Raspberry Pi Forums

Hello my friends!

Newbie here with a relatively easy question:

I have a microUSB power adapter that says on the output:

OUTPUT DC 4.5V-9.5V Max 800mA

Please see image here: http://cl.ly/image/1J2Q1T2o283r

Now, my "simple" question is: Can I power my Raspberry PI (Model B) with this adapter?

Thank you very much for your help!

Have a great day

This appears to be a charger and not a constant voltage supply. Typically chargers are designed for constant current to charge a battery. The voltage is a proportional function of the internal battery resistance.
It’s best to use a well regulated 5 volt power supply with the micro USB connector. RadioShack sells power supplies with interchangeable adaptaplugs. They sell an Enercell® Micro USB Adaptaplug; catalog #: 273-413 which fits their many of their Enercell (TM) power supplies.

That looks like an UNREGULATED PSU and the output Voltage will vary with load. The Raspberry Pi MAY boot when connected to this PSU because the RPi has a regulator which derives 3.6V to power the on-board electronics. However, it is not advisable to use this PSU because the input Voltage is fed directly to the USB Ports and USB devices will not tolerate the upper end of the voltage range.

Get a good REGULATED 5V PSU rated at 1.0 to 2.0 Amps.

Note that the Rev 2 Board and latter Rev 1 Boards omit the USB Port Polyfuses so you can power the RPi by connecting a POWERED USB Hub to one of the USB Ports without connecting any Power to the MicroUSB connector. This is how I power my Rev 2 RPi.

Thanks a lot fellas! I will purchase the recommended PSU.