[BPI-R4] Power consumption of m.2 to sata adapters

Banana Pi Router design BPI-R4/BPI-R4 Pro(MT7988)
1

Hello, as I am using bpi-r4 as a SFP+ nas server and router, I experienced “hard reboots” whenever all drives arranged on 2 raid arrays are used or performance tested. As I am using 2pcs of m.2 M asm1166 to 6 sata3 adapters, i checked that they are really really very hot - you can burn your skin in a second. I decided to make my own cooling upgrade and did “adaper” and attach heatpipe to every one of them. I also attached 3 (because I got the heatpipe cooling block for 3 heat pipes) heatpipes on the cpu.

Based on this cooling upgrades, The high sata load operations stays much much longer, even several hours, but at the end the “hard restart” appeared again.

What do you think it could cause the restarts? Does it is possible that bpi-r4 board does not provide enough power for the m.2 to sata adapters? I am thinking about connecting about 1mF capacitors as much close to the m.2 ports/adapters as possible, but I am not sure and thinking about where exactly they should be placed. Do you have any ideas?

The whole nas is powered by 12V/20A and 5V/20A power source, so there should be enough power. BPI-R4 itself is powered using VH-2PIN connector with 12V.

2

Hi, the BPI-R4 has two M.2 slots, but one is an M.2 B-KEY and the other is an M.2 M-KEY. Are you using both of these two slots?

The one on the top of the PCB is the B-KEY, which is for the 4G/5G module. We’ve set the voltage to 3.59V, while typical PCIe to SATA chips require 3.3V. Therefore, plugging into this slot might cause it to overheat.

3

Thanks for information!

Yes, I am using both of the m.2 slots, and the B-key one with the adapter. I did not know that there is bigger voltage. High temperature was on both of the ASM1166 adapters. Does the higher voltage on B-key m.2 slot is standard / common?

4

I use nvme for testing key-b slots with a key-m2key-b adapter (on R4Pro too). I hope this higher voltage does not damage our cards.

5

I really hope to this too, and I could say, that this kind of surprise, if it is not any standard or my fault, could be really show-stopper for development product like SFP NAS based on the bpi-r4 for me. But, I am quite positive in this manner, because I am using our own sfp nas v1.0 several months on daily basis, even as iSCSI server.

But I would be curious if this could cause these restarts, because of just “unsupported conditions for the SATA adapter”. It could be tricky to figure it out if it really is caused by the slightly bigger voltage.

Please @simon, does it is the same voltage even on PRO version?

6

On r4pro you can choose between key-m (default in upstream version) and key-b. Key-m (and also keyb) seems to have really 3.3v based on schematic i have.

7

Hello @simon ,

the BPI-R4 is restarting on higher iops usage no matter what I am trying to do, and it looks like BPI-R4 PRO which could FIX THIS BOARD BUG will never be delivered. Does it is possible to change the voltage to the 3V3 as it should be? I know that there should be needed soldering of tiny smd rezistor, but I am out of possibilities.

8

The extra 0.29V is very unlikely the cause of you getting overheated.

9

As I did install total count of 5 heatpipes (3 for cpu and 2 for both of the m.2 to sata ASM1166 adapters), I think, that the restarts are not because of overheating. The others 2 asm1064 minipciEx sata adapters have just ordinary heatsink installed. But it is true, that I do not know how to monitor the temperature of the ASM1166 chips itself, therefore I have no proof. It is the cause why I created this topic, I would like to know any ideas of the others.