I just got a Q3 from a user here, and I am having some issues getting it to power up on the 3.3 side. I got everything hooked up and it was working just fine, but the original owner had replace the 3.3 terminal with a power terminal that would accept, a larger gauge wire. I noticed that if I moved the stack the 3.3 side would power in and out, and then I realized the terminal was loose. So I re-soldered the terminal, and now I got nothing. It won't power up at all.
The guy I bought it from included extra terminals, so I even replaced it, but I still have no power. There are two LED's that light up on the Q3, the red LED that reads, "empty", and if I log onto Volumio, and play a song, the other side of the Q3 the "IS2" LED is lit while a song is "playing", although I'm not getting any sound out to my DAC. I have a reclockPi and Transport Pi above the Q3 that of course are not getting power either. I saw one post that seemed to suggest it could be the RPi causing this issue, which is an old 3 A....
I got a UCPure PS from him also, and I am reading 3.44 volts from the UCpure and at the 3.3 terminal on the Q3 reads 3.44 also...it seems to me it could be that the positive side on the Q3 is not making contact, but I have no idea what else to try at this point. I was able to do a continuity test on the negative side. Not sure on the positive side. But it seems like the power does not make it past the 3.3 terminal.
Any help/suggestions would greatly be appreciative. I have Bluesound Node and I was hoping to do a better side by side of the Q3 stack before I sell the Node, but from what I could tell, it was slightly better, or at the least equal...which I would say is pretty awesome...so there's that...if I can just getting it working again....
The guy I bought it from included extra terminals, so I even replaced it, but I still have no power. There are two LED's that light up on the Q3, the red LED that reads, "empty", and if I log onto Volumio, and play a song, the other side of the Q3 the "IS2" LED is lit while a song is "playing", although I'm not getting any sound out to my DAC. I have a reclockPi and Transport Pi above the Q3 that of course are not getting power either. I saw one post that seemed to suggest it could be the RPi causing this issue, which is an old 3 A....
I got a UCPure PS from him also, and I am reading 3.44 volts from the UCpure and at the 3.3 terminal on the Q3 reads 3.44 also...it seems to me it could be that the positive side on the Q3 is not making contact, but I have no idea what else to try at this point. I was able to do a continuity test on the negative side. Not sure on the positive side. But it seems like the power does not make it past the 3.3 terminal.
Any help/suggestions would greatly be appreciative. I have Bluesound Node and I was hoping to do a better side by side of the Q3 stack before I sell the Node, but from what I could tell, it was slightly better, or at the least equal...which I would say is pretty awesome...so there's that...if I can just getting it working again....
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good remark but I don't know how to answer. I am pretty sure that some fellow diyers can do that. Hope so.
looks like damage to me , I would contact the company and ask for an explanation of why those holes exist, If they cannot give you a valid explanation, return it as damaged . who knows why those holes are there, and they are Ultra capacitors , so don't take any risks
perhaps a safety valve to release any pressure if they are in danger of breaking
Hi Clausen
What PSU are you using to power the dirty side of the FifoPi? Could you send a picture of how you connected everything?🙂
I am using a USB-C into the RPi...but I'm almost positive I know what happened. Somehow I blew the fuse on the UCPure, once I realized that had happened and replaced the fuse, and I still wasn't getting power to the Q3 and above, I started looking at the PCB better, and what I think happened is the following... after re-soldering the first time the terminal was still loose, so I cleaned the back side off better, and noticed the PCB was "scratched" around the positive post. I didn't think anything of it, but turns out I believe that was "ground" on the board, and so when I re-soldered the second time, I think I shorted the board. I think I soldered the positive not just to the positive terminal but to ground accidentally too. It was working before, but now I got nothing except the two LED's I mentioned, which I am sure are powered by the 5V from the USB-C from the RPi.
