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suggestion for improved USB port power design

Former Member

I'm not sure if anyone in the R-Pi design department reads this forum, but I just noticed a different approach to USB power is taken by the Olimex "OlinuXino Micro" which is a small ARM board. It is actually advertised as a "Raspberry Pi alternative" although it is lower-spec in many areas (details here: https://www.olimex.com/dev/imx233-olinuxino-micro.html ).

 

The Olimex design uses a Silergy SY6280 protection device on their USB host port +5V supply. This is a programmable current limiter, also with a shutdown input and reverse-current protection (no back-feeding from cheap powered hubs). The FET on-resistance is a low 0.08 ohms. The output current limit can be set from 0.4 A to 2 A.  The part comes in a small SOT-23-5 package, and is presumably cheap.  I'd never heard of this part before... the documentation (if any?) is apparently only in Chinese, and it seems the part is not distributed in the US.

 

The OlinuXino Micro is open hardware. Here is the board schematic:

https://github.com/OLIMEX/OLINUXINO/blob/master/HARDWARE/iMX233-OLinuXino-Micro/iMX233-OLinuXino-Micro_Rev_B.sch.pdf

  • @jbeale:  Very interesting, what you write about the Silergy SY6280.

     

    We've been discussing Olimex's iMX233-OLinuXino range over in the Embedded group for quite a while -- http://www.element14.com/community/thread/17166?tstart=0 .  Personally I've been waiting for this Olimex range to appear at Farnell, as they stock a huge number of Olimex products, my main interest being in the tiny Micro version.

     

    I expect that Raivis over in the other group could tell us a lot more about that Silergy part.

     

    Morgaine.

  • The entire power architecture and what components are being used requires a redesign from scratch on the Rapberry Pi, starting from the wrong assumption that any cellphone charger with a micro USB connector that fulfills the current requirement should work.

     

    Besides USB there are other areas like the leak from the HDMI interface that also need fixing.

     

    Is somebody listening ?  I really don't know, there are not many signs that show any interest on making the Pi better besides fixing some flaws.

     

    You will see many things, not only ARM boards today riding the Raspberry Pi marketing horse due the hype an popularity created around it.

     

    -J

  • in reply to jamodio

    jamodio wrote:

     

    Is somebody listening ?

     

    No.  Listening to suggestions for "improvement" makes no sense when they know that their product is perfect and thus cannot be improved.  This is why all suggestions for improvement have no basis in fact and therefore must be simple "trolling".  You know it makes logical sense.

     

    image image

  • in reply to morgaine

    Of course it's logical, I'm Vulcan (had to fix the ears because of discrimination and being taken as a troll.)

     

    image

    -J