I found a neat SBC called an Orange Pi. It’s basically a Chinese knockoff of a Raspberry Pi. Similar, but not the same. The problem is that it uses a stupid 4mmx1.7mm plug which is reasonably uncommon. A few folks mentioned removing the power connector and soldering in some wires.
My eventual application is mobile, so I decided I would just design a power supply and fabricate it. A quick trip to Tayda Electronics confirmed that the switching voltage regulators were criminally cheap at 76 cents a piece. All the parts were ordered to build 10 of them for around $18.
I spent a few minutes at lunch dusting off my Eagle skills and drawing the schematic. I then arranged the board and sent it to Oshpark. I’ll receive 3 prototype boards for $6 including shipping. Not bad.
The finished unit will accept 7 to 40vdc and output 5vdc 3A. The Orange Pi requires 5v 2A so this should work just fine.
Here’s a image of what the board should look like.
I expect these to be an $8 kit when I’m done with them. It’s primary purpose is to provide a regulated 5v power supply to a mobile single board computer.
