Best way to Power Multiple Raspberry Pi 4 Model Bs

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Paul1977

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#277316 7-Oct-2020 15:47

As per thread title. I have 3 or 4 Raspberry Pi 4 Model Bs which will all be in a single location, and I rather not have to have a separate power adapter for each one if I can avoid it.

The power adaptors for them are 15.3W each (5.1V at 3A) so i can't see that a USB hub would be sufficient?

Is their anything that can do this, or is it either separate power adapters or PoE hats?

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Biddle Corp

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#2580733 7-Oct-2020 15:56

POE hat or a POE to 5V splitter which takes POE in and USB out which is a cheaper option than a POE hat.

elpenguino

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#2580743 7-Oct-2020 16:16

Depends.

Do you want each Pi in a separate enclosure or are all the Pis in the same box?

If they're all in one box I would power them from one larger PSU through the GPIO connector. You need to know what you're doing otherwise you can easily fry the Pi.

davidcole

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#2580768 7-Oct-2020 17:21

I used a 5way usb Charger for 3 pis and an odroid. As long as they don’t have peripherals (dvb-t stocks, zigbee radios, sata ssds). You should be ok. But if you start adding those they start dropping. I had a 5v Network switch as well.

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fearandloathing

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#2580859 7-Oct-2020 19:03

I’m using a poe hat on mine, works brilliantly.

richms

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#2580863 7-Oct-2020 19:04

I have 3 of them off a aukey charger I have had for a while along with a USB to 5.5mm DC plug cable going into a hub off one of them that runs some devices. Without that the pi would lightning bolt running the stuff on the USB port, but it was all ok other than that. Its headless so no big deal but I had the cable so thought I would try it and it solved it so all good.

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SirHumphreyAppleby

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#2580873 7-Oct-2020 19:26

I have two Pis powered using PoE to 5V adaptors. They work okay, although I have seen the under voltage warning using these. For multiple Pis, they seem like more trouble than they are worth.

I'd use a single power supply and a cheap three-way splitter cable. CCTV stuff works well using DC to Micro USB adaptors, but you can probably find a cable to do it in one. I use what I have.

If you have other gear, consider using the same power supply. I run one of my Pis (previously two) off the same 12V power supply as other hardware, using an SBEC (from remote control aircraft) to provide 5V. Been using that arrangement for years, and it works great.

neb

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#2580943 7-Oct-2020 22:15

Just get a sufficiently powerful multi-port USB charging brick. I've got a bunch of outdoors USB-powered junk [*] running off an Anker 5-port charger (inside a weatherproof enclosure) that works just fine.

[*] Non-junk uses a barrel jack adapter and runs off 9-18VDC inputs.

PANiCnz

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#2581035 8-Oct-2020 08:17

If you got the PoE route avoid the official Pi PoE hat and get the LoverPi Hat off Amazon. The fan on the official hat is annoyingly loud, while the LoverPi hat is small enough you can still fit a heatsink to the SoC.

frankv

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#2581042 8-Oct-2020 08:37

You can supply the RPi via the 5V pins on the header, so no need for USB connectors.

So you could use a single >12A 5V supply e.g. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32355048252.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.27424c4dkxSagO

You could also use a >5A 12V supply with a 12V->5V buck converter on each RPi.

neb

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#2581342 8-Oct-2020 14:22

frankv:
You could also use a >5A 12V supply with a 12V->5V buck converter on each RPi.

That's what I used but they're somewhat unsatisfactory, the generic potted UBECs seem to be designed for intermittent operation but not running 24/7. I've had at least two of them die on me running PI's off 12V feeds, which is why I now use a USB power brick in a weatherproof enclosure.

Paul1977

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#2581364 8-Oct-2020 14:52

So I assume this one, or similar, would be more than sufficient?

But how do I connect the pis to it? Just connect all four in parallel to the output terminals?

neb

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#2581365 8-Oct-2020 14:54

Paul1977:
So I assume this one, or similar, would be more than sufficient?

But how do I connect the pis to it? Just connect all four in parallel to the output terminals?

That's an open-frame supply for building into equipment, unless you're planning to do a lot of work to deal with it I wouldn't get that but just a USB power brick.

As an aside, MeanWell is a quality brand, you won't go wrong buying that if you do decide to go with an open-frame supply.

Edited to add: Just checked the store to make sure it'll be a genuine MeanWell, they're a Jaycar stockist so you could also get it from your nearest Jaycar.

Paul1977

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#2581366 8-Oct-2020 14:59

neb:
Paul1977:

So I assume this one, or similar, would be more than sufficient?

But how do I connect the pis to it? Just connect all four in parallel to the output terminals?

That's an open-frame supply for building into equipment, unless you're planning to do a lot of work to deal with it I wouldn't get that but just a USB power brick. As an aside, MeanWell is a quality brand, you won't go wrong buying that if you do decide to go with an open-frame supply.

The problem is finding one with sufficient power output. I'd like to be able to get up to the 15W per pi that the official adapter can supply.

neb

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#2581414 8-Oct-2020 15:14

Paul1977:
The problem is finding one with sufficient power output. I'd like to be able to get up to the 15W per pi that the official adapter can supply.

There are some pretty powerful chargers available now, just looking at Anker's offerings their PowerPort PD4 is rated at 100W, but I assume most of that is through the two PD ports. You'd have to closely read the specs but it looks like it can do 2.4A per port for pure USB. Or check their non-PD ones for how much they can deliver per port.

Stepping back a bit, if you really need that much power then you're kinda pushing things beyond what a USB power port was designed for on something like a Pi. Unless you really need the Pi 4's you could go with an Odroid with a proper barrel back connector which takes 9-18V input. So you could run a batch of them off a standard 12V supply with a multi-way Y cable used for cameras and the like.

Paul1977

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#2581465 8-Oct-2020 15:35

I'm think these ones might be a good choice for me.

The title says 10W but, according to the listed specs, if I set the ports on my EdgeSwitch to 24V passive PoE then this hat should output 15W (5v 3.0A).

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