I love my PiHUB and would like to have a or table power source, so I can make my projects mobile :)
Is there any product that I could use?
Alternatively I’d appreciate any instructions and links to resources to help me build my own portable power source.
Thanks!
Searching places like Amazon for ‘USB Battery’ will turn up many batteries like : http://www.amazon.co.uk/EasyAcc-10000mAh-Brilliant-Smartphone-Bluetooth/dp/B00H9BEC8E/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1412452425&sr=8-4&keywords=usb+battery
You can use the 5v 2A outlet to power the PiHub, with a USB to barrel jack cable such as : http://www.amazon.co.uk/niceeshop-Barrel-Power-Cable-Black/dp/B00JVIIYQY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412452554&sr=8-1&keywords=usb+a+2.5mm+barrel
With this you’ll have a portable PiHub and Pi’s (plus other USB devices)
Thanks for the tip, I didn’t know such an adapter existed :)
BTW do you know if a 5V/3A battery pack exists? Everything I find is either only 2A or when they say “3A” they means two USB ports, one with 2A and another with additionally 1A.
The PiHUB needs 3A to work.
You can use less Amperage, so 2A will work just fine. The A is just an indicator of how much ‘grunt’ or how many things the power supply can handle.
A Pi uses ~600mA, WiFi is 500mA, PiHub needs 50mA (A guess), so that is roughly 1.2Amps needed, well below the 2A provided by the battery.
If you want to go big (which brings up a discussion about what is portable) you could build your own power supply with any size / voltage of battery set by adding a DC-DC LM2596 DC-DC converter. It has an operating input range from 6V to 40V. There are many sellers on ebay of this unit for a wide variety of prices but starting in the sub $2 range.
I have used several of them to power a Pi system including a mobile broadband router, Ethernet switch and Pi from the batteries in my solar powered home power system. Although not portable it does prove that these units will work with various power sources to provide 5Vdc output.