Friends,
I have a somewhat unusual use case and I'm wondering if you have advice. I have a Pico that will live inside a waterproof box outdoors. I'm trying to figure out how to supply it with power.
Initially, I intended to run an AC cable into the box, and put an ordinary wall power supply in the box with the Pico to convert AC->DC. I have an old 5V supply just lying around so this seemed expedient.
However, what I realized is that none of the grommets I have are large enough to permit a power cable's head to run through the box. I thought about it and realized, hey, inside this wall adapter must be a circuit board, and the electrical connection from the plug prongs to the board are "just" wires. I could deconstruct an AC cable and attach it directly to the board and it would work. Right?
So my new idea is this: remove the case of the AC adapter, cut an AC cable, and solder the AC cable's leads directly to the AC adapter board. Then connect the AC adapter board's DC side to my Pico's VSYS and GND.
The end result would be that the only cable coming out of the box would be a male weather resistant cable plug. That could in turn plug into my weather resistant extension cord.
My question: is this a terrible idea? If it is, do you have any other suggestions for powering a Pico that lives outside without making holes in my house's walls?
I have a somewhat unusual use case and I'm wondering if you have advice. I have a Pico that will live inside a waterproof box outdoors. I'm trying to figure out how to supply it with power.
Initially, I intended to run an AC cable into the box, and put an ordinary wall power supply in the box with the Pico to convert AC->DC. I have an old 5V supply just lying around so this seemed expedient.
However, what I realized is that none of the grommets I have are large enough to permit a power cable's head to run through the box. I thought about it and realized, hey, inside this wall adapter must be a circuit board, and the electrical connection from the plug prongs to the board are "just" wires. I could deconstruct an AC cable and attach it directly to the board and it would work. Right?
So my new idea is this: remove the case of the AC adapter, cut an AC cable, and solder the AC cable's leads directly to the AC adapter board. Then connect the AC adapter board's DC side to my Pico's VSYS and GND.
The end result would be that the only cable coming out of the box would be a male weather resistant cable plug. That could in turn plug into my weather resistant extension cord.
My question: is this a terrible idea? If it is, do you have any other suggestions for powering a Pico that lives outside without making holes in my house's walls?
Statistics: Posted by jags84 — Sat Jul 13, 2024 4:43 pm