Powerboost 1000 Basic Only 4.8V

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tacoma
 
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Powerboost 1000 Basic Only 4.8V

Post by tacoma »

I have a project that requires powering a Raspberry PI, a servo controller (https://www.adafruit.com/products/815) and two servo motors. I was experiencing problems with the Pi under volting and restarting. At least I think it's an under voltage issue because the red power light flickers when the servos run. I purchased the Powerboost 1000 basic (http://www.adafruit.com/product/2030) to try to keep the Pi's voltage at 5.2V while the servos are running. Anyway I have tried a few different ways to power the powerboost and I cannot get 5.2 volts from the output, only a max of 4.8v.

I have tried a 5V 4A DC power supply and the powerboost output is only 4.8V. I have tried using a 12V 2.5A DC power supply connected to a power converter (https://www.adafruit.com/product/1065) connected to the powerboost input and I can only get 4.5V from the powerboost. I have tried with and without a load on the powerboost output to see if there would be any difference and there wasn't.

I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong or if the powerboost is defective.

If anyone has any ideas I'd appreciate the advice. I'm looking to power my project with a single power supply rather than a DC adapter for the Pi and another for the servo side. Thanks in advance.

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Franklin97355
 
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Re: Powerboost 1000 Basic Only 4.8V

Post by Franklin97355 »

The power boost is not designed to be powered by an outside source but from a lipo battery. When connected to a charged lipo what do you get for an output?

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tacoma
 
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Re: Powerboost 1000 Basic Only 4.8V

Post by tacoma »

franklin97355 wrote:The power boost is not designed to be powered by an outside source but from a lipo battery. When connected to a charged lipo what do you get for an output?
Unfortunately I didn't purchase it for use with a LIPO. I figured a 5V DC power supply would work just as well. I'll have to find another solution. Thanks for your time.

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Re: Powerboost 1000 Basic Only 4.8V

Post by Franklin97355 »

Could you not use your 5V 4A power supply?

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tacoma
 
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Re: Powerboost 1000 Basic Only 4.8V

Post by tacoma »

franklin97355 wrote:Could you not use your 5V 4A power supply?
I tried but the red light on the Pi still flickers when using the servo motors and occasionally causes it to restart. I even tried a 5V 10A DC supply with the same result. I may be overlooking something obvious.

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Re: Powerboost 1000 Basic Only 4.8V

Post by Franklin97355 »

You are not trying to power your servos through the Pi's 5v pin are you? That won't work.

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tacoma
 
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Re: Powerboost 1000 Basic Only 4.8V

Post by tacoma »

I have the 5V source connected directly to the Pi's 5v pin along with the servos and the servo controller board. I was going to use the power boost as a way to buffer the Pi's incoming power.

Is there a way to power everything from a single power supply but prevent the servos from causing disruption to the Pi?

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Re: Powerboost 1000 Basic Only 4.8V

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

There's no good way to power servos and a RasPi from the same 5v supply.

All motors are electrically noisy, and the RasPi is built around the assumption that you'll feed it a clean 5v supply.

You can use a single power supply if its output voltage is high enough that you can put a 5v regulator upstream of the RasPi, but a 5v supply doesn't have any room to spare.

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tacoma
 
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Re: Powerboost 1000 Basic Only 4.8V

Post by tacoma »

adafruit_support_mike wrote:There's no good way to power servos and a RasPi from the same 5v supply.

All motors are electrically noisy, and the RasPi is built around the assumption that you'll feed it a clean 5v supply.

You can use a single power supply if its output voltage is high enough that you can put a 5v regulator upstream of the RasPi, but a 5v supply doesn't have any room to spare.
I do have a 12V 2.5A DC supply but I only have one 5v regulator. Is it ok to use two 5V regulators from the same 12V supply? That way one can power the Pi and the other to power the servo motors?

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Re: Powerboost 1000 Basic Only 4.8V

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

Yes, that will work.

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Re: Powerboost 1000 Basic Only 4.8V

Post by tacoma »

adafruit_support_mike wrote:Yes, that will work.
Awesome! Thank you guys so much. I really appreciate all the assistance.

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