This is an old revision of the document!
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 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 (see above) 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!
The board can also use a standard 3.7-4.2V lithium ion/polymer battery for power. The board even has a built-in lipoly charger! It is activated by default and if you plug in a Lipoly battery you'll see the kernel recognize it and start charging at up to 500mA.
The Lipoly breakout is a JST B3B-EH-A connector on the same side as the power and A/V jack, next to the single USB port. To connect, use a 0.1" or 2.5mm spaced female socket - the official one is JST EHR-3 and crimp the matching crimps on a red, yellow/white and black wire (28 AWG, stranded is best). Slip in the crimped wires so that the board markings match up such that red is +, T is yellow, and - is black. The markings are on the opposite side of the PCB
If your battery does not have a temperature output, you can simply solder a 10K resistor between yellow (temp wire) and black (ground). You'll probably not need a temperature sensor but in case you do, use a 10K NTC.
If powering from a lipoly, the chip will boost it to 5V to supply power to one of the USB ports (the top one, on the same side as the power jack) but not to the other two.
The lipoly is also used for the RTC backup! Any lipoly battery, when charged, will let the RTC run for -years-