First cable for Euler Bus power done!

[pfeerick]

What does this do?

The MicroUSB connector has a max rating of 1.8A, and a lot of MicroUSB leads are pretty wimpy (wires too thin, poor conductivity contacts) , and will not provide the Pine64 with the necessary power when it is loaded up, leading to file corruption, random brownouts, reboots, etc. This cable plugs into the euler bus, and powers the pine64 via the power pins there. 

@may1791: You basically want to connect pins 4 & 6 of the euler bus to the USB connector. If you have a look here, you can see the relevant pins. The red wires are connected to 5v (+), and the black wires to GND (-). They have used two wires for each, which is better, but you don't have to do that. 

The USB connector pinout is as shown below. You'd basically connect 5v to euler 2 (and 4) and GND to euler 6 (and 9), and leave the two middle data pins unconnected. 

   

[Bluphire]

What does this do?

The MicroUSB connector has a max rating of 1.8A, and a lot of MicroUSB leads are pretty wimpy (wires too thin, poor conductivity contacts) , and will not provide the Pine64 with the necessary power when it is loaded up, leading to file corruption, random brownouts, reboots, etc. This cable plugs into the euler bus, and powers the pine64 via the power pins there.

And the USB Plugs into....?

[Ghost]

What does this do?

The MicroUSB connector has a max rating of 1.8A, and a lot of MicroUSB leads are pretty wimpy (wires too thin, poor conductivity contacts) , and will not provide the Pine64 with the necessary power when it is loaded up, leading to file corruption, random brownouts, reboots, etc. This cable plugs into the euler bus, and powers the pine64 via the power pins there.

And the USB Plugs into....?

An appropriately rated power supply (with female USB connector).

[Bluphire]

What does this do?

The MicroUSB connector has a max rating of 1.8A, and a lot of MicroUSB leads are pretty wimpy (wires too thin, poor conductivity contacts) , and will not provide the Pine64 with the necessary power when it is loaded up, leading to file corruption, random brownouts, reboots, etc. This cable plugs into the euler bus, and powers the pine64 via the power pins there.

And the USB Plugs into....?

An appropriately rated power supply (with female USB connector).

Ideally 1.8A or higher? How many amps is too many amps?

[Ghost]

What does this do?

The MicroUSB connector has a max rating of 1.8A, and a lot of MicroUSB leads are pretty wimpy (wires too thin, poor conductivity contacts) , and will not provide the Pine64 with the necessary power when it is loaded up, leading to file corruption, random brownouts, reboots, etc. This cable plugs into the euler bus, and powers the pine64 via the power pins there.

And the USB Plugs into....?

An appropriately rated power supply (with female USB connector).

Ideally 1.8A or higher? How many amps is too many amps?

Ideally 2 amps and up. An amp is a unit of current. In getting the Pine to work, a power supply with 'too many amps' isn't an issue, only one that doesn't allow enough amps - enough units of current - to flow into the device. The amp rating on a power supply shows how many amps the unit is capable of providing - it doesn't force the connected device to accept all the amps it can provide. The device withdraws only what it needs.

[MarkHaysHarris777]

The MicroUSB connector has a max rating of 1.8A, and a lot of MicroUSB leads are pretty wimpy (wires too thin, poor conductivity contacts) , and will not provide the Pine64 with the necessary power when it is loaded up, leading to file corruption, random brownouts, reboots, etc. This cable plugs into the euler bus, and powers the pine64 via the power pins there.

And the USB Plugs into....?

An appropriately rated power supply (with female USB connector).

Ideally 1.8A or higher? How many amps is too many amps?

Ideally 2 amps and up. An amp is a unit of current. In getting the Pine to work, a power supply with 'too many amps' isn't an issue, only one that doesn't allow enough amps - enough units of current - to flow into the device. The amp rating on a power supply shows how many amps the unit is capable of providing - it doesn't force the connected device to accept all the amps it can provide. The device withdraws only what it needs.

I must also add ( with all above ) that its also about how 'clean' the supply is;  that is, how stable the 5.1v DCIN is as varrying amounts of current are pulled from the PSU. If there is a ripple in the DCIN ( as you might see on a scope ) or if the 5.1v fluctuates dramatically as current is pulled from the supply the pine board is going to have problems. 

Specifically, if you plug that usb connector into some notebook computers there will NOT be adequate stable voltage for the current range of the pine board, and the pine board is liable to brown out or not bootup. On the other hand if you plug the usb connector into a good usb powered hub the pine board ought to do quite nicely. 

I would recommend building a 12v system ( dc-dc converter 12v-->5v ) with a PI-filter the output of which is a female usb connector.  Then you can plug the cable above into that output and have a very good clean supply from which to power your pine board ( all of my pine boards are powered this way ).

[Bluphire]

Would you mind providing pictures of your 12v system build to me as well as a parts list and possibly even a tutorial on how to build one? You can PM me if you feel that is not appropriate to add to this thread.

Thank you!

[pfeerick]

And the USB Plugs into....?

An appropriately rated power supply (with female USB connector).

Thanks Ghost. Yes, a USB power supply. You can't power the pine64 from a laptop or desktop computer. If your computer has a USB3 socket, or a USB charge socket, you may be able to run the pine64 from it, but I would strongly recommend not doing do. There is a good change doing so will break something, and it won't be your $15 or $29 pine64 board!

You can of course forgo a USB connector on the end, and instead connect a suitably rated 5v DC power supply to it. Something like this 2A power supply from Adafruit would do very nicely. You can never have to many amps (in relation to these devices) ... this is simply the amount of power available to the device, and the device will draw as many amps as it needs. If you have a 200A power supply, and your device only needs 2A, it will only draw 2A. I myself use these power supplies for anything RPi or pine64, as I run a lot of my electronics bits from a 12 solar system, and it has the benefit of being able to be adjusted to above 5v (5.2v in my case) which mostly compensates for the dodgy microUSB cable/connector syndrome.  It also has screw terminals for directly wired output power if needed though.

[MarkHaysHarris777]

Would you mind providing pictures of your 12v system build to me as well as a parts list and possibly even a tutorial on how to build one? You can PM me if you feel that is not appropriate to add to this thread.

Thank you!

hi Bluphire,  see this thread :

http://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=1982

( especially post #4 )

Look through the entire thread , you may find something there which is useful.  There are no absolute answers here. There are dozens of ways to accomplish the same thing; you may even think of some more on your own. There are many different dc- dc converters on-line ( the CPT is just one that I have found useful ) and you can purchase PI-low-pass-filters already made, rather than making your own.

[dkryder]

the atx power supply is a good bench power source. many small electronics shops have used units for 5 to 10 dollars [u.s.]