NEW PRODUCT – PowerBoost 500 Basic – 5V USB Boost @ 500mA from 1.8V+
PowerBoost is the perfect power supply for your portable project! This little DC/DC boost converter module can run from 1.8V batteries or higher, and convert that voltage to 5.2V DC for running your 5V projects. Like our popular 5V 1A USB wall adapter, we tweaked the output to be 5.2V instead of a straight-up 5.0V so that there’s a little bit of ‘headroom’ long cables, high draw, the addition of a diode on the output if you wish, etc. The 5.2V is safe for all 5V-powered electronics like Arduino, Raspberry Pi, or Beagle Bone while preventing icky brown-outs during high current draw because of USB cable resistance.
The PowerBoost 500 has at the heart a TPS61090 boost converter from TI. This boost converter chip has some really nice extras such as low battery detection, 2A internal switch, synchronous conversion, excellent efficiency, and 700KHz high-frequency operation.
Check out these specs!
Synchronous operation means you can disconnect the output completely by connecting the ENable pin to ground. This will completely turn off the output
2A internal switch (~2.5A peak limiting) means you can get 500mA+ from as low as 1.8V, 750mA+ from 2 NiMH or Alkaline batteries, and at least 1000mA from a 3.7V LiPoly/LiIon battery or 3 NiMH/Alkalines.
Low battery indicator LED lights up red when the voltage dips below 3.2V, optimized for the most common usage of LiPo/LiIon battery usage
On-board 500mA charge-rate ‘Apple/iOS’ data resistors. Solder in the included USB connector and you can plug in any iPhone or iPod for 500mA charge rate. Not suggested for iPad (which really needs 1A charge rate).
Full breakout for battery in, control pins and power out
90%+ operating efficiency in most cases (see datasheet for efficiency graphs), and low quiescent current: 5mA when enabled and power LED is on, 20uA when disabled (power and low batt LED are off)
Great for powering your robot, Arduino project, single-board-computer such as Raspberry Pi or BeagleBone! Each order comes with one fully assembled and tested PCB and a loose USB A jack. If you are powering your project from USB, solder the USB A jack in (a 3-minute soldering task). If you would like to use a terminal block, pick up a 3.5mm 2pin block here and solder to the output spot where the USB jack would go. Or don’t solder anything in for a more compact power pack.
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.