Author Topic: Recommended wire gauge to power Raspberry Pi from ATXRaspi?  (Read 3885 times)

ademarre

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Recommended wire gauge to power Raspberry Pi from ATXRaspi?
« on: August 28, 2013, 01:26:45 AM »
Is there a recommended wire gauge to use to power a Raspberry Pi from the ATXRaspi?

The ATXRaspi page recommends hefty, "good quality wires..., ideally stranded and not longer than 6 inch," but nothing about the gauge. I'm inclined to use 22 AWG because that's what I have. Will that be plenty, or should I use 20 or 18?

Thanks!

Felix

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Re: Recommended wire gauge to power Raspberry Pi from ATXRaspi?
« Reply #1 on: August 28, 2013, 08:16:41 AM »
Well.. that was an issue mainly on the R1 revision of ATXRaspi which used a relay, not really required any more on the R2. Any simple wire is good enough.
So if you got a R2 don't worry.
If you got a R1 then you can also use a regular wire btu wrap it in a ferrite bead a few times (I used to supply those too for R1). The ferrite was supposed to "slow down" the inrush of current that could cause voltage to drop suddenly and get a false start. These issues are also explained on the ATXRaspi page, maybe not very clear but I tried to cover this in case someone has a problem.
But thanks for asking.

ademarre

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Re: Recommended wire gauge to power Raspberry Pi from ATXRaspi?
« Reply #2 on: August 28, 2013, 05:09:59 PM »
Thanks for clarifying! (I'm a total electronics noob.)

My perception of the ATXRaspi page was that it hints that it is less of an issue with Rev2, but it doesn't rule it out. My confusion might partially come from this statement:
Quote
You should not really see this on ATXRaspi Rev2, especially if you power through the USB-A output power option. If it still happens, a few things will help eliminate such behavior

I have a Rev2, but I'm not using the USB-A power output.

Nonetheless, thank you very much. It's a great little product!