Can I use an Apple USB power adaptor @ 5.1V output or is the 0.1V extra a tad risky?

Ta

I imagine that the apple psu has much higher AH, those things charge a phone 10x faster than USB. Not sure the PI is designed to handle that

Ah is ‘sucked’ by the device on charge, so as long as the Ah exceeds what the Pi needs you will be fine.

Voltage is ‘pushed’ and this is the one to be careful with. I can’t see that + 0.1v will be an issue…but I’m no expert 🙂

The important thing to check is the polarity…some devices have the centre tip positive, others will have the sleeve as positive. Be careful 🙂

Edit: But then we are talking USB here I presume, so the polarity is not an issue, also I would have thought 5.1v is within the standard as I’m sure most people (like me) mix and match all their 240v – USB plugs and leads, and I’ve never had an issue.

P.S 1Ah = 1000mA. A quick Google says the Pi needs 500mA or 700mA depending on the model you have.

Would have assumed it’s fine if it’s 1000mA microUSB.

I use my HTC microUSB charger just fine.

Looking at the very small print on the adaptor it’s output is 5.1V 2100mA.

I think I only need to be concerned about over voltage. If there’s a +/- 10% variance the Pi could get as much as 5.2ishV.

I think the .1 is unlikely to be a problem.

Voltage regulators on mine are SE8117T33/18 5V to 3.3V/1.8V regulators, for which the data sheet claims a maximum of 9V input supply voltage.

As others have said a good regulated 5.1V won’t hurt – its my the ‘feeble 700mA’ phone charger that hangs mine – but only with some builds and two USB ports being used at the same time.

On a side note the usb socket on out TV powers my Pi – just great – and it saves e having to pull the plug out to turn it off.

stuey, do you use it on xmbc-esque media duties? could you give me more details on your setup as i’m considering this myself. cheers!

I’ve heard from a chap at work that XBMC itself is not a great success on the Pi. Something to do with the menu system taking up all the CPU and not being able to listen for mouse clicks/inputs. That said, mine gets used for a VPN endpoint/SSH/web server, so I’m not too bothered.

As an alternative to using an Apple charger, why not look for a second hand BlackBerry micro USB charger? 700mA, 5v, sorted.

Raspberry pi XBMC – prebuilt image

Soon the ‘PFY’ 😀 /Sam will have RC4 out with floating point and and even smoother stuff.

For now its the best £28 I’ve spent on a ZX81 replacement: Edit – I’m watching HD iplayer streaming 1080p + most of my DVD rips – only olds mpegs aren’t supported because of licence issues- but raspianXBMC/FP support should yield decent transcoding.

As an alternative to using an Apple charger, why not look for a second hand BlackBerry micro USB charger? 700mA, 5v, sorted.

Pi needs 2000mA supply, 700 isn’t enough. I’m sat here with a 1100mA and if you connect the eth socket it endlessly resets. This doesn’t happen with a 2000. 700’s fine if all you want to do is boot it.

10watts seems a bit steep – how long is your Ethernet cable ? 😉

My blackberry charger only flakes out when I sink a large USB device.
– not all power supply ratings are honest or equal-

Well the Apple one works fine. I fired up my RP for the first time yesterday and everything worked great.

Now I just need a case, a mini keyboard, a monitor with HDMI input, some more SDs……..

10watts seems a bit steep – how long is your Ethernet cable ?

My blackberry charger only flakes out when I sink a large USB device.
– not all power supply ratings are honest or equal-

Not long (5m) 🙂

Depends on the size of the output caps in it, I think the reason my smaller one tends to crap out (and it does deliver a solid 1100, I’ve measured it) is the spikes the network comms require – sticking a decent electrolytic across it helps just but not perfectly. Easier just to buy a decent supplky from the start for about £4.