Stontronics manufactures dedicated power supply for Raspberry Pi 3

The Broadcom chipset comprises a quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 based processor running at 1.2GHZ, together with integrated short-range connectivity including 802.11b/g/n wireless LAN and dual-mode Bluetooth 4.1 Classic and Smart (Bluetooth Low Energy) profiles.

As sole manufacturer of the officially approved Raspberry Pi 3 power supply, Stontronics has designed the device to meet the updated and expanded US Department of Energy (DoE) Level VI Energy Efficiency requirements, which became effective on February 10^th, 2016. The DoE standard mandates more stringent energy efficiency levels for a greater number of external power supply types. According to DoE estimates, these new requirements will save consumers up to $3.8bn and cut emissions by nearly 47m metric tons of carbon dioxide over 30 years, which is equivalent to the annual electricity use of 6.5m homes.

Key electrical characteristics of the Raspberry Pi 3 power supply include: an output voltage of +5.1V; load current of 2.5A (nominal); output power of 13W (nominal); output regulation of +/-5%; and protection features including short circuit, over current and over voltage. Other specifications include dimensions of 73.2x45.1x35.1mm, an operating temperature range of 0 to +40°C, and an MTBF of 50,000 hours. Also included with the power supply is a 1.5m USB-B lead to connect to the Raspberry Pi board.

According to Martin Dodd, General Manager, Stontronics: “The Raspberry Pi Foundation chose Stontronics as the only approved manufacturer of the power supply because of our expertise in semi-custom design and our ability to handle all required third-party approvals to deliver a fully approved Raspberry Pi branded product.”

Gordon Hollingworth, Director of Engineering at the Raspberry Pi Foundation comments: “In addition to the company’s experience and strong credentials as a power supply vendor and designer, Stontronics also had existing relationships with RS Components and Farnell. This is an important aspect, as both companies are key to the Raspberry Pi distribution strategy and are on the strictly-limited list of official distributors of the Raspberry Pi platform.”