Like I said, I got a really good deal on everything so it's not really a loss, so I'm just gonna buy the Q7 and hope nothing above the Q3 got fried. Which was just the reclock Pi and TransportPi...I'm hoping the Transport Pi is still good. I'm waiting to sell my Bluesound Node and a Parasound Amp I have before I buy anything else, which is also kind of a bummer because I was hoping to do a "side by side" comparison between the Node and the RPi streamer, which I was able to start but didn't get much listening time in. But from what I could tell it was equal if not better than the Node.
Thanks @miklau for the response though...
I have a few Ian boards for sale:
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/ian-canada-boards-for-sale.416772/
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/ian-canada-boards-for-sale.416772/
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When I wrote the above I kinda already had it figured out, I was hoping I was wrong more than anything else and at first I couldn't figure out how I could have possibly screwed it up....but there was no way I would have ever been OK living with it the way it was, even though it was working. The good news is, I was able to "audition" it so that I now feel confident enough to go ahead with a DIY streamer and sell my Node. I have Joe Rasmussen's Elsinores that I built a few years ago, and I have been nothing but super impressed with those, and I have built a few Troels Gravenson's speakers too, so I am becoming more and more a DIY'er. I was a little intimidated by the idea of building my own streamer when I first looked into this a couple years ago, but now even with this mishap, I have learned enough to know I can pull it off and it will sound like I hoped it would sound, and the Q7 is supposed to be better than the Q3...so I chalk the whole thing up as part of my learning curve.
Need advise on PiCorePlayer settings for DSD files with Ian Canada stack (Dual Mono DAC+Q7+Opa 861+DDC with USB+RPi5).
Having challenges to play only DSD files using RPi based Player. FLAC, WAV...works good. If connected from external laptop to USB using direct cable - able to play. I think missing specific settings related to RPi based player/software.
Enabled DSD Player plugin and under Squeeze lite settings tried with -D, -D 0:dop, 0:dop, 0 ... no luck.
Do we need to adjust any Q7 or DAC settings specific for these from the Monitor Pi Pro?
Please advise. Thanks in advance.
Having challenges to play only DSD files using RPi based Player. FLAC, WAV...works good. If connected from external laptop to USB using direct cable - able to play. I think missing specific settings related to RPi based player/software.
Enabled DSD Player plugin and under Squeeze lite settings tried with -D, -D 0:dop, 0:dop, 0 ... no luck.
Do we need to adjust any Q7 or DAC settings specific for these from the Monitor Pi Pro?
Please advise. Thanks in advance.
If those two LEDS light, you must be getting power. Are you using Ian's DUAL mono DAC? I didn't see it mentioned anywhere, but if you are, you will need the ESS Controller, or MonitorPi to use the DAC. They go together.
Edit: Unlikely the Q3 is bad, unless the power traces were damaged in your resoldering effort. Presumably, it was known to be working when you bought it?
Well I tried to re-solder it like three times now, I even de-soldered and put in a new terminal. This was on the 3.3 side. This last time, I was actually getting continuity between the positive and negative terminals on the 3.3 on the Q3. I was hoping since it blew the fuse on the UCPure, that it was OK. I'm pretty sure what is screwed up on it is limited to the 3.3 side, that's the only thing that makes sense to me. The only other thing I could think of, is I am somehow not able to make the connection on the positive side of the 3.3 I know the negative side is OK, because I am able to get continuity from the 3.3 negative terminal and other ground sources on the Q3. If there was anything else labeled on the board for positive side of 3.3 then I would at least test that, but I haven't been able to and I have kind of given up.
Let me ask this, it seems to me the 3.3 is isolated from the 5v power so that's why some of the lights light up on the Q3?
And I said it was working but the 3.3 terminal was loose, and after soldering the first time it remained loose, but would still power up. It wasn't until I "cleaned" the back side of the board and I notice copper color around the positive, and re-soldered it again, that I no longer have power to the 3.3 side or any thing above the Q3, which is the reclocker and TransportPi. I did not think that could be actual copper but now it seems it most certainly is.
