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Power your breadboard with USB

by janw on April 8, 2010

Table of Contents

Power your breadboard with USB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Intro: Power your breadboard with USB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Step 1: About USB-connectors and -power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Step 2: What do you need? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Step 3: Leds get our hands dirty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

http://www.instructables.com/id/Power-your-breadboard-with-USB/
 Author:janw
My hobbies are mainly music and elecronics but I like to read and learn about everything in life.

Intro: Power your breadboard with USB

I am writing this Instructable because I´ve got a lot of questions about my little USB-powersupply for my breadboard and a lot of request to write an instructable about it. I
needed a new one anyway because my old one died because of a cat with sharp teeth.

I think that it is safe to say that most of the people who make (big or small) electronics-projects have a pc or laptop in theire hobbycorner and a lot of projects need 5V for
IC's or microcontrollers. So using power from a USB cable isn't that farfetched and lets face it: a lot of devices around us use a USB-connection to get their power or to
charge their batteries.

Step 1: About USB-connectors and -power

For this Instructable you can use any USB-connector you like (or you can even cut the cable and solder the wires) but I will use a B-type. The pins always have the same
function for all types of connectors.

Pin# Color Cable Function

1 Red Vcc (5V)

2 White Data-

3 Green Data+

4 Black Ground

Voltage = 5V
max Current = 500mA

http://www.instructables.com/id/Power-your-breadboard-with-USB/
Step 2: What do you need?
In this Instructable we will make a very simple power supply with only the USB-connector and a power-on led. But you can add whatever you fancy such as a power
on/off switch or or a regulator to get 3,3V (fused or not) or........

So for this Instructable we need:

USB B connector
Some headerpins
An LED
A 150Ohm resistor
Something to hold the lot together
soldering iron and solder

Please be careful when soldering. Children should always work under adult supervision!

Step 3: Leds get our hands dirty

Soldering everything together is actually very easy.
Connect the led with pin1 (Vcc) of the USB-connector and then connect it to pin4 (ground) with the resistor inbetween.
Connect pin 1 with one pin of the headerpins and pin 4 with the other.
I soldered another pair of pins to the board but they are not connected. They just give some extra stability when connected to the breadboard.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Power-your-breadboard-with-USB/
Related Instructables

USB power
hack, adding
usb ports to a Replace the The Trickster - USB Power Homeade test
DX052 mixer by battery on a USB Computer supply by lead to
jarv34 Breadboards for desktop gadget Prank by coolsciencetech breadboard
Beginners by with USB power nmcclana adapter (video)
Brennn10 by berserk by fermicirrus

Comments
9 comments Add Comment

MarkTBSc says: Sep 9, 2010. 6:53 AM REPLY

Unfortunately with this design you don't have access to 500mA. You only have 100mA maximum. The USB specification will supply 100mA to anything on
the bus, but it's designed to only supply its maximum 500mA once the hardware in the device has introduced itself and sent a higher power request. Without
using a USB controller/interface chip in the power supply circuit you're limited to 100mA.

There are rumours of Apple building high-power USB ports into their newest computers that will supply between 1 and 2 amps. That's so you can speed-
charge an iPhone4 or an iPad without using a mains charger.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Power-your-breadboard-with-USB/
 jomac_uk says: Dec 30, 2010. 11:22 PM REPLY
Just an idea, could you not run your breadboard from 4 X 1.2 volt nicads, and then charge the nicads via a schottky diode? i quickly hooked up such an
arrangement, and measured between 13 an 19ma charge.

This would give you the instant current when demanded and still be trickle charging at the same time.

Saying that, i have a 4 X AA cell nicad charger, and looking inside that, all 4 cells are connected directly to the 5v USB bus!

janw says: Sep 9, 2010. 10:48 AM REPLY

You are 100% right. I forgot toput it tat way in the instructable indeed.

I made this quickly to do some testing while using the 5V from my laptop. I did not need more than 100mA and it still works fine for most of the smaller
projects I do. For all the rest of the testing I use a regular power supply.

djshortstuff says: Jun 26, 2010. 7:33 AM REPLY

I'm using a resettable fuse in mine. here it is: http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8357

janw says: Jun 27, 2010. 5:37 AM REPLY

good idea indeed

BjornR says: May 28, 2010. 12:38 PM REPLY

Perhaps you should've added a current limiter. There are always people (yes i'm referring to me) who try to get x Ampéres out of a breadboard power
supply.
Even the best make short circuits.

This instructable however was very interesting, it does come in handy !

janw says: May 28, 2010. 12:47 PM REPLY

There is a currentlimiter. If blue smoke comes out of you pc then the current will be limited to 0 Amps ;)

but I guess you are right.

stephenniall says: Apr 14, 2010. 4:25 PM REPLY

i did something like this but with the usb cable

thgame says: Apr 8, 2010. 7:31 PM REPLY

Cool :)

http://www.instructables.com/id/Power-your-breadboard-with-USB/