Wall Charger - 5V USB

**Replacement: **TOL-11456. We've found a supplier for a higher quality USB wall charger. This page is for reference only.

High quality switching 'wall wart' AC to DC 5V 500mA wall power supply manufactured specifically for Spark Fun Electronics. These are switch mode power supplies which mean the output is regulated to 5V (no more 14V outputs!). Please note, this specific supply (5V/500mA) is also FCC/CE certified!

These have a standard USB 'A' connector for the output so you can power your Arduino through a USB cable. Any device that uses a USB cable for charging or power can be powered with this supply.

Check out our Unregulated Power Supply Tutorial!

Note: This works with 100-240VAC inputs.

Comments

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  • jbeale / about 14 years ago / 2

    In case you are curious what a $4 power supply looks like inside, note the etched-on-PCB fuse trace on the back. Here is the inside front view and back view

  • Member #3039 / about 12 years ago / 1

    Kind of surprised you don't sell one that can provide 1A, with D+ and D- shorted.

  • jbeale / about 13 years ago / 1

    By the way, my sample of this device cannot provide 500 mA at 5 V as the label indicates. With a 10 ohm load (500 mA / 5V) the voltage droops to about 2.5 V with large oscillations.

  • CF / about 13 years ago / 1

    Any chance you will carry one > 500ma?

    • MikeGrusin / about 13 years ago / 1

      500mA is the standard limit for a USB port. We do carry another 5V wall wart with a barrel jack that can supply up to 1A.

      • CF / about 13 years ago / 1

        I was thinking greater you could use it as an inexpensive phone charger. Phones charge really slow at 500ma.

        • MikeGrusin / about 13 years ago / 1

          Well, since USB ports are limited to 500mA, I don't know if any phones would have been designed to use more than that (it could be hazardous if the phone is expecting the supply to limit at 500mA). But you could always splice a USB socket into the above 1A wall-wart and see what happens.

          • CF / about 13 years ago * / 1

            Check out this link. Most newer devices need more than 500ma to charge. Some need up to 2 amps.

            • MikeGrusin / about 13 years ago / 1

              Yes, we do sell the Mintyboost (which is also a 500mA max charger). But no matter how you slice it, if a phone needs more than 500mA, it's not going to get it from a standard USB port.

              • fluidic / about 13 years ago / 1

                If D+ and D- are shorted, it signals that it's a "dedicated charging port" with more than 0.5A available but no data connection.

                https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_port#Charging_ports_and_accessory_charging_adapters

                Seeing as the other end of this unit is 120V A/C, it doesn't make much sense for it not to be a DCP port - other than that it has a 0.5A rating on the supply side anyway. Rebuilding it with the internals of the 1A unit and shorting D+/D- to create a DCP would be a great upgrade.

  • ElectronicsNerd / about 13 years ago / 1

    Mine did not come with a quarter on it, but more concerning is that the unit is marked "5.5V 500mA +/- 50mA."
    It appears to be a different model number and will not charge either a Blackberry or Samsung phone.
    Why would anything with a USB socket carry 5.5VDC? Odd.

  • Are the D- and D+ pins shorted together on this one? Is it compatible with mobile devices (iPhone 4 can be picky)?

    • fluidic / about 13 years ago * / 1

      Off the top of my head, isn't that meant to signal that there is more than 0.5 A available for charging? Even if it's implemented here, there's still only 0.5 A available.

  • Member #14795 / about 14 years ago / 1

    Works barely fine, but would have loved to have seen a higher amperage (1A). It will not charge an iphone nor an android phone. Also, I had a setup with an arduino controlling a relay, and the relay doesn't work when the arduino is powered with this adapter, but it works fine when the arduino is powered through my laptop's USB port. Go figure.

    • pikachu / about 14 years ago / 1

      The Arduino Uno website says:
      "The board can operate on an external supply of 6 to 20 volts. If supplied with less than 7V, however, the 5V pin may supply less than five volts and the board may be unstable."
      http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardUno
      ...sounds like 5v isn't enough to power an Arduino?

      • tzikis / about 13 years ago / 2

        it's enough, but you have to either connect it to the 5v pin, or make a connector that will go to the USB port

  • Member #44 / about 14 years ago / 1

    Is this a SF design? If so, could you give me any help with the circuit design (schematic, operation, etc.). I've cobbled together a schematic of it already but I wouldn't mind double checking. Also, there's some aspects of the circuit that I'm not totally sure how they work. Specifically, I'm trying to design a very small 15 volt @ 1 amp supply and I'm wondering if this circuit would work. Thanks

  • nibbler / about 14 years ago / 1

    Ooh, 100-240VAC input. <br />
    <br />
    This makes this a worthy candidate for the old pin bending trick to get these to fit in Aussie power outlets.

  • BricoGeek / about 14 years ago / 1

    European version please! (again) :D

  • Chris.F / about 14 years ago / 1

    Quote from description above; "..wall power supply manufactured specifically for Spark Fun Electronics."<br />
    <br />
    Shouldn't you have opted for a Sparkfun logo or text on it also? Like the soldering stations you got earlier? ;)<br />
    <br />
    I have enough of these, but if it you had some with Sparkfun on it, I would definitely buy some just because of that ;)

    • Eh, yeah. We are working on getting it further branded. You can get some of our RTFM stickers and put them on it if you want :-)

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