INFORMATION SERIES

 
POWER ADAPTORS
and MADAR, Cautionary Measures
...

2024 Aug 18


To prevent a MADAR unit from being offline. or even damage to the dataProbe itself, I have prepared this short tutorial with illustrations to help identify the proper power supply needed to operate the unit. The first one is rated better than the original so as to handle the workload, including the geiger counter. *

Also, if someone loses the adaptor during a moving process or gets it mixed up with other very similar "walwarts", this page can be of help. And if someone needs to order one for replacement, this page will provide the Amazon link.



iUniker Power Supply
[5V 3A UL Listed] iUniker Power Supply for Raspberry Pi 3 with on/off Switch Compatible with Raspberry Pi 3/ 3b+/ Zero/Zero 2w. Highly recommended over the standard Canakit for power demand and especially the use of the geiger counter.
CanaKit Power Supply
5V 2.5A The standard power supply for the Rasberry Pi 3 B+. This handles a normal workload for the pi but MADAR, especially with a geiger counter, can be more demanding. The price is basically the same.

Neither of these adaptors are recommended for use on the Rasberry Pi 4, which is currently not needed or used in MADAR work.

Although it is much neater, when installing and running the wires from one of these power supplies no other wires, especially the Ethernet cable, should be bundled together. E-M can travel down wires and jump nearby wires creating E-M that will reflect in the magnetometer readings.

* Software updates to incorporate the GMC-500 (or equivalent) in the system and data in the spreadsheet are being devised. Please do not connect a geiger counter until you are cleared with tech support.

Fran Ridge
MADAR Operations Director
skyking42@gmx.com
madar.site/