Big Problem PMS / Rasplex shutting down in car

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1

All,

I just got done completely rebuilding my RPI2 PMS Server and RPI2 Rasplex client. The purpurpose of my setup is to provide a locally attached (no internet access) media server for my wife’s car.

I have a single Mausberry Circuit 3amp switch which provides a dual USB connection and GPIO triggering to startup and shutdown safely both RPIs.

The PIs are connected to each other via eth0

The PMS RPI has a 256GB PNY thumb drive attached, and an Edimax WiFi adapter only.

The Rasplex Client has an Edimax WiFi adapter attached, a generic USB 2.4Ghz mini keyboard dongle, and the HDMI cable.

Both PIs I stayed up till 3am re-installing everything and had them working (sort of, more on this later) in basement before I went to re-install in my wife’s car.

The latest Plex Media Server was downloaded and installed, and RasPlex 0.7.1 was installed on the client (whatever latest build was as of 9/22/2015).

After connecting back up to car with power via the single 3amp Mausberry circuit the PIs power on with ignition, and about 2 mins after boot up both shutdown at the same time.

That is problem #1

Problem #2 - is that when I had it working in the basement I installed Dnsmasq on the PMS and configured a static IP for eth0 and configured the dnsmasq.conf file to dish out an IP to the rasplex. The PMS is already setup for GDMS enabled and the Advanced network settings have the setting enabled to allow my local network 192.168.7.0/24 to allow connection.

When Rasplex boots it shows it’s connected to the right IP address and network, yet it does NOT detect the PMS server or content over eth0. It just displays search.

My wife is getting seriously p/o’d at me that this is not working and I’m “screwing with her car in the late hours”

I’m on a plane headed to Phoenix right now and don’t have access to get logs right now, but I can post my interfaces, dnsmasq settings later.
Could REALLY use some help here.

2

**Interfaces on PMS RPI2
**
__auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

#Connects to local RASPLEX client via direct LAN Cable
auto eth0
allow-hotplug eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.7.50
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 192.168.7.0_
broadcast 192.168.7.255

#Connects to home internet when available for updates
auto wlan0
allow-hotplug wlan0
iface wlan0 inet static
wpa-conf /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
address 192.168.3.139
netmask 255.255.255.0
broadcast 192.168.3.255
gateway 192.168.3.1

auto wlan1
allow-hotplug wlan1
iface wlan1 inet manual
wpa-conf /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf__

3

Is 3 amps going to be enough to run both pi’s? I thought it’s 2amps per pi so you’d probably want 2 of the switches… just a thought, seems mighty odd that they are both shutting down at the same time which would make me wager it’s more of a power supply issue (whether with the circuit or how it’s installed in the car).

Disclaimer: I’ve worked with car electronics and I’ve worked with raspis, I’ve yet to do both so I’m just guessing. :slight_smile:

4

This was my thought as well actually… which is why I wanted a second opinion on the power. The problem is I can’t get the guys at mausberry circuits to return an e-mail to save my life. I was thinking both need 2amps a piece though.

Doesn’t necessarily explain the reason why I couldn’t get the Rasplex client to see the darn PMS server over the eth0 port however when I had them hooked up in my basement.

5

Regarding problem 1:

Two minutes is the default shutdown timeout in the shutdown script, so it looks like something is wrong with the scripts, or the way the switch is wired.

Regarding problem 2:

Have a look at this topic http://forums.plex.tv/discussion/173894/raspberry-pi-pms-server-wireless-router-and-access-point#latest

Regards

6

@NedtheNerd said:
Regarding problem 1:

Two minutes is the default shutdown timeout in the shutdown script, so it looks like something is wrong with the scripts, or the way the switch is wired.

I’m confused - you mean the default shutdown script provided by mausberry circuits? Or where? I set a delay in switch.sh (mausberry provided script) of delay=20. Default in this script when gotten through wget is 0.

Regarding problem 2:

Have a look at this topic http://forums.plex.tv/discussion/173894/raspberry-pi-pms-server-wireless-router-and-access-point#latest

Regards

So the bottom 2 posts are mine actually. I solved the ability to have a connection on the PMS to both the internet and local eth0. However, I followed your youtube guide on setting this up. Not sure why the Rasplex still shows “Search” and doesn’t actually detect the PMS even though it’s getting it’s IP from it just fine.

7

My apologies, I tried one of their 2A switches some time ago, didn’t use it though as I got intermittent shutdowns and no response from Mausberry and sold it on EBay, and the default was 2 minutes from what I remember, I notice from looking at their support pages that the default is now 0.

Agree with adamskoog, 3A is probably not enough for 2 RPi2’s and could be affecting the switch causing the shutdown, try connecting just one, the PMS one, and see if it stays up.

There are some changes in the next Rasplex release to improve PMS discovery as some users have experienced the same issue if no internet connection is available.

The YouTube video is not mine, didn’t think much of it so I wrote the guide in the link.

Regards

8

Does anyone know when the “next scheduled” version of rasplex is supossed to hit to test out the local connectivity functionality without internet?

Will an older version of RasPlex offer better support for local connectivity to PMS versus the latest which I have 0.7.1 installed currently?

9

Bringing this back up as a topic of discussion as it’s been a while since I last did anything with this.

I still have YET to see a viable solution for automatically shutting down the rasplex (safe shutdown) when the power of the car turns off. I had the EXACT same issues with Mausberry’s circuits. They would intermittenly / almost never shut the rasplex down, and I couldn’t get any viable help from Mausberry himself.

Have there been any recent success stories of people putting a plex server in their car?

10

I don’t have a success story but there are enough RPi UPS solutions out there:

piups.net/
homediyelectronics.com/projects/raspberrypi/ups/safeshutdown
pi-supply.com/product/pi-ups-uninterrupted-power-supply-raspberry-pi/