the Euler connector 2 or 4 or both. The V- should go to 6, 9, 14, 20, 25, or 34. Please lets have someone else verify this sounds right tkaiser perhaps. 

On the AC side. The Line should go to HOT as shown on this page http://inspectapedia.com/electric/Electr...ctions.php (the narrow blade in a US outlet) The N should go to Neutral (the wide blade in a US outlet). Earth Ground is the 3rd prong at the bottom. 

Please use extreme care when working with electricty of any type if you haven't had formal training as it can easily kill you.

[pineresearch]

I'm a software guy.
I'm good at software engineering, and I have purchased 16 pines recently to run as a slave nodes in my cluster (using a 2xRaspberry Pi as main nodes).
Some academic stuff will be tested on this, later to be executed on Denmarks largest super computer, as part of my PhD.

The question is now: what's the wiring instructions for powering this cluster?
16 china-wall chargers next to each other, does sound like a nice way to burn down your house. So I'd rather not do that. Plus it's a wonky implementation.

I've been suggested this: http://www.amazon.com/Tanbaby-Switching-...typ_im_1_3

By user jproffer on here - and on several discussion threads online.
I see 2 terminals for +- and one for ground.
And then I see 2 terminals for connecting a 230V mains cord, which does worry me a little as I have little to no experience with wiring stuff, so my instinct tells me that working with lethal shock dangers like this, isn't good practice.

However, I do need this cluster powered.

Those 4 terminals I see: 2 for plus, 2 for minus.
How do I expand those into the 16 that I need?
What do I wire into ground..?

Could anyone explain this in a very dummy way to me?

There is a lot of ways you could do this. Looks very similar to this http://www.aliexpress.com/item/High-Qual...53000.html which has better pcitures. So I will make the assumption that it is a similar hookup.

If that is the case looking at the connections your Pine will be connected to the V+ and V- connection. I would recommend avoiding the USB port completely and wire them all through one of the bus connectors. Probably on the Euler bus, looks like pins 2 and 4 are voltage in. Then pick a ground on the Euler bus http://files.pine64.org/doc/Pine%20A64%2...160119.pdf

The remaining leads on the power supply are 7 Earth Ground, 8 Neutral, 9 Line. Those go to your AC source. 

Always test everything with a meter before hooking it to anything.

Hey. Thanks for your reply.

A few followup questions, and yes, it is the very same model as the one you linked:
V+ goes to pin 2 and V- goes to pin 4?
Then it looks like pin 6 is ground, so I hook ground there?

My AC source would be a wall plug. How on earth I'll get a earth ground, a neutral and a line there is beyond me. Keep in mind I've never touched a wire before.
I know these terms, I just don't know what they really mean.

I did buy myself an expensive meter, in order to not fry the entire rack.

The V+ should go to the Euler connector 2 or 4 or both. The V- should go to 6, 9, 14, 20, 25, or 34. Please lets have someone else verify this sounds right tkaiser perhaps. 

On the AC side. The Line should go to HOT as shown on this page http://inspectapedia.com/electric/Electr...ctions.php (the narrow blade in a US outlet) The N should go to Neutral (the wide blade in a US outlet). Earth Ground is the 3rd prong at the bottom. 

Please use extreme care when working with electricty of any type if you haven't had formal training as it can easily kill you.

Thank you so much for that illustration about the wires inside a cable.

Makes it much easier to do now.

Do you think cutting a standard PC power cable in half and harvesting the wires from there would do the trick?

[rahlquist]

I'm a software guy.
I'm good at software engineering, and I have purchased 16 pines recently to run as a slave nodes in my cluster (using a 2xRaspberry Pi as main nodes).
Some academic stuff will be tested on this, later to be executed on Denmarks largest super computer, as part of my PhD.

The question is now: what's the wiring instructions for powering this cluster?
16 china-wall chargers next to each other, does sound like a nice way to burn down your house. So I'd rather not do that. Plus it's a wonky implementation.

