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  • Author Author: rscasny
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Poll: What Would You Like to Learn in a Power ESSENTIALS Module?

We are planning to offer a Power ESSENTIALS module in a few months. It's a big subject, for sure. So, while we are doing our research, we wanted to ask you what are you most interested in learning.  I've listed a few general topics below. Feel to offer other ideas. We'd like to offer topics that will be of most interest to you. Thank you.

  • Anything and everything dealing with batteries.

    Series vs parallel vs combination,

    Using multiple batteries for more mah without increasing power produced.

    Recharging while using vs not

    Etc

  • I have voted for low power design; I am mostly interested in this direction, to power control and recharge systems for battery operated devices.

     

    Enrico

  • TL;DR;

    Chargers vs "proper" power supplies for SBCs

    Voltage vs Amperage

    Voltage drop over long wires

    Wire gauges

    AC vs DC

    Switching AC

    TRIACs

     

    Details:

    I've run into several issues using random USB chargers with Raspberry Pi - even though the ratings say "5 volt, 2 amps", the Pi still reports power issues (and this goes for Apple and Samsung tablet chargers as well as for cheap no-name dollar store chargers).

     

    I think it would be helpful to have a chat on power supplies versus chargers, and why chargers don't always work well as power supplies.

     

    Another detail that trips up a lot of beginners has to do with voltage vs amperage. For example - why won't my Raspberry Pi or Arduino work properly even though I have a 5 volt (but 200 mA) power supply for it?

     

    And then there's voltage drop. Why does a power tool (table saw, wood chipper, heat gun) not work very well when it's plugged in at the "back 40" of my lot plugged in with several long cheap extension cords? Or similar - would it be a problem to use a 100 foot telephone extension cord with USB ends on it to power my Raspberry Pi? Or even, why does my cheap USB cable not work well to power my Raspberry Pi?  This also leads to discussions on wire gauges - why does wire thickness matter?

     

    One that tripped me up recently is the difference between AC and DC. I've known the essential differences for a while, but the bit that tripped me up is that AC does not behave the same way for switching. For example, I can't just use a power transistor to switch AC. That was news to me! And then it turned out that TRIACs aren't a straight replacement - there's extra circuitry involved to make them work properly. Without the extra bits, I found out it never turned off!

     

    Cheers,

    -Nico