Using a quickcharge power brick to run a Pi 3

Question

I usually use my phone power brick (rated at 5v 2.5Amps) to run my Pi 3 and it works fine for the most part.

Now I bought a new phone which supports something called fast charge. So the power brick that came with it has 3 output ratings. Its written like 5v 3Amps or 9v 1.2Amps or 12v 1Amp on the back of my PSU.

Shall I use this PSU with my Pi or do I just keep on using the one I've been using?

mintyfreshpenguin · Answer 1 · 2017-10-24T11:00:46.573

2

The recommendation is 5V at 2.5A and I believe the PI is tolerant of voltages between 4.75 and 5.25.so you could use either power supply at long as you connect to the 5V rail.

Power supplies don't push current - devices draw what they need.

Edit The answer here go into further detail and confirms what I believed to be true.

edited Oct 24 '17 at 11:00

answered Oct 24 '17 at 10:52

mintyfreshpenguin

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So it means I can use the PSU right? – YaddyVirus Oct 28 '17 at 10:50
Yes as long as you use the 5V output. – mintyfreshpenguin Oct 28 '17 at 11:09
As I said, the PSU is rated for 3 different ratings... I dont have the option to choose between them – YaddyVirus Oct 28 '17 at 11:33

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 09 '19 at 17:39

I had a Zero W on a powerbank with QC 3.0 for about nine months without problems, infrequent use though.Then the Pi suddenly died. My analysis shows the switching regulator IC is gone. Alas, I only started thinking about that after I fried the replacement in only one day. I cannot prove it was due to overvoltage, but there is a good chance it was.

My recommendation thus: do not use a QC powerbank with your Pis. You never know how well the QC protocol is implemented. Theoretically the handshake required should protect your Pi. But what if not?

H

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 09 '19 at 08:23

My answer was perhaps not clear enough as it was deleted. If I understand your question correctly it is whether you could use a quickcharge powerbank to power your pi.

I have tried just that with a powerbank with qualcomm quickcharge feature. It fried my Pi thoroughly. It could be a bad pi but I think the powerbank, with variable voltage, sent 9 or 12 volts to the pi even though the powerbank is not supposed to do this without communicating with the attached device.

I would exercise caution in using quickcharge powerbank with your pi, especially if it is a cheaper powerbank, such as the one I used.

If you want more details on what happened and the powerbank in question read my post: Powerbank Qualcomm 3 fried my Pi Zero W

Quickcharge systems uses the data lines in the usb to communicate with the attached device. A "handshake" to tell the quickcharge system to increase voltage to 9 or 12 volts. However, I think the Pi has no connection what so ever on the data lines of the power socket (micro USB). The quickcharge should keep to 5v if no handshake occurs. Please correct if I am wrong. — Carl-Fredrik von Essen, Feb 13 '19 at 09:09

Using a quickcharge power brick to run a Pi 3

3 Answers3