question

vicky avatar image
vicky asked

Power supply Venus GX ?

I am looking to reduce the number of external power supplies for my setup, so I thought about

1. Connect the Venus to the 48V of the battery. Or is Multigrid offering a decent external power port I could use ?

2. As I run a converter which need 5VDC/0.15A I thought about connecting it to the Venus 5V DC out but Venus datasheet says "2USB ports" only. As the USB 1.0 - 3.0 range goes 0.1A to 0.9A I'd like to know the max. amp I can draw.

Any other idea welcome

Venus GX - VGX
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2 Answers
wkirby avatar image
wkirby answered ·

It is best to connect it to the battery. This way it will always have a reliable power source.

0.15A will be fine on the 5V DC out terminals. This is also a good idea to keep the 304 running if there is a power outage.

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vicky avatar image vicky commented ·

Thanks for confirming. Hooked it up this way, looks all OK.

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bite avatar image bite commented ·

Still realigned with this subject, I am thinking of using a raspberryPi (needs 5V / 2.5A), can I use the 5V source of the Venus GX?

thanks in advance

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wkirby avatar image wkirby ♦♦ bite commented ·

Running a RaspberryPi off the 5VDC source from the VenusGX might be a bit too much.
I wouldn't want to take more than ~500mA from there for a USB hub or something like that.

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bite avatar image bite wkirby ♦♦ commented ·

Thanks for the answer.
I was convinced that I could use this power supply for this.
In this case I will have to use an external source to power the RaspberryPi, right?

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wkirby avatar image wkirby ♦♦ bite commented ·

Yes, that is what I would do.
The 5V power supply inside the Venus can do about 3A @ room temperature. But it has to run the Venus, the USB port and whatever USB devices you have plugged in. The Venus takes about 1A for it's self, then the USB devices, so you probably have 1-1.5A left to play with. RaspberriPi can peak at 2.5A at times (as you know).
The thing is you might get away with it, but computers have spiky power demands. Two computers (Venus and RaspberryPi) on one power supply might cause brownouts of the 5V rail and then you run into intermittent problems of all different kinds. I wouldn't want my Venus device crashing intermittently because I have some (computer) science experiment hanging off it. :)
That is why I'd suggest using a different power supply for you Pi.

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markus avatar image
markus answered ·

@bite

To connect a RasPi to a 48V bank I use an E-Bike USB charger. This device exactly:

https://www.ebay.de/itm/Handlebar-USB-Charger-Adapter-36V-48V-72V-100V-to-5V-2A-E-bike-Pedelec-Scooter/323430788774

Markus

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bite avatar image bite commented ·

Thank you for impression

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