It's all white!

[ClockworkCoder]

Thanks for the update @ED

Personally I'd prefer a sticker or pen or something Pyra merch related then a charger, if something else is to be thrown in

So what's the status of the Magnificent Seven? Any summary of feedback? Are they running more reliably/stable now?

I'm also keen to hear about assembly of any unit that is using newer revised components, especially with an updated motherboard.

 

[Bernd]

...and set your house on fire. There's been enough cases of cheap chargers and cables catching fire due to not being capable of properly handling so much Amperage.

Or kill yourselfe because the output is on mains reference.

I've seen shitty charger with capacitive dropper inside, with shorts between mains and output and too small distances between mains and output.

Wasn't there a case few days ago in the newspaper, where a girl died because of a shitty charger?

Do we need an AC adapter? Everything charges from USB these days. All the electrical outlets in my house are fitted with USB ports now.

I'm not a fan of this built in charger.

1.:
They always need a good amount of power.
Even when not used.
(If I would change all my outlets to charger-type ones, I would have to pay 100 € per year or more due to stand by consumption of them)

2.:
Even in good outlets, there are the cheapest possible charger are built in.
The clearances are not that great to, due to the small space.
All USB-enabled outlets below 100€ / pice I've seen are nice small fire starter with a couple of years ignition-delay.

3.:
The technologie advances that fast, that no one know, how long USB will be used to charge devices.
My phone for example uses still 3,7V with a 3,5mm circular connector.
Its possible that future phones will need 12V to charge to reduce the current through the cable.

 

[Yori]

Do we need an AC adapter? Everything charges from USB these days. All the electrical outlets in my house are fitted with USB ports now.

I think supplying a power adapter is a good idea, I can't find any in my house that can pump out 2+ amps.

Also can any one recommend me a good priced USB cable that won't burn down my house and can charge a pyra at full speed?

 

[Eight Bit]

Thanks for your update Ed. Could you give a rough estimation of when mass production will start?
Now it seems a lot of time is wasted with part sample transit, and every news update small things are improved and more waiting for samples to arrive is announced. Even though I'm a very patient person, it starts to make me a bit dispirited.
I'm eagerly awaiting the moment you say it is good enough now and mass production will start. But each time news comes out, there's more wait.
Don't get me wrong, of course I want the Pyra to be as good as it can be.. It just takes so damn long and it would be awesome to hear that mass production-, if only of certain parts- has started...
What does it look like now? Which parts still need work before the mass production can finally start?

Also, for me an extra charger would end up in a drawer. There's already too many USB chargers in my house.

 

[Black Sliver]

...and set your house on fire. There's been enough cases of cheap chargers and cables catching fire due to not being capable of properly handling so much Amperage.

With regular USB (labelled as USB) there is 100mA or 500mA current limit. With microUSB phones, there was a "charge mode" added, identified by a resistors between D+ and D- and/or GND and/or VBus, which has a limit set by the device's manufacturer, as you are to use the manufacturer's PSU. Apple and Sony have/had different charger identification resistors so they could tell that the charger is really compatible (to not burn the house down if the consumer misses out on reading the PSU's label).

It seems like everything above 500mA/5V, that is neither USB3/3C nor Qualcomm Quickcharge, is not specified by any standard.
Besides that the charging is not USB, I believe you'd have to either ship a PSU that is meant for this device (where cable+connector+PSU matches the current limit), or state the specs and at least offer one.

Regarding setting the house on fire: I believe the culprit in most cases is either missing conformity (missing primary-side ILim, secondary-side OVP+ILim) with "cheap" chargers not meant for the European market, or the use of a connector (!) that is not specified to handle the current (bad contact before e.g. 1000 mating cycles -> arc -> fire).

 

[Zogzog]

Hi, thank you for the news.
IMHO I'll take a fan (especially this beautiful little marvel) over throttling.
I'll be happy to build a few custom drivers.
And I have some questions:

what is the status of the 4g boards ?
why Uboot is not in the repo ?
you speak of user mod, so I may assume some free GPIOs or some accessible bus (I2C) ?

 

[Askarus]

Sealing

Next, I was working on the sealing. The idea with the silicon pads was good in theory - but not working that well in reality.
It looks the only way to properly seal the speakers is with some pre-cut adhesive tape which seals everything except the contacts.

Even though it looks simple, it also took a while to measure everything properly, to make sure it sits perfect. Here is the result:



I will hand-cut this within the next few days to test it!

