I just purchased the Arduino UNO R3, and have successfully built one or two projects, with the board being powered by my laptop.
Since I don't want to move my laptop around to power the UNO, I thought I could power it with a portable charger (which I often use to charge my iPhone).
I looked on the portable charger; the voltage is 5V; the current is either 1A or 2.1A (there's a choice).
I was wondering: would I be able to power my UNO board with this portable charger, or would the current be too high?
Hi Oliver,
The Uno as a voltage input to a 5V regulator! but that needs about 7V or more. There is a 5V pin on the power header, this might come from the reg and be more of an output then input, not sure.
The current rating is not too high, the circuit will only use what is needed, but should you short anything out the 2 Amps would soon do some damage.
I find 3 or 4 AA's works well on the 5V pin.
Or even 2 x 14550 these are Lith-ion? and rated at 3.7V each so 7.4V for the Vin pin or the power socket. But need proper charging, etc.
Powering from a proper USB phone charger is a good approach, that gives you a regulated 5V supply.
Beware cheap USB cables with very thin wires inside, you can lose some of that 5V if pulling a
lot of current.