Powering molex from USB?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
E

extracampine

Prominent
Apr 22, 2017
2
0
510
I'm looking at the I-PAC Ultimate arcade stick controller card:

https://www.ultimarc.com/ipacuio.html

As well as a USB connector, it has a molex connector for power. Is there any way I can convert or interface this to USB (USB-C), as I plan to use it with an external joystick. I will only be connecting 6 RGB LED buttons so will not require a huge amount of power. Thanks.
 
Solution
P
The point is that there are MANY wires in a USB-C cab';e, and you want only the two that have the +5 VDC supply and the Ground, and you need to know which is which. THEN you can connect those to the + and - terminals of your board for 5 Volt power supply. Look on the internet for pinout diagrams for USB-C sockets and cables, then use an ohm meter to check connectivity from known pins to wire colors.
Sort by date Sort by votes
P

Paperdoc

Polypheme
Ambassador
Oct 19, 2006
11,260
1,022
69,340
You believe 6 LED buttons = not much power. You need to check that. For example, one LED can easily pull 0.1 to 0.2 amps, depending on size etc. So 6 of them could be 0.6 amps and up. Add in whatever else the board consumes itself. The USB3 spec says it can supply max 0.9 amps to a connected device.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
P

Paperdoc

Polypheme
Ambassador
Oct 19, 2006
11,260
1,022
69,340
If that is the real current draw of the LEDs you will use, you'll have no trouble there. Reading the USB-C specs are a little confusing on power. It appears, in brief, that all USB-C ports follow the USB 3.1 Gen 2 specs and can supply up to 2 A at 5 VDC, but then optionally can supply higher amperage and voltage to a max of 5 A at 20 VDC. To do the two higher-power capacities involves some information coded within the port, cable and connected device that communicate their respective abilities, so I'm not sure how one uses them in a home-made device. However, the basic all-versions spec of 2 A and 5 VDC probably will suffice for your purposes.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
P

Paperdoc

Polypheme
Ambassador
Oct 19, 2006
11,260
1,022
69,340
Actually, I think adapters may not be what OP needs. The post suggests he / she plans to buy a circuit board with a lot of functions and some pins to use for making connections. So even providing power to the board will require a solder job of some kind. OP might be best to get e USB-C cable and a wiring pinout diagram, cut off one end of the cable, and solder the appropriate wires to the board power input pins.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
E

extracampine

Prominent
Apr 22, 2017
2
0
510
Yeah I'm looking at buying the I-PAC ultimate controller. If you look at the Ultimarc website you can see a picture of the board as well as the power cable supplied with it.

I would have 6 buttons, with 3 LEDs per button as they are RGB LED buttons, so 18 LEDs in all - total combined amperage 18 x 0.02 = 0.36 amps.

I'm not 100% sure regarding the advice above - would I just get a USB to molex adapter, or do I need to cut off the USB-C cable and pick out the power wire(s)? Would the USB port and the I-PAC card communicate OK power-wise? Thanks!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
P

Paperdoc

Polypheme
Ambassador
Oct 19, 2006
11,260
1,022
69,340
The point is that there are MANY wires in a USB-C cab';e, and you want only the two that have the +5 VDC supply and the Ground, and you need to know which is which. THEN you can connect those to the + and - terminals of your board for 5 Volt power supply. Look on the internet for pinout diagrams for USB-C sockets and cables, then use an ohm meter to check connectivity from known pins to wire colors.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom