Has anybody seen any ac “plug in” hardware to be used with the photon? I’m looking for something that can be plugged into a wall outlet (think nightlight) and have the correct voltage for the photon.
@ctamplin If you just want to supply 5 vdc through a micro USB most cell phone chargers will work fine. If you need to power relays some use a 12 vdc supply for the relays and add a 5 vdc regulator for the photon.
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Thanks for the reply carbuthn. Specifically, I’m looking to do something like the attached photo. I know phone chargers will work, but would like to ultimately have it all encapsulated into the case (including photon). Like a wall plugin photon.
Hm–a USB dongle in addition to a USB configuration for the Photon like the one used in this Kickstarter project might do the trick?
That step down hardware looks extremely sketchy – Apple’s wall adapters are just about the smallest form factor that is trustworthy for stepping down AC voltage to DC voltages.
@ctamplin I have work with ac power generation most of my life, so that doesn’t bother me (much). But I would recommend keeping the AC power separated from the DC circuits. I like the idea of using a dc converter external from the box that has the photon or electron are in. It reduces heat in the box, reduce ac noise in the dc circuit, less chance of shorting between the ac and dc components, easier to filter and control induced voltage on your electronics.
I prefer to use a 9 or 12 vdc supply and then regulate voltage down to 3.3 and 5 vdc near my photon.
If I am using a relay, I often just use a 1 or 2 relay board that gives me the regulators, I2C output, and some extra IO’s.
It really comes down to what you want to do, amount of money you want to spend, how much power you need and what spare parts you have already.