Power requirements – basic guidelines

Giving your BBB the proper amount of love and power is crucial to having a happy board. Following these basic guidelines will ensure that your BBB operates reliably and predictably.

The board's user manual recommends that you supply current to at least 1.2A (or 6W). However, if you connect up anything over the USB, at least 2A (or 10W) is recommended. Here are some additional rules of thumb:

• You can power the BBB via the USB tether. However, if you attach additional USB devices, such as webcams, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth dongles, keyboards and mice, and then power them through the USB tether, it may lead to unreliable connections and power fluctuations. We were successful in powering some USB dongles directly via the BBB's USB port, whereas some devices, such as USB webcams, were not reliably powered.
• If you connect USB devices, it is best to power them from a powered USB hub and then supply power to the BBB via a 5 VDC power supply of at least 1A.
• 5V DC power—most users of the board will invariably recommend that you always power your board using a 5V DC supply.
• You can also use a 5V wall charger power adapter with a USB port on it as long as it can deliver 1A.

Tip

Downloading the example code

You can download the example code files from your account at http://www.packtpub.com for all the Packt Publishing books you have purchased. If you purchased this book elsewhere, you can visit http://www.packtpub.com/support and register to have the files e-mailed directly to you.

In many cases, you will also be downloading code from the author's github site at https://github.com/HudsonWerks.