Replacing Pogo E02 power supply

[mikeo007]

I have an old Pogoplug E02 with a fried power supply. I'm just wondering it it's possible to remove the power supply PCB entirely and just use a USB power supply of some sort in its place. I'm not great with electronics, but would it be as simple as taking a 5V cellphone charger, splicing on a connector, and plugging it into the Pogoplug motherboard, or am I just asking for trouble by doing this? I'm not sure if there's any special circuitry on the PCB that the Pogoplug actually needs to function. It looks like it just outputs 5 volts, but like I said, electricity knowledge is limited.

[WarheadsSE]

I am having trouble locating any specs for that power supply, and do not have this model. However, I do not think it supplies only 5V

[mikeo007]

I do have a working one as well that I could test to confirm, but I remember reading something on the PCB that denoted it supplying 5V.

[WarheadsSE]

Okay, then you will want to confirm it is not 2 5V supplies.

[grayman4hire]

I believe it's 3.3v so you'll need a step down converter. Not sure you'll be able to provide enough amps to power the USB ports.

[ErnieW]

The power supply chip on mine is a TNY279P http://www.powerint.com/sites/default/files/product-docs/tny274-280.pdf There is a whole family of those chips running from 274 to 280, larger numbers giving slightly more wattage, so there's a simple repair and upgrade if it's just the chip that's gone. I've been tempted from time to time to glue a heatsink on mine but even though I pull the pogoplug apart every six months to a year or so to have a look I've never seen the slightest sign of overheating on the circuit board.

The PSU supplies 12V so a phone charger probably wouldn't work, but one from an old external HDD might, although as most of those are rated at 1A you'll only get 12W or so, rather than the 18W continuous, 32W peak that the internal supply claims to give, so you mighty have to watch what peripherals you plugged in.

[mikeo007]

This is where I was getting the 5v from; this is a picture of the PCB for the power supply at the point where it connects to the actual pogoplug.

[kmihelich]

Since no one apparently owns a multimeter (WTF?), the PSU is supplying two 5V lines. On the main board, you'll see a plus on one side of the connector. Those first two pins on that side are 5V, the next two are ground.

[ErnieW]

OK, sorry for misleading about 12V. I was sure that was what it was, but it's been a while. Anyway, the point that I was trying to make was that the PSU controller built in to the E02 is a pretty good one, at least in later models. 18W continuous /32W peak means that you'll need a phone charger capable of supplying 4-6 amps. I reckon that most will give you 1 amp, 2 if you're lucky, but maybe as little as 500mA if you want to use it continuously. Your pogoplug might boot up from a flash drive, but don't count on using any other peripherals. Even stuff that's externally powered often draws 500mA or so.