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Table of Contents
Powering the Chumby Hacker Board
Power usage
The Chumby Hacker board doesn't take a lot of power on its own but adding goodies can really boost up the draw, here are some things to look out for
- The main system itself (processor, RAM, SD card) draws 200 to 300 mA depending on how hard its thinking
- The USB hub draws 100-200mA (not including power to the USB devices) depending on how many ports are active
- Having a speaker plugged into the 2W output adds as much as 300mA (louder speakers = more current draw)
- Charging an attached Lipoly battery will take another 500mA max
- LCD (we dont have one yet but say it existed) will draw 100-200mA depending on make and backlight brightness
Power jack
The Hackerboard requires a regulated 5VDC power supply, positive tip, via a 3.5mm OD, 1.4mm ID barrel jack (sometimes referred to as a 3.8mm or 4mm connector). To connect you will need a matching plug, such as this. We suggest a regulated switching supply with over 1000mA output capability. The power required by the board itself is not that high (100mA? check this) but if you plug in a Wifi dongle into the USB port, or an LCD into the LCD expansion port, the power required can easy climb to a 1000 mA. Since the connector is the same as those used in the PSP, you can use PSP power supplies and chargers!
Under no circumstances should you power the device with anything higher than 5V, you will destroy it!
Lithium battery
Needs factchecking
The board can also use a lithium ion/polymer battery for power. The board even has a built-in lipoly charger! (is it activated by default? what charge rate?)
If powering from a lipoly, the chip will boost it to 5V to supply power to one of the USB port s(the top one, on the same side as the power jack) but not to the other two.
