Exploring WL500gP hardware expansion / interfacing possibilities

[Inertial]

In order to remove the uncertainty around the current consumption levels of the various usb peripherals that may be connected on a wl500gP (modified with extra USB ports or just plain, straight out of the box), an experimental current measurement set up was used.


The router was supplied with power through a digital millimetre, set at 10 Amps range, then the current consumption of various configurations of hardware was measured. The peek current during power-on of each module was also recorded. The router was modified with 128MB RAM, MAX202 RS-232 dual transceiver, two extra USB ports (taken from VIA chip). Firmware: Oleg's ver. 1.9.2.7-9. Picures of the mods here


Current Measurement During Boot Sequence:

Set up:
Two lan ports connected with PC's
Serial port 0 console connection to the unit
Wi-Fi initially off
No usb devices connected

Result:

Starts at 0.67 Amps for a couple of sec’s, then 0.89 Amps then ranges between 0.85 to 1.05 Amps and then after boot sequence and os-startup is complete stabilizes at 1.00 Amp.

Now we are just at the first prompt after the boot sequence.


Removing one of the two Lan cables dropped the current to 0.95 Amps
Connecting a 1GB flash USB rises at 1.04 (90mA more)
Connecting a 4GB flash USB rises at 1.13 (90mA more)
Connecting a 64MB flash USB rises at 1.18 (50mA more)


Connecting these results on the following messages on the Serial Console:

echo for PaN ::: &&&PaN
hub.c: new USB device 01:03.2-2, assigned address 2
usb.c: USB device 2 (vend/prod 0x19b6/0x1024) is not claimed by any active drive
r.
hub.c: new USB device 01:03.2-1, assigned address 3
usb.c: USB device 3 (vend/prod 0x90c/0x1000) is not claimed by any active driver
.
hub.c: new USB device 01:03.1-2, assigned address 2
usb.c: USB device 2 (vend/prod 0x1043/0x8006) is not claimed by any active drive
r.

/ #

Please note that the firmware was set up not to mount the USB mass strorage devices upon detection, in order to see if there is any difference in consumption pre-mount and post-mount. So let's mount them manually:

/ # insmod scsi_mod
SCSI subsystem driver Revision: 1.00
/ # insmod sd_mod
/ # insmod usb-storage

That's part of what we get at the Serial Console:

usb.c: registered new driver usb-storage
scsi0 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
  Vendor: takeMS    Model: USB Easy          Rev: 1100
  Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Attached scsi removable disk sda at scsi0, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
SCSI device sda: 7864320 512-byte hdwr sectors (4027 MB)
sda: Write Protect is off
 /dev/scsi/host0/bus0/target0/lun0: p1
scsi1 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
  Vendor: S3+       Model:                   Rev: 8.07
  Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Attached scsi removable disk sdb at scsi1, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
SCSI device sdb: 1918976 512-byte hdwr sectors (983 MB)
sdb: Write Protect is off
 /dev/scsi/host1/bus0/target0/lun0: p1
scsi2 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
  Vendor: Generic   Model: USB Flash Drive   Rev: %z!Y
  Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Attached scsi removable disk sdc at scsi2, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
SCSI device sdc: 128512 512-byte hdwr sectors (66 MB)
sdc: Write Protect is off
 /dev/scsi/host2/bus0/target0/lun0: p1
USB Mass Storage support registered.

Let's check the mounted devices:

/ # df
Filesystem           1k-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/root                 3008      3008         0 100% /

Mounting the usb's:

/ # mkdir /tmp/hd1
/ # mkdir /tmp/hd2
/ # mkdir /tmp/hd3
/ # mount /dev/discs/disc0/part1 /tmp/hd1
/ # mount /dev/discs/disc1/part1 /tmp/hd2
/ # mount /dev/discs/disc2/part1 /tmp/hd3
/ # df
Filesystem           1k-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/root                 3008      3008         0 100% /
/dev/discs/disc0/part1   3924460   1103812   2820648  28% /tmp/hd1
/dev/discs/disc1/part1    959200    703104    256096  73% /tmp/hd2
/dev/discs/disc2/part1     61596      4494     57102   7% /tmp/hd3
/ #

Everything remains at 1.18 Amps... So no difference when the Flash memory usb's are connected, whether mounted or not.

