Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Most modern USB cables do not seem to have serious resistance issues. If it will
charge a Micro USB Type B cell phone quickly and reliably, it is probably good enough
for the Raspberry Pi. If it won't, a new one is generally easy and cheap to come by.
Unbreak Your Raspberry Pi
HACK 10
The Raspberry Pi hardware is pretty rugged for its size, but it does have
one notable weak point that you might discover. Here's how to find it and
how to hack it back to life if it breaks.
The Raspberry Pi comes with a built-in self-destruct button that many people have
accidentally triggered the first time they plugged it in. OK, that's not precisely true.
But the placement of one of the Pi's fragile components makes it really easy to destroy
your new toy before you've gotten to play with it. Here's what to do in case you broke
it before you got around to reading this hack.
Just behind the power connection on the board is a small silver cylinder (see
Figure 1-4 ). It's called capacitor C6 , and it's a 220 μF, 16-volt, surface-mount electro-
lytic capacitor that smooths out the voltage going to the Pi. It also seems like a really
good spot to grip when you're plugging in or unplugging your micro USB cable. It's
not. Don't touch it. It's not a critical component, and your Pi could still work without
it, but it also might not.
Figure 1-4.
C6 is the black and silver cylinder beside the power connector
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