PinePower desktop micro power breaks

[jpalus]

I've been observing this fenomen for a while but now I'm sure it's down to PinePower desktop -- each port sporadically looses power for a very brief moment (like half a second or so, not noticeable for human being, but enough for a plugged device to "notice"). While for charging phones (or any other battery powered device) this might not be a big deal, it does however dramatically lowers usefulness of PinePower:
* cannot plug my Raspberry Pi since it will power off completely every now and then
* cannot plug active USB hub with HDD attached as it may result in data loss
* powering Pinebook Pro through Pine's docking deck is very inconvenient -- docking deck starts to pull power from battery when power is unplugged and does not go back when power goes back so one might not even notice when this happens leading to complete battery discharge. Docking deck needs to be replugged to Pinebook Pro so it starts pulling power from socket again.

Did anyone else encounter such behavior?

[kqlnut]

I've been observing this fenomen for a while but now I'm sure it's down to PinePower desktop -- each port sporadically looses power for a very brief moment (like half a second or so, not noticeable for human being, but enough for a plugged device to "notice"). While for charging phones (or any other battery powered device) this might not be a big deal, it does however dramatically lowers usefulness of PinePower:
* cannot plug my Raspberry Pi since it will power off completely every now and then
* cannot plug active USB hub with HDD attached as it may result in data loss
* powering Pinebook Pro through Pine's docking deck is very inconvenient -- docking deck starts to pull power from battery when power is unplugged and does not go back when power goes back so one might not even notice when this happens leading to complete battery discharge. Docking deck needs to be replugged to Pinebook Pro so it starts pulling power from socket again.

Did anyone else encounter such behavior?

Does it really happen on all the ports? Someone in another thread was experiencing power loss with their RPi on the USB-C port, but not on the green USB-A ports, possibly due to problems in handling USB PD on the attached device's side.
I don't have any device attached to my PinePower that needs constant power, but I frequently charge my PinePhone with it next to me on my desk and never heard the power disconnection sound it usually makes when the charger is disconnected/power is lost.

[jpalus]

Does it really happen on all the ports? Someone in another thread was experiencing power loss with their RPi on the USB-C port, but not on the green USB-A ports, possibly due to problems in handling USB PD on the attached device's side.
I don't have any device attached to my PinePower that needs constant power, but I frequently charge my PinePhone with it next to me on my desk and never heard the power disconnection sound it usually makes when the charger is disconnected/power is lost.

Surely on USB-C port -- both Pinebook Pro with two different hubs including Pine's docking deck, as well as when charging Pixel 4a (charging sound after being plugged for a while) so don't think it's device problem, and on at least one of green ports. It's hard to track what was plugged where exactly. I may try testing each port independently but it's a bit tricky since those breaks are very much non-deterministic -- sometimes occur within 15m timeframe between breaks and sometimes none are observed for many hours.

[kqlnut]

Are these actually an open source project, or are they just rebranded generic low quality power supplies with no safety certification?

Quoting this blog post by Pine64:

“both PSUs are based on reference designs, but we have made significant improvements to the internals so they are more performant than existing offerings”. Despite both designs being generic, the PSUs have had improvements made to their performance and undergone certification.

So no, they are not just rebranded uncertified devices (which also wouldn't fit what Pine64 does). I don't know if the schematics have been released though, but you can find more details and pictures from the internals of the 120W version in the wiki.

[tllim]

Are these actually an open source project, or are they just rebranded generic low quality power supplies with no safety certification?

Quoting this blog post by Pine64:

“both PSUs are based on reference designs, but we have made significant improvements to the internals so they are more performant than existing offerings”. Despite both designs being generic, the PSUs have had improvements made to their performance and undergone certification.

So no, they are not just rebranded uncertified devices (which also wouldn't fit what Pine64 does). I don't know if the schematics have been released though, but you can find more details and pictures from the internals of the 120W version in the wiki.

We prefer not release the PinePower schematic due to the high voltage nature. The worry on user may hack the device and potential case personal injury.