Power for test Xbox

On my bench I have a test mains power input for testing Xboxes along with a test AV cable connected to a TV.

Today I wired an Xbox power safety device into the mix. There’s a tear down of this highly over-engineered device on the EEVBlog video: EEVblog #1164 – Xbox Engineering Baptism Of Fire.

Microsoft made this to cover for defective mains power connector in their earliest hardware versions. The problem was that the socket was only soldered into the board and didn’t have sufficient mechanical support. The solder joints could wiggle around, become loose, get hot, and then let go the magic smoke.

Anyway this device is both a fuse and an earth leakage detector, so very happy to have it as part of my setup.

Picking a 16-channel external power connection

So I’m planning to put an Xbox power supply,

in a box,

I wasn’t sure exactly which box, so I got four, hoping one would work.
The sockets and pinouts vary,

So I will need to make three different types of cables, one for each version range: v1.0-v1.1, v1.2-v1.5, v1.6. But those vary only on the “motherboard side”, the connector that connects to a power supply in a box can be anything, and I can pick it. By my count the maximum cable requirement is 16 cables. So I’m looking for a recommendation for what power connector to install the on the box. Ideally something I can bolt into the box that can handle a couple of amps of DC and into which I can plug my custom cable. Craig? :)
Update: from here maximum observed current 8.6A. I would like to use D Sub Connector Housing, 25 Ways, D Sub, 3, AMPLIMITE HDP-20, Receptacle, Steel Body but I’m not sure if they’re rated high enough for the current.

Diagnosing non-functional RD6006W

So I have a Geekcreit® XH-M229 Desktop Computer Chassis Power Supply Module ATX Transfer Board Power Output Terminal Module which I’ve plugged into an old ATX power supply. I’m using that to power a RD RD6006 RD6006W USB WiFi DC DC Voltage current Step-down bench Power Supply module buck adjustable converter multimeter 60V 6A. When I assembled my RD6006W and powered it up, “nothing happened”. I wasn’t sure where the fault was, but I used my new OWON XDM1041 Digital Multimeter and my TENMA 72-10505 Bench Power Supply to narrow down the problem: I’ve blown the fuse for the 12 volt line on my ATX power supply. So gonna replace that soon. In the mean time I’ve been testing my RD6006W by powering it off the 5 volt line. So far so good.

Geekcreit® XH-M229 ATX Power Board
RD6006W WiFi DC DC Power Supply
TENMA 72-10505 Bench Power Supply
OWON XDM1041 Digital Multimeter

Waiting for VirtualBox guests to close before reboot or shutdown

See this and this. Basically:

vim /etc/init.d/virtualbox
chmod +x /etc/init.d/virtualbox
update-rc.d virtualbox defaults

The /etc/init.d/virtualbox script should look like this:

#!/bin/sh

# 2017-08-07 jj5 - SEE: How make Debian wait for all VirtualBox guests to
# stop during shutdown/reboot?: https://superuser.com/a/929292/615689

### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:          virtualbox_start_and_stop
# Required-Start:    $local_fs $network
# Required-Stop:     $local_fs
# Default-Start:     2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop:      0 1 6
# Short-Description: 
# Description:       Start virtualbox on boot, and shutdown safely on shutdown/reboot.
### END INIT INFO

case "$1" in
  start)
    echo "Starting Virtualbox "

    # Do whatever to start or resume your virtualbox instances.
    # Perhaps look for a txt file someplace with VMs that need to be
    # restarted or resumed... then start 'em.
    ;;
  stop)
    echo "Stopping Virtualbox"

    # Do something to either shutdown or savestate your virtualbox instances.
    # maybe also save the instances that should be resumed into a txt file
    # someplace for the start method above.

    # 2017-08-07 jj5 - SEE:
    # https://askubuntu.com/a/457564

    # 2017-08-07 jj5 - NOTE: You should make sure that ACPI Shutdown actually
    # shuts down the guest...
    # 2017-08-07 jj5 - SEE: Force Ubuntu Desktop to shutdown on power button:
    # https://www.progclub.org/blog/2017/08/07/force-ubuntu-desktop-to-shutdown-on-power-button-keypress-acpi-shutdown/

    while [ -n "$( sudo -u jj5 VBoxManage list runningvms )" ]; do

      sudo -u jj5 VBoxManage list runningvms \
        | sed -r 's/.*\{(.*)\}/\1/' \
        | xargs -L1 -I {} sudo -u jj5 VBoxManage controlvm {} acpipowerbutton;

      sleep 1;

    done;

    ;;
  *)
    echo "Usage: /etc/init.d/virtualbox {start|stop}"
    exit 1
    ;;
esac

exit 0

You may also need to Force Ubuntu Desktop to shutdown on power button keypress