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I'm developing a project based on a Raspberry Pi 3B+ which utilizes an original Raspberry Pi Camera module. I'm powering the RPi from a 12V 4-cell LiPo, brought down to 5V by a power distribution board, to which I connnect the RPi via a usb cable. No devices other than the camera (which is connected via the CSI interface) are powered from the Pi itself - it only has 4 PWM channels connected, SDA & SCL, one gpio to read from and 4 Tx/Rx.

The problem is that when I run my program (which simply reads the video stream from imutils's PiVideoStream) and the camera module activates, the RPi's red led starts to blink, which, as far as I know, signalises voltage drops. Anyway, the camera works fine, I can obtain the data, but CPU temperature slowly begins to rise. As soon as I turn off the program, the camera turns off as well (judging by the camera's built-in led) and everything is back to normal.

Is there any way to fix this? And how is it even possible that an RPi with an official camera module causes voltage drops?

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  • It is far more likely that your "power distribution board" (whatever that may be) is inadequate. "CPU temperature slowly begins to rise"is normal when the Pi is performing a resource intensive task. – Milliways Mar 29 '18 at 10:28
  • The pdb itself is just a board which has 12V->5V converters on it. I know the rise in CPU temperature is normal during heavy CPU operations, but it reaches 70 degrees, while CPU usage is only at 30-35%. The thing that worries me the most is the red light suggesting a voltage drop – artus9033 Mar 29 '18 at 10:36
  • There is no such thing as " just a board which has 12V->5V converters"; what are the specifications? It OBVIOUSLY is not adequate. – Milliways Mar 29 '18 at 10:42
  • Alright, sorry for my inadvertency, here are the specifications – artus9033 Mar 29 '18 at 10:47
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Finally fixed this by editing the boot config and disabling the Pi camera power led

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