I suppose I can't make it worse if I remove the terminal and screw with it again, but it just seems like a waste of time now.
Thanks for the input however.
good morning, I need your help because I can't figure out how to turn on all the power bases via the on/off switch. I have to connect the switch output to the J5 input of the purepi. and then I have to use the j9 output of the purepi to go to the other purepi always in J5.!? or I have to solder the cables on the switch PCB.!? and then how can I connect the lifepo4 together.!? because it says to use J4 but there is no input on j4 of lifepo4
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Hello everyone, I want to present you my finished project!
Took a long time, but I think it came out extremely well and I can't be more proud of it 🙂.
It's a IanCanada parts based Streamer/DAC combo.
Main system:
Star grounding of all shields.
Needless to say, it sounds fantastic.
Filmed the whole time, from design to final assembly; I'll someday post a video on youtube about my journey through this project, just need to find time to edit an overall and explicated video. Meanwhile, here are some pics collected during these months.
I'm planning to make a transparent upper cover. Spent a lot of time to be mm precise with every detail and I think the internal came out really clean and neat, it's almost a pity to hide it all!
If you want, let me know what you think!
Thank you all.
Mark
Took a long time, but I think it came out extremely well and I can't be more proud of it 🙂.
It's a IanCanada parts based Streamer/DAC combo.
Main system:
- StationPi SMT
- Raspberry Pi 4b 2GB
- FifoPi Q7 II (old stock clocks, upgrading soon to accusilicon's as318b)
- ES9038Q2M Dual Mono II DAC
- OPA861 I/V board
- MonitorPi Pro (used as fifopi controller)
- LinearPi + UcConditioner 5v [to stationPi]
- 2 LinearPi [to I/V board]
- UcPure 3.3V configuration + UcBalancer [shared between FifoPi and Dac board]
- Triad Magnetics transformers, Eaton Supercapacitors, Maxwell Supercapacitors.
Star grounding of all shields.
Needless to say, it sounds fantastic.
Filmed the whole time, from design to final assembly; I'll someday post a video on youtube about my journey through this project, just need to find time to edit an overall and explicated video. Meanwhile, here are some pics collected during these months.
I'm planning to make a transparent upper cover. Spent a lot of time to be mm precise with every detail and I think the internal came out really clean and neat, it's almost a pity to hide it all!
If you want, let me know what you think!
Thank you all.
Mark
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@Markmaister Nice work!
Question on the power button in the front, how do you wire things?
I see two wires go to the output of the LinearPi for the Raspberry Pi, but also wires to the input side?
Question on the power button in the front, how do you wire things?
I see two wires go to the output of the LinearPi for the Raspberry Pi, but also wires to the input side?
@weust Thank you.
The front button is a latched position on/off switch. It is connected to the "external on/off switch" connector of a linearpi, which is the master of the power chain (all power supplies connected in a master/slave cascade chain), so it turns on and off the output of every supply. The other 2 cables are just the power for the LED, it needs 5V and is connected to the ucconditioner output. When the switch is off the output of the linearpi (then ucconditioner) is off, led is off; when switch is on the output turns on and so do the led.
There is also a main switch in the back that connects to transformer's mains, so it open and close the input line of every power supply. It is meant to be able to disconnect the UC charging circuit of the UcPure, so they don't stay charged when no used for long time, no real use for linearpis indeed.
The front button is a latched position on/off switch. It is connected to the "external on/off switch" connector of a linearpi, which is the master of the power chain (all power supplies connected in a master/slave cascade chain), so it turns on and off the output of every supply. The other 2 cables are just the power for the LED, it needs 5V and is connected to the ucconditioner output. When the switch is off the output of the linearpi (then ucconditioner) is off, led is off; when switch is on the output turns on and so do the led.
There is also a main switch in the back that connects to transformer's mains, so it open and close the input line of every power supply. It is meant to be able to disconnect the UC charging circuit of the UcPure, so they don't stay charged when no used for long time, no real use for linearpis indeed.