Direct powering

#1

Hello,

Is there any way to powering my Rock Pi S directly to GPIO with 5v DC or similar?
To reduce my cost I want to avoid using USB-C or POE hat extension.

Thanks for your help!

#2

I don’t have an answer for you, but I just came here to ask basically the same question.

The hardware wiki says:

When you use PoE function provided by ROCK Pi S, you may power ROCK Pi S by putting DV +5V directly to PIN#2 of 26-PIN HEADER 1. GND pin like PIN#6 is also need.

However, I just tried that yesterday and the board did not power on. My power supply did not show that the Rock Pi S was drawing a single mA either. Yet if I used the same power supply attached to a hacked up USB cable, and plugged that into the USB port, the Rock Pi S powered up like normal.

I am not sure what the wiki means by “When you use PoE function” but my board does have the PoE capability, if that makes a difference, and it was still unable to be powered directly by 5V. Hopefully someone from Radxa can answer this for us :slight_smile:

1 Like
#3

Yes, you can power the Rock PI S via pins 2 and 4 and the grounds on the main GPIO header, however you should note that this will backfeed the USB-C connector’s VBUS pins with your 5V. Caution should be taken what you’re connecting to the USB C port as there is no fusing between the USB C port and the 5V pin headers.

#4

I am not concerned about using USB-C and the 5V pin at the same time, I don’t need the USB-C connector if I can power via 5V. I just don’t understand why my board will not power on at all if I give it a constant 5V to pin 2.

#5

Wait a sec… I got this working!! I moved to trying pin 4 for 5V instead of pin 2, that didn’t work, so I moved my ground to a different ground pin, and it powered on! Once. This lead me to trying different pins and I think I actually narrowed it down to something wrong with the jumper wires I was using. Cheap junk. I have it powered via Pin 4 and Ground to Pin 6 right now and it’s working fine with a different set of wires.

#6

thanks for the replies, now im found the “hidden” GPIO numbers;

based on this and from the answers it seems the #2 and #4 pin is for the DC 5V power input, right?
That is matter which PIN connected to positive or negative?

GND is required? i dont think so

#7

Domix,

Attach your +5V wire to either Pin 2 or 4, it does not matter which. Attach your negative wire to one of the GND pins. Pin #6 will work, or Pins 9, 14, 20, or 25. Those are all Grounds, it does not matter which you use.