[popcornmix]

There is a suggestion that back-powering on the non-PWR USB will work in a similar way to some Model Bs.

Yes - a hub that back-powers will work and you can leave the power connector unconnected.

[JonSnow88]

There is a suggestion that back-powering on the non-PWR USB will work in a similar way to some Model Bs.

Yes - a hub that back-powers will work and you can leave the power connector unconnected.

So there is a chance the Chromecast Ethernet adapter will work provided the Pi supports the drivers? If this is the case for under $30, it might not be a bad setup for a bedroom Kodi setup, using your phone as a remote.

[speedwell68]

There is a suggestion that back-powering on the non-PWR USB will work in a similar way to some Model Bs.

Yes - a hub that back-powers will work and you can leave the power connector unconnected.

So there is a chance the Chromecast Ethernet adapter will work provided the Pi supports the drivers? If this is the case for under $30, it might not be a bad setup for a bedroom Kodi setup, using your phone as a remote.

What is the power consumption of a Pi Zero? I have a standard Chromecast PSU and it is only 0.8A and will not power a RPI Model B over-clocked to the same speed the RPi Zero.

[noggin]

Yes - a hub that back-powers will work and you can leave the power connector unconnected.

So there is a chance the Chromecast Ethernet adapter will work provided the Pi supports the drivers? If this is the case for under $30, it might not be a bad setup for a bedroom Kodi setup, using your phone as a remote.

What is the power consumption of a Pi Zero? I have a standard Chromecast PSU and it is only 0.8A and will not power a RPI Model B over-clocked to the same speed the RPi Zero.

Somewhere between 140 and 160mA according to various reports.

http://raspi.tv/2015/raspberry-pi-zero-p...asurements

The current draw is so low a few other options become possible for power. The Pimoroni guys are working on a very neat little LiPo power board which will work neatly with other pHATs (the Zero sized not-quite-HATs) giving you battery power (first version won't have an integrated charger, but there is a version with that planned)

[speedwell68]

So there is a chance the Chromecast Ethernet adapter will work provided the Pi supports the drivers? If this is the case for under $30, it might not be a bad setup for a bedroom Kodi setup, using your phone as a remote.

What is the power consumption of a Pi Zero? I have a standard Chromecast PSU and it is only 0.8A and will not power a RPI Model B over-clocked to the same speed the RPi Zero.

Somewhere between 140 and 160mA according to various reports.

http://raspi.tv/2015/raspberry-pi-zero-p...asurements

The current draw is so low a few other options become possible for power. The Pimoroni guys are working on a very neat little LiPo power board which will work neatly with other pHATs (the Zero sized not-quite-HATs) giving you battery power (first version won't have an integrated charger, but there is a version with that planned)

I have just bought a 2.1 amp Samsung PSU for mine as that is what I use on all my other RPIs. I only had a 0.7 amp PSU spare as I figured it wouldn't cut it.

[noggin]

I have just bought a 2.1 amp Samsung PSU for mine as that is what I use on all my other RPIs. I only had a 0.7 amp PSU spare as I figured it wouldn't cut it.

I use the Pi Foundation PSU for all of my various Pis. It just works. Never get any low voltage warnings.

Sure you know - but it's not just the PSU that's important, the cable is too. If you use a PSU with a USB socket, then the USB A to MicroUSB B cable also needs to be of decent quality (basically the power supply wire needs to be thick enough to not drop too much voltage across its length).

Less of an issue with a Pi Zero on its own I suspect - as it will be drawing less current it will suffer less voltage drop (for a given resistance of cable) - but if you power devices like external HDs via the USB port on the Pi Zero then you will still have this issue (as the device will add to the current load, which will increase the volts dropped for a given resistance ; V=IR an all that).

[speedwell68]

I have just bought a 2.1 amp Samsung PSU for mine as that is what I use on all my other RPIs. I only had a 0.7 amp PSU spare as I figured it wouldn't cut it.

I use the Pi Foundation PSU for all of my various Pis. It just works. Never get any low voltage warnings.

Sure you know - but it's not just the PSU that's important, the cable is too. If you use a PSU with a USB socket, then the USB A to MicroUSB B cable also needs to be of decent quality (basically the power supply wire needs to be thick enough to not drop too much voltage across its length).

