[aprssig] DC Power Pole to USB for Pi 4 computers

[Jason KG4WSV]

Pis are notoriously picky about power. Anything advertised to charge a phone is suspect. 

I tried some cheap RC BEC supplies, pi 3 didn’t like them. A hefty model (10A or 20 A is what it claims) caused the pi to complain regularly. 

I have used this one

https://www.pololu.com/product/2851

on a pi zero W that’s also powering an RTL-SDR with no problems. Haven’t had a chance to try in on anything larger than the zero W yet.  The holes allow it to mount to a standard 2 pin header to a pi prototyping hat; the Powerpole is on a pigtail ok my prototype. I plan to do a PCB that includes the through-hole Powerpole one of these days. 

Some prototyping hats (I’m looking at you adafruit) have extremely wimpy power traces. I piggybacked an additional wire to the +5 and ground pins to eliminate that problem. 

For any pi boards with components that are too tall to stack, a quick and easy hack is to just stick a second stacking header on there to jack up the top board and allow more clearance. 

-Jason
kg4wsv

> On Mar 24, 2021, at 3:07 PM, MJ Inabnit <ke6sls at arrl.net> wrote:
> 
> 
> Looks like a whole lot of folks are trying to find a nice tidy Power
> Pole power adapter to supply power to Raspberry Pi 4's.  I know there
> are many small companies building neat stuff like mini-APRS rigs.  So is
> anyone building a Power Pole power supply for the Pi's yet?  Any good
> tips or links would be very welcome as I plan to move my APRS and packet
> systems to a new Pi 4 in the near future.  All my gear is using the
> power poles and the rigrunner/MFJ power pole dc distribution boxes.
> 
> Thanks all!  73
> 
> Jaye ke6sls
> 
> 
> -- 
> 
> wishing you well
> Jaye, ke6sls--via the toshiba w/thunderchicken
> 
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