Top View of the USB Power Shield v2.0

• Smaller Size – cost is determined by size, so I brought it down to the bare minimum – just enough to cover the Arduino pins.
• Power Planes – Added a 5V plane on top and a GND plane on the bottom to increase the reliability of the design, allow higher current, and also act as a bit of a heatsink
• Thicker Traces – the traces in v1.0 are only 8mil, which is pretty small and is really only good for about 200mA. Some devices powered here may need more than that. To support the USB spec of 500mA per device, I’ve bumped up all the traces to 16mil. There’s plenty of space for traces anyways.
• Remove the Vin LED – unnecessary.
• Flush caps – leave space so the caps can be bent down, so another shield can be fitted on top of this one. The regulator is also mounted on the edge to allow bending it down, although in many application it will need a heatsink so they may not clear even when bent down.

And here it is built:

Parts needed:
Keep in mind not all parts on the board are needed. For instance, if you’re powering a single pair of lights (or anything running at <300ma) you can just use the Arduino's built in DC-in with voltage regulator (USB power alone is not going to cut it). If that's the case, you can leave out the 7805 regulator, the 100uF capacitor (keep the 10uF), and the power diode D1. You also don't have to have the power indicator LED or its resistor RLED. And if you're only controlling one device, you only need one relay and one USB connector. All in all, you can get the parts cost for this board down to about $4 at the minimum configuration. If you want to go all out, here's what you'll need:

2x G6JU-2P-Y-DC4.5 Relays @ ~$2.85 each
2x USB A connectors @ ~$0.45 each
1x 7805 5V Regulator @ ~$0.37
1x DC-in 2.1mm Jack @ ~$0.63
1x 100uF 25V capacitor @ ~$0.03
1x 10uF 25V (10V ok) capacitor @ ~$0.03
1x 1N4004 standard Diode @ ~$0.04
1x 450-500 ohm resistor @ ~$0.04
1x 6x6mm pushbutton switch @ ~$0.24
1x 5mm LED (any type/color is fine) @ ~$0.08
1x 28+ pin row .1″ male header @ ~0.11

Total parts cost ~$8.17

You’ll also need a heatsink for the regulator if you plan on drawing more than ~200ma from it, those can range from $0.30 to $2, depending on size and complexity. There is a quite large one in the picture above as I was using it to charge my MP3 player, which draws a lot of current.

Stay tuned for an assembly guide. Also, I’ll be selling the few extra boards I have at cost to those interested, details to come soon.

That’s right, the very first prototype board actually functions. I’m amazed too.

The first working prototype

Of course, there are some changes I’d like to make – expect to see a v2.0 very soon. A few big things will be happening in the next revision, including addition of power planes and making the board smaller to reduce cost (by 30% ! ).

If anyone’s interested in ordering one of these from BatchPCB, email me and I’ll send you the link and parts list . I don’t want to make it completely public yet with the upcoming revision, which will be cheaper and more stable, but if you want to try it now let me know.

Also expect to see a basic Arduino library for controlling it soon, and we’re working on completing the WootOff application – the pressure’s on now that there is a working board!

As such, I made some modifications to the board and put it into Gerber files using Eagle, uploaded them to BatchPCB, and am now waiting for the first one to arrive so that I can populate and test it. In the meantime, I need to get around to packaging the WootOff software for distribution, and come up with some documentation of this project that’s more readable than this series of blog posts.

Here’s the board schematic of the Prototype board:

USB Power Shield v1.0 - Prototype

There are two USB ports for anything that takes USB power (5V) – of course, these ports are for power only (no data). You can use these to control the Woot-Off lights without cutting and soldering the cord, and something else (USB Fan? Light? Humping Dog?). There are also four pads toward the middle so you can solder in anything else that takes 5V power.

USB Power Shield board

Schematic here.

Since the Arduino can only supply maybe 300mA while on USB power and 600mA from its small 5V regulator (using DC in), I’ve included the stuff necessary to add a 7805 regulator and related components to allow up to 1A (if you use a heatsink). You can always leave these pads empty if you don’t plan on using that much power. The Woot-Off Lights will need at least the 5V regulator on the Arduino. There are also LEDs to show if the regulator and board itself are powered – these can be omitted as well.

The board uses four 2N3906 to control power of up to 200mA at 5V to four devices. By writing the corresponding pin LOW on the Arduino, you turn on the transistor and allow current to flow from 5V to the device (and then, hopefully, out to GND). Very Simple.