Problem with Creative Extigy - high power drain even in standby

Vodkapete · 03-05-2007, 04:47 PM

I've used a creative extigy USB soundcard in my setup - I want to use this because of the facility to automatcially upmix a stereo line-in signal to 5.1 SS.

However it doesn't hibernate well if the power is cut. I'd hoped to get around this by keeping it supplied with 12v when the PC is off, but simulating a press of the power button when the PC is off to send it into standby.

All worked well on the bench, and I insalled it into the car this weekend.

This morning the battery was dead, and I had to jump start the car. I've done some test this evening, and even when off, the extigy draws over 500mA (then it hit the limit of my multimeter (got a better one on order!))

Over night I stand to loose around 15% of the charge in a full battery - which is obviously completely unacceptable.

I'm not really sure where to go now - at the moment I'm just venting frustration (it was going so well up to now!).

Any ideas? If I dump the extigy, I'd still like a S/C that will upmix a stereo line-in, preferably without the PC turned on. I know these are few and far between, so I don't hold out much hope....

Ian

Sonicxtacy02 · 03-07-2007, 10:56 AM

look for a new driver for it. i dont have any problems with hibernating my extigy.

psyrex · 03-07-2007, 12:31 PM

He's not talking about hibernating... just power draw. Yep, I too had a dead battery due to the Extigy. I built a shutdown controller for it so it'll power down when the car's off.

Sonicxtacy02 · 03-07-2007, 01:00 PM

oh in that case get the carnetix or preferrably the opus POS an duse that to shut down your extigy.

Vodkapete · 03-07-2007, 02:14 PM

The problem I have with hibernate is that it looses the CMSS status if the power is cut when hibernated. I use CMSS to upmix the stereo line-in signal from FM to 4.0 so I can control front/back fade. The unit goes into and comes out of hibernation nicely - it just doesn't like to loose power in the middle. I'm running the latest drivers from the Creative website.

I had hoped that leaving the power connected, but switching the extigy off with the facia button would draw negligable current - but actually it's pretty significant. Even with a high capacity battery, 500mA will drain the battery if I don't drive over a long weekend (not uncommon)

I'm planning on dumping the Extigy - the only good thing about it was that it applied CMSS to the line-in signal, but if that doesn't work properly then it's not much use.

Ever used a Phillips Aurilium? It claims to automatically upmix "everything", but doesn't specifically mention line-in - and some posts have hinted that it's actually very poor at handing line-in

Ian

psyrex · 03-07-2007, 02:55 PM

That's weird, my extigy doesn't drop the CMSS when i cut the power (the extigy is cut out before the system goes down). Then again, I'm also using their creative sound mixer (or whatever it's called) and I have CMSS turned on there. Maybe the software kicks in and turns it on.

Sonicxtacy02 · 03-07-2007, 03:01 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by psyrex

That's weird, my extigy doesn't drop the CMSS when i cut the power (the extigy is cut out before the system goes down). Then again, I'm also using their creative sound mixer (or whatever it's called) and I have CMSS turned on there. Maybe the software kicks in and turns it on.

mine doesnt either.

Vodkapete · 03-07-2007, 03:03 PM

Thats interesting - I'll experiment and see what I can find.

It seems to be OK to loose the power if the PC is shut down properly and then rebooted - it's only on hibernate it looses CMSS.

Edit:

I'm not the only one with this issue - this was posted ages ago, and is exactly the problem I have.

Click

I built a control circuit to simulate a press of the power button when the ACC line comes on, and again when it goes of. It works perfectly in theory, but the power drain is too high, even when the extigy is suposedly "off"

Ian

Vodkapete · 03-11-2007, 01:11 PM

I've been doing some more experimenting over the weekend - and I am absolutely sure that my Extigy "forgets" the CMSS setting if the power is cut. Also none of the driver software I have installed (including sound mixer) allows CMSS to be selected in software - it only seems to be controlled by the button on the front panel.

I wonder if there are 2nd generation devices out there, with some early problems solved?

Anyway, it seems to be consistent, so I think I will run it from a switched power source, and modify the startup controller to press the CMSS button as well as power in the first couple of seconds.

Also it draws 0.52A, whether it is turned off or not - explains the 2nd flat battery I have this morning.

Ian

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