I've been suggested this: http://www.amazon.com/Tanbaby-Switching-...typ_im_1_3

By user jproffer on here - and on several discussion threads online.
I see 2 terminals for +- and one for ground.
And then I see 2 terminals for connecting a 230V mains cord, which does worry me a little as I have little to no experience with wiring stuff, so my instinct tells me that working with lethal shock dangers like this, isn't good practice.

However, I do need this cluster powered.

Those 4 terminals I see: 2 for plus, 2 for minus.
How do I expand those into the 16 that I need?
What do I wire into ground..?

Could anyone explain this in a very dummy way to me?

There is a lot of ways you could do this. Looks very similar to this http://www.aliexpress.com/item/High-Qual...53000.html which has better pcitures. So I will make the assumption that it is a similar hookup.

If that is the case looking at the connections your Pine will be connected to the V+ and V- connection. I would recommend avoiding the USB port completely and wire them all through one of the bus connectors. Probably on the Euler bus, looks like pins 2 and 4 are voltage in. Then pick a ground on the Euler bus http://files.pine64.org/doc/Pine%20A64%2...160119.pdf

The remaining leads on the power supply are 7 Earth Ground, 8 Neutral, 9 Line. Those go to your AC source. 

Always test everything with a meter before hooking it to anything.

Hey. Thanks for your reply.

A few followup questions, and yes, it is the very same model as the one you linked:
V+ goes to pin 2 and V- goes to pin 4?
Then it looks like pin 6 is ground, so I hook ground there?

My AC source would be a wall plug. How on earth I'll get a earth ground, a neutral and a line there is beyond me. Keep in mind I've never touched a wire before.
I know these terms, I just don't know what they really mean.

I did buy myself an expensive meter, in order to not fry the entire rack.

The V+ should go to the Euler connector 2 or 4 or both. The V- should go to 6, 9, 14, 20, 25, or 34. Please lets have someone else verify this sounds right tkaiser perhaps. 

On the AC side. The Line should go to HOT as shown on this page http://inspectapedia.com/electric/Electr...ctions.php (the narrow blade in a US outlet) The N should go to Neutral (the wide blade in a US outlet). Earth Ground is the 3rd prong at the bottom. 

Please use extreme care when working with electricty of any type if you haven't had formal training as it can easily kill you.

Thank you so much for that illustration about the wires inside a cable.

Makes it much easier to do now.

Do you think cutting a standard PC power cable in half and harvesting the wires from there would do the trick?

It could be possible to do so (sorry not going to recommend it lol) . If you were to do that you should install properly sized terminals on the end of the wire, not just put the wires under the screws.  This cord has a single ring terminal on it http://www.amazon.com/Sun-System-120-Pow...g+terminal

Cord is stupid expensive though.

[tkaiser]

The V+ should go to the Euler connector 2 or 4 or both. The V- should go to 6, 9, 14, 20, 25, or 34. Please lets have someone else verify this sounds right

5V to pin 4, GND to pin 6, looks like this: http://linux-sunxi.org/File:Pine64_Power...nector.jpg (pins 2 and 9 are also used but that's not necessary)



And I would highly recommend to ask someone more experienced with electronics to do the assembly.

[pineresearch]

Okay, so a few more questions, apologies if this is going very slow:

1. When I have the 5V 40A output from the terminals on the powersupply. What would be the best way to split it up into 17 of those 5V pins?
2. The cord rahlquist suggested has 1 terminal at the end. I don't get how I split this up into positive, negative, ground and line?

That just about covers it.

[longsleep]

Use an ATX PSU of your choice, grab the 5V from there and a single one can power all your 16 Pines perfectly fine. You will have to create a power lane plate for this though. There are many examples for this around - eg http://blog.axxaran.de/

[pineresearch]

Now keep in mind I'll be buying some high quality terminals, but does this overall look right?
Edit: By the way thanks to everyone for being helpful. +rep to all of you.

I hopefully won't ask silly questions like this once I get it running. Software is my strong side.