Having created a Pd patch that works when Bela Beast is powered via the USB to the computer, I unplugged the USB and connected a 5V LiPo battery to the 5V socket. The board comes on etc but the patch does not work. Is there anything I need to do to use external power on the Beast?

What battery are you using? Did you set the project to run on boot as explained here? Does it start automatically when you power up the board via USB? Does it start automatically if you connect the 5V battery to the USB port (assuming you have the right cable?).

Hi. My battery is a 5V, 2A, 37Whr LiPo. I set the project to run on boot. It does start automatically via the USB both from the computer AND from the battery. It does not start automatically from the power connector (marked with a '5V' label).

On another note, could I ask about the settings which come up as 16 digital channels, 6 analogue channels and 24,000 Hz sampling? I am only wanting 8 channels but the sampling rate should be higher? Does one set these?

hmm that's surprising, I will try with mine here tomorrow.

It is still the same on booting. Could I check the number of channels - the 'settings' allow either 8 channels at 24,000 Hz or 4 channels at 48,000 Hz - isn't the Bela Beast a 16 audio channel device I thought at 44 kHz (or perhaps 48 kHz)?

    david Could I check the number of channels - the 'settings' allow either 8 channels at 24,000 Hz or 4 channels at 48,000 Hz

    Those are the analogue input channels, which should only appear if you have a Bela cape on top. The audio on CTAG BEAST is always at 48kHz

      OK so there are the 16 audio outputs at 48kHz via the two Bela Capes?
      Still not sure about the auto boot with the 5V socket which is still not working but the USB power input is booting OK.

      Hi. OK now it is not booting from the USB either ....?

      OK found something else - I am using digital 1 and digital 0 and if either are connected to the 3.3V supply the Beast does not boot. I am not clear what this means for a circuit implementation - does one have to ensure all digital pins are not connected at boot time? It still does not boot from the 5V socket.

      9 days later

      Hi there, sorry for the delay, didn't have a Beast at hand.
      I tested it now, and running the program at boot when powering from the 5V barrel jack works just fine for me. Also, having Digital 0 (P8.07) or Digital 1 (P8.08) connected to 3v3 does not prevent the board from booting for me (which is the expected behaviour).

      I am using Bela Image v0.3.8a, but I don't expect the result to be different with any of the others.
      Is it possible that the issue could be specific to the program you are running? If the problem persists, would you be able to share it with me?

      2 months later

      Hi. I am having the issue outlined above. I have 4 stereo amplifiers to give 8 audio outputs from the Beast. Plugging in the USB at the 5v barrel end of the board from the computer to power it and it boots fine. Removing the USB (power off) and plugging in the 5V barrel and it does not boot. I am using a simple Pd patch which I cannot seem to attach here - there are 8 'osc~' each outputting to two day channels for testing. Works fine from USB but not from barrel.

        hmm I am a bit confused by this:

        david lugging in the USB at the 5v barrel end of the board from the computer to power it and it boots fine. Removing the USB (power off) and plugging in the 5V barrel and it does not boot.

        In both cases, are you using the same USB port to power the device, and it works only the first time but not the second time? Or are you using your computer in the first case and another power supply in the second case?

            giuliomoro changed the title to Powering Bela Beast .

            giuliomoro Sorry I was not clear. I use the USB connection only to upload the Pd patch. Then I disconnect the USB and plug in the 5V barrel plug. Lights flash but it does not boot up. If I disconnect the 5V barrel plug and use the USB as power it does boot up. (It is set to boot from this patch)

              And what are you connecting the 5V barrel plug to ? Is that a dedicated power supply? What are its specifications?

              I have four MAX98306 3.7W Class D stereo amps arranges to have 2 output channels from the Beast each and a MIDI keyboard. As a power supply I have a 9V, 2Z 'wall wart' via a 5V regulator. I have found that if the Beast is connected first (with the MIDI keyboard on its USB input) and then I connect each of the amps in turn it works (before I was connecting the amps first and then the Beast). Does this make sense? If so, would you normally connect in that order, waiting for the Beast to come up fully first?

              Is the 5V regulator a linear regulator (e.g.: LM7805)? If that is the case, then it could be the source of the issue.

              The BBB takes more than 400mA , which will make your regulator go very hot and potentially drop the voltage which may lead to the behaviour you are describing. You should move to a switching regulator such as this one, this will also reduce amount of current drawn from your power supply, which should eventually solve the problem.

              David, I am not sure I understand correctly, could you please clarify this point: did you try connecting the exact same power supply to the barrel jack and to the mini USB socket? If yes, do you get different results?

              10 days later

              @david , to help diagnose the issue, could you try the following:

              • power the board from the barrel jack
              • it fails to start the program
              • leave the barrel jack in and plug in the mini USB
              • get on the IDE and type in the console at the bottom: journalctl -n 200 -u bela_startup
              • paste here the full output from the above command