Power Alternative: Beneficial or Dangerous?

[xd3l]

I have this 5v 3.1A 3 port USB charger that I got cheap off Ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/351643969026?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&var=620626732872&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

It boots the Pi fine, but if I plug in a Hard Drive with splitter cable, then I get that little rainbow in the upper right hand corner that tells me that I don’t have enough power.

On the other hand, if I plug the Hard Drive thicker power cable into the HUB, then th other USB cable into the Pi, both that and the Pi’s own MiniUSB port are used to power it up and it works.

My question is whether or not I could fry my Pi by doing it this way or if I should just use an external hard drive with it’s own devoted PSU?

[riggs]

You should be able to power a 2.5″ drive using the Pi’s USB port. Depends one the drive’s power consumption though I guess.

Does your config.txt contain max_usb_current=1 ?

Could maybe be the PSU also. Any way of testing the output? It could be a cheap Chinese thing that doesn’t actually provide a good clean signal and/or the rated amperage. Have you got another PSU you could try?

[xd3l]

I have a PWR + 5v 3.5A that I use for testing and all of my hard drive seem to act strange even with it. This is the first PSU where things actually seem to act right. so….

…is it safe to power it this way?

[malacai]

if u do so then u will bypass the ‘fuse’. i have done this myself, and i never had any issues. but keep in mind that it can brake your pi

[xd3l]

So if I power through the mini usb, I go through the fuse and if I power via standard usb, I bypass the fuse?

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