On 24/03/10 09:15, Lloyd Parkes wrote:
I've only used Soekris a little bit and haven't had a problem, but the wall wart that I was loaned with it looked like the ones that can be bought from Jaycar. These are dirt cheap wall warts and I have to admit that I've blown up one from Jaycar. Getting an over specified power supply probably isn't a bad idea.
I'd echo that. We've got a number of Soekris and Alix boxes in the field, and mostly they're been bulletproof, surviving power supply events that killed other equipment. Since we use a lot of PoE, we always have a stock of unused 12Vdc power supplies. We always use >= 1A PSUs for Soekris & Alix boxes in the field, but I have had Alix boards running happily on 0.5A PSUs. Soekris boxes (even the gutless 4501) are quite a bit thirstier than Alix boards, and I don't know why -- I'd put at least 1.5A @12V on a 4801 or 5501, possibly more with the latter. Soekris sell 1.5A PSUs at US$15 one-off (US$13 qty 5+), excluding the mains lead which you'd have to source locally; Jaycar, for example sell a small regulated switchmode plugpack of similar spec for NZ$26.50 (retail) or $20.90 qty 6+ (and Jaycar prices include GST). -- don