Power Alternative: Beneficial or Dangerous?

This topic has 4 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 8 months ago by xd3l.

Viewing 5 posts - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

Author

Posts
02/29/2016 at 23:00 #118635

xd3l
Participant

I have this 5v 3.1A 3 port USB charger that I got cheap off Ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/351643969026?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&var=620626732872&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

It boots the Pi fine, but if I plug in a Hard Drive with splitter cable, then I get that little rainbow in the upper right hand corner that tells me that I don’t have enough power.

On the other hand, if I plug the Hard Drive thicker power cable into the HUB, then th other USB cable into the Pi, both that and the Pi’s own MiniUSB port are used to power it up and it works.

My question is whether or not I could fry my Pi by doing it this way or if I should just use an external hard drive with it’s own devoted PSU?

03/01/2016 at 09:53 #118673

MattRigg
Participant

You should be able to power a 2.5″ drive using the Pi’s USB port. Depends one the drive’s power consumption though I guess.

Does your config.txt contain max_usb_current=1 ?

Could maybe be the PSU also. Any way of testing the output? It could be a cheap Chinese thing that doesn’t actually provide a good clean signal and/or the rated amperage. Have you got another PSU you could try?

03/01/2016 at 18:50 #118738

xd3l
Participant

I have a PWR + 5v 3.5A that I use for testing and all of my hard drive seem to act strange even with it. This is the first PSU where things actually seem to act right. so….

…is it safe to power it this way?

03/02/2016 at 12:07 #118813

malacai
Participant

if u do so then u will bypass the ‘fuse’. i have done this myself, and i never had any issues. but keep in mind that it can brake your pi

03/02/2016 at 15:37 #118831

xd3l
Participant

So if I power through the mini usb, I go through the fuse and if I power via standard usb, I bypass the fuse?
Author

Posts