Let's turn on wi-fi:

/ # wl radio on
/ #

Now it's up to 1.43 Amps (250mA more)(TX Power settings are the default, mini-PCI card is the original WL120G R1.01)



Connecting a multi-card reader loaded with a 2GB CF:

That's 1.58 Amps after a peak of 1.60

/ # hub.c: new USB device 01:03.2-3, assigned address 6

/ # mkdir /tmp/hd4
/ # mount /dev/discs/disc4/part1 /tmp/hd5
/ # df
Filesystem           1k-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/root                 3008      3008         0 100% /
/dev/discs/disc0/part1   3924460   1103812   2820648  28% /tmp/hd1
/dev/discs/disc1/part1    959200    703104    256096  73% /tmp/hd2
/dev/discs/disc2/part1     61596      4494     57102   7% /tmp/hd3
/dev/discs/disc4/part1   2000064   1706400    293664  85% /tmp/hd4
/ #

Connecting two more Lan's: 1.70 Amps (100mA more)


Initiating a large file transfer between two pc's connected over lan through the wl500gp doesn't affect current consumption which remains 1.70Amps

Disconnecting all usb flash memory devices, leaving only one lan connection, Wi-fi, and the RS-232 console too: 1.18Amps (520mA less)

Wi-fi turned off: 0.92Amps (260mA less) (It was 250mA up when turned on, but that's the reading i got)

Now to the interesting part:

60 GB, 2.5'' IDE HD connected through e-quip IDE to USB adaptor, power supplied from usb: 1.45Amps during several spin-up seconds then 1.25 Amps (530mA peek, 330 there after)

Disconnecting the usb-HD, connecting an external one:

250GB 3.5'' maxtor external HD, externally supplied: 1.02 Amps, no peek observed. (100 mA more)


I also checked the re-settable poly-fuses (on the mainboard) used to protect the router from USB overcurrent and they are rated 0.750 mA. I checked their specs from their manufacturer and it turns out they trip at 1.5 Amps(!), not that i would recommend connecting anything that heavy though.
So as thing are connected now on the modded router, three usb devices are supplied from the power initially intended for one of the two original usb ports while the other get's all the current by itself.


I had to stop experimenting at that time, but still want to take measurements during file transfers from/to the Flash memory devices and the usb-HD. These are sure to draw more current, how much exactly remains to be measured...



To sum it up, here are the same results, presented in a table:

Device/Action:                      Current            Peek Current
                                    Consumption:       Consumption:

Asus WL500gP start-up (+2 Lan)         670 mA               -
Asus WL500gP boot (+2 Lan)          850 - 1050 mA         1050 mA
Lan connected (each)                    50 mA               -
1GB iStar, usb Flash memory             90 mA               90 mA
4GB takeMS, usb Flash memory            90 mA               90 mA
64MB, usb Flash memory                  50 mA               50 mA
usb multi-card reader with 2GB CF      150 mA              170 mA
Asus wl-121 mini-PCI power-on          250 mA               -
2.5'' IDE HD - USB (internal)          330 mA              530 mA
3.5'' IDE HD - USB (external)          100 mA               -

Also note that the usb ports will try to provide as much current as possible and the poly-fuses protecting them will only trip somewhere in the region 1Amp - 1.5Amps (guess not tested) (usb protecting Poly-fuses marked "P.075", WL500gP board version R1.14). There is also the Poly-fuse protecting the main power supply, (Main Poly-fuse marked "P.260", WL500gP board version R1.14). In general poly-fuses trip, when the current exceeds by some percentage their rating and then, once the overcurrent condition has been removed, conduct again when they have cool down.


I hope this info may be useful somehow

Greetings to all


Inertial


Attached: 1) The measurements set up. 2) Cable connections (little cables usb mod supply, larger cables router supply)