I found these Blackweb 5 volt 5.4 amp chargers on clearance at WalMart. I used one to replace a power supply that recently went out on my ACARS Pi.
So for excellent luck for the price and also at 5.4 amp.
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Great find!
On my way to Walmart to see if it’s on sale here as well.
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The 4.8 amp models are 4.50 and the 5.4 amp at 5.00 dollars
Just back from Walmart. Either they don’t stock it here, or it’s sold out. I don’t need one, but at that price, why not?
P.S. I did not go to Walmart just for this. The timing was perfect. I was getting ready to go there anyways, when I saw your post.
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I saw these reduced yesterday, picked up a 4.8 amp model at the Killeen Texas location. I went back today and picked up the last 5.4 amp model. They work excellent and for 4.50 and 5.00 dollars US cant beat the price.
A great bargain at 5$, just a small caveat.
The 5.4A are prominently displayed, but they are divided into 3.0 amp for the USB-C port and 2.4 amp USB-A port, so with a A to Micro cable, you’ll supply just as much as the Pi may need. More importantly for the Pi3 is the voltage, that is why the official power supply supplies 5.1V, some wall chargers have been found to supply less. I would expect it to work flawlessly never the less, but if it does not in half a years time, you might have to take a second look.
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They are chargers… They likely cant keep their voltage at quoted peak Amps, as biekerc states is already split between the ports. Just buy an official PSU. It is the volts that Pi’s are sensitive to, as soon as they start to drop the weird stuff happens.
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Aside from the fact that in this particular case the total amperage is split between two ports, and that is a problem, what are the other disadvantages of using a charger as a power supply?
I can think of a possible built in shut down circuit, when the battery is fully charged, but that will never happen with a Pi.
That said, my best power supplies are those repurposed from dead consumer electronics. All that is needed is a barrel to USB adapter. Voltage, current, and polarity being correct of course.
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eg because of this
Actually even more a problem with RPi 3s.
Also, you charge your phone once a day for a short while, or use it with a charger plugged in. A feeder is on all the time, so it just might not last that long…
OK… I got it. We are dealing with a case of ‘truth in advertising’, and something that is designed for intermitent use.
That said, not all ‘chargers’ are really chargers by design. The fact they are used to charge a battery does not make them a charger.
My Acer tablet charger clearly says power supply on it, and I have used it to power one of my FA feeders untill another power supply was purchased. One of the best power supplies I have used. This one will ‘long live’ after the tablet is discarded, provided it still works.
I have a couple of Anker 63W five port USB ‘chargers’ that I use for powering a number of Raspberry Pis here and none of them have ever missed a beat. It’s semantics really as what you’ve got will almost certainly be perfectly fine.
However if you do run into any strange issues then the first thing to check will be the PSU.
Worst case scenario, anyone who bought these who has problems with a Pi will still be able to use them as phone chargers. Realistically though, you’ve probably got a half-decent PSU for a Pi at a dirt cheap price.
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Well if you buy it from your local store you can at least hope it’s had more regulations applied compared to buying it per mail-order from China.
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Been there, done that.
Using the listing that comes up, the first one is garbage. The third one, assuming it’s the same I bought, has been working fine, so much so that I bought a second one.
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So far the only Pi power supply I have working is working great which is what I have my Pi Aware running. The second Pi (ACARS Pi) I am using the 4.8 amp model I bought on Thursday which so far is working excellent. The ACARS-Pi power supply died earlier this week and I was using another Pi power supply and it was fine except it does create too much unwanted RF interference. The 4.8 amp model isnt interfering with my HF radio.
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This feature alone makes it worth twice the price.
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