Less of an issue with a Pi Zero on its own I suspect - as it will be drawing less current it will suffer less voltage drop (for a given resistance of cable) - but if you power devices like external HDs via the USB port on the Pi Zero then you will still have this issue (as the device will add to the current load, which will increase the volts dropped for a given resistance ; V=IR an all that).

TBH I only use Samsung power leads. Cheap PSUs and power leads are a false economy.

[noggin]

Yep - and the official PSU is only £5 from the Swag Store (and has UK/EU/US/Aus plugs) so I really don't see any need to buy anything else, unless you need a solution which doesn't have a tethered cable. The Pi Foundation has a hard-wired cable at the PSU end, rather than a USB-A socket.

However if you are in other parts of the world I know postage charges can mean different devices make sense.

[DarrenHill]

This post from Hackaday may also be of interest - someone already hard-wired an Edimax wifi dongle onto the rear of the Zero's board to keep the data micro-USB port free for other stuff. That plus a GPIO IR remote could make even using a USB hub unnecessary.

[popcornmix]

This post from Hackaday may also be of interest - someone already hard-wired an Edimax wifi dongle onto the rear of the Zero's board to keep the data micro-USB port free for other stuff. That plus a GPIO IR remote could make even using a USB hub unnecessary.

Pretty sure that the data micro-usb won't be usable after this mod.
The SoC only has a single USB interface, so you can't connect a second USB device without a hub chip (e.g. the SMSC chip on a model B).

[DarrenHill]

Hmm, shame, but makes sense. Ah well, I guess someone sometime soon may make a Pi0 HAT or similar with a few add-on bits like ethernet and USB hub, or back to hanging stuff off the micro-USB again.

Thanks though

[popcornmix]

Hmm, shame, but makes sense. Ah well, I guess someone sometime soon may make a Pi0 HAT or similar with a few add-on bits like ethernet and USB hub, or back to hanging stuff off the micro-USB again.

Ethernet over SPI (e.g. ENC28J60) is one option that users have had working on the model A. Not sure how fast SPI will go.
SDIO and SMI are other interfaces that can go faster which may be possibilities for supporting ethernet or wifi.

ethernet+USB hub or wifi + USB hub are other opions. This sort of thing:
https://www.pi-supply.com/product/broadc...cba1185463

could make sense with a Pi Zero.

[noggin]

My Zero arrived from Pimoroni today. It's running stock OE 6.0 with zero problems (see what I did there?...). Have a powered USB OTG hub I use with a Windows 10 tablet and it's working fine with the RC6 MCE remote, a USB 2 2.5" external hard drive and a cheap, no-name USB->Ethernet adaptor.

Hardly the neatest set-up - but it 'just worked'.

So far so very good. It's playing 720/50p and 1080/50i (with a reasonable Bob deinterlace?) content from TV Headend with zero problems. Sure - it's not a Pi 2 B. But if you just need something to play short video clips on an HDMI display - for £4 plus a uSD card and Mini->Full size HDMI cable or adaptor - it's stonking value. (Put the clips on the SD card and use CEC remote control - you'll even have a spare USB OTG interface port!)

[noggin]

Few little updates.

Have a couple of OTG hubs with power inputs that variously offer OTG or Charge or both - some reset the pi as you plug in a new device, others don't... Pity as the one that resets is really neat. 4 USB ports, MicroUSB in for power and Micro USB cable to connect to the Pi (effectively you plug the Pi PSU into the Hub and back-power the Pi through the USB MicroUSB and don't plug anything into the PWR port)

Poundland/world Bluetooth dongle (£1 surprisingly enough) works fine in OpenElec, and happily connects with a PS3 Blu-ray remote. Suspect I'll buy a Chinese Ethernet + 3 USB to MicroUSB OTG hub and see what it's like. Sure the 2B or B+ makes more sense in lots of ways as a main Kodi player, but the Zero is just so cute it's fun to see what it can do - and the 512MB RAM vs 256MB in the A+ means it has the edge for me (and I don't need analogue audio, DSI or CSI connectors for video).

Think the Zero will make a very neat little TV Headend client if nothing else. (May even try it as a server :-) Just because...) Still can't believe it plays 720/50p and 1080/50i ...

[katsup]

I would think a Micro USB cable and a USB to RJ45 adapter should work to get the Pi0 network access. Thinking about getting one and having it store my library database.