Sounds better to me.
Simply glue the speaker inside the case and only let tiny holes for the contacts.
Who needs to replace the speaker anyways?
If so, then the sealing needs to be destroyed but who cares.
I wouldn't try to make that part perfectly modular.

 

[pmprog]

(If I would change all my outlets to charger-type ones, I would have to pay 100 € per year or more due to stand by consumption of them)

I'm pretty certain that's not how they work. They will only cost you when they draw current (ie, something's plugged in and charging). Otherwise just leaving plug sockets switched on with nothing in would raise electricity bills greatly.
Also, searching for "European wall sockets" on images, most of them don't seem to have switches like the UK ones do, so if your theory was correct, all european houses would be constantly consuming power.

 

[Akko]

I'm pretty certain that's not how they work. They will only cost you when they draw current (ie, something's plugged in and charging). Otherwise just leaving plug sockets switched on with nothing in would raise electricity bills greatly.
Also, searching for "European wall sockets" on images, most of them don't seem to have switches like the UK ones do, so if your theory was correct, all european houses would be constantly consuming power.

That's not quite the same. An empty wall socket is just an open contact and does not consume any power, that's true. Those built-in USB chargers though have active electronics in them that consumer power even when nothing is plugged in. Now I have no numbers on how high that is and if the 100€/a-estimate is correct, but they would definitely consume a non-zero amount of power. To me though the main point against them is safety: as @Bernd correctly stated, most of those "wall-outlet USB chargers" are of questionable quality and run the risk of failing, possibly even catastrophically.

As for including a charger with the Pyra, I will gladly take that. I have enough 2A-USB chargers, but one more is not going to hurt (rather it'll make it easier to find one when I need one XD).

 

[Bokkertoff]

I would also appreciate a quality charger.
I had a Raspberry PI that gave me lots of problems. The thing had all kinds of inconsistent behavior.
In the end a quality power supply was the solution. Even if you don't use it for the Pyra, you might appreciate it when you buy your next Raspberry/Orange/Bannana PI.

 

[spiralofhope]

Thank you for future-proofing with a spot for a fan. The CPU will need to be upgraded in the future, and that option is very good to have.

I like that you consider these things, like a slight change in the battery compartment for a future bulge without cracking the case.

 

[Mr_Loon]

Cheers for the update ED, any news on the 4GB issue?

Also re the charger, please consider giving the option to not receive a charger when ordering a Pyra as per this thread.

 

[trix]

I think supplying a power adapter is a good idea, I can't find any in my house that can pump out 2+ amps.

Also can any one recommend me a good priced USB cable that won't burn down my house and can charge a pyra at full speed?

I can personally recommend anything by the brand name ANKER. I've tried many brands over the years and Anker has consistently been high quality chargers, cables, and equipment that does not fail. Not to sound like a commercial, but I have everything from USB charging docks, cords and cables, battery backups, usb SD card readers, and lots more and only the Anker ones have lasted and consistently worked great.

Especially for my Raspberry Pi's. None of the other USB power supplies I have give the Pi enough amps consistently to be problem-free after hours of usage except the Anker, and it can power three Pi's at once while charging my Pandora at the same time, on a 5-port USB power station I got for pretty cheap.

I've also seen Grench recommend this same brand, so it's not just me either. The Anker chargers are also awesome at detecting the fastest rate of charging the device will safely accept and providing it consistently. I've been impressed with this brand for a few years now.

 

[Shlee]

Not a huge fan.

 

[EvilDragon]

Cheers for the update ED, any news on the 4GB issue?

Nikolaus tries to find some time within the next few days to work on the different timings to get it to work.

 

[Ted]

Thanks for your update.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[Grench]

Not a huge fan.

A tiny fan isn't a bad thing - if it is properly linked into the system so that it comes on and ramps appropriately.

 

[0x14f]

I also had a hard time finding a proper charger for a raspberry pi back in a day, burned plenty of cash. Of cause now "Pi starter bundles" is a huge business with plenty of supply and this problem is less prominent. Still don't want to worry about a charger again.

 

[CapcomSuicide]

In terms of managing expectations, is it possible we might see mass production within Q1 2018 or with the final changes are we looking at Q2/Q3 for first 1100 orders to be fufilled?

 

[Mr_Loon]

Nikolaus tries to find some time within the next few days to work on the different timings to get it to work.

Great to know, assumed this would be priority number one for the prototypes and was starting to worry there was a fundamental problem, good to hear that it's still probably just timings rather than anything more 'sinister'.