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As blogged on raspberrypi.org, the USB fuses are no longer on some of the later revision 1 PCBs or the revision 2 PCBs

USB Output Power

The resetable fuses protecting the USB outputs have been removed. This feature was implemented on some later revision 1.0 PCBs by replacing the fuses with links; revision 2.0 permanently implements this modification. It is now possible to reliably power the RPI from a USB hub that back feeds power, but it is important that the chosen hub cannot supply more than 2.5A under fault conditions.

Is is relatively safe to bypass them on my Raspberry Pi so I can use a wider range of keyboards/wifi/harddrive with less problems?

John La Rooy
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  • Yes- You can replace them with links- just like some later versions of 1.0. Just like in your comment. The 2.5A thing is not to burn the PCB traces in case you drop a screw on your GPIO and the USB hub feeds more than 2.5A- Pi will burn. – Piotr Kula Sep 10 '12 at 13:56

1 Answers1

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Is is relatively safe to bypass them on my Raspberry Pi so I can use a wider range of keyboards/wifi/harddrive with less problems?

If the modification is done properly, yes it's safe. The key thing to look out for is the bit that you quoted - if the hub can supply more than 2.5A and something goes wrong, things may get damaged!

tlhIngan
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berry120
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