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I'm wondering if I can run Arduino mega on 5V power supply, even though it's recommended for 6-12V. USB has only 5V right, will it be a problem? I expect to draw quite a lot of power from the 5V pin too so could it be a problem?

4 Answers 4

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Here's what I did for my project:

I used a high current regulated 5V supply. I took a USB cable with the square connector that goes into the Arduino and cut it in half. I attached the red and black wires to +5V and ground on my regulated power supply. I then drove the high current components in my project directly from the 5V supply.

If you use this approach you should probably also add filter capacitors between 5V and ground at both the Arduino and the high current load. Those will help smooth out the voltage variations as the high current load switched on and off.

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  • You should also make sure the grounds for USB (both host and Arduino sides) and the bench power supply are 1) connected and 2) at the same potential. Plugging all the power sources (USB, bench) into the same power strip suffices for the latter. Apr 5, 2021 at 4:38
  • You misunderstand what I'm suggesting. I power my project with a single 5V power supply. The high current components are connected directly to the 5V, and the Arduino and it's low current components are fed through a dummy USB cable that is also connected to the 5V supply. If I need to program the Arduino I instead use a real USB cable connected to my computer.
    – Duncan C
    Apr 5, 2021 at 16:36
  • If you do this often, you can buy a variety of USB connectors to build your own cable, instead of sacrificing a cable. This could allow using a project box with a female USB input to a power rail, then over to the Arduino through the onboard USB connector. You can even hook up the data between the female USB on the box to the internal USB male connector, if you wanted to keep that functionality for debugging and reprogramming purposes. Apr 5, 2021 at 20:35
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The 6-12V range applies only to the onboard voltage regulator(if you provide power via Vin or the barrel jack). The Arduino itself runs on 5V and the regulator needs a bit headroom above that to do the regulation.

You can run the Arduino via USB, since it has 5V, just as needed by the Arduino

And you can provide power directly to the 5V pin (with a voltage of 5V or course).

If some of your components draw a lot of power, you should never draw that current through the Arduino. You need to connect the power supply in parallel to your components and the Arduino, so that the high currents can flow past the Arduino, not through it.

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If you connect it from the USB port on your computer to the USB plug on the Mega, you'll do fine. What you can't do is connect a 5v source to the barrel jack; that goes to the board's voltage regulator which needs ~ 7v minimum to provide 5v out.

"Quite a bit of power" is a rather vague specification. A USB port can supply 500mA unless the device in question negotiates for more current and the port in question is capable of supplying it. What is probably more concerning is if you're trying to pull a lot of current through the Mega, you risky overloading its pin-drivers or its PCB tracks. The Mega's pins are spec'd for 20mA; 40mA Absolute Max, briefly, to not damage it. The total current budget is 200mA max. If you're planning to approach either of those levels, you should consider powering some of your devices separately. That might include powering from the same or another USB port, as long as you don't pass it through the board, and you observe the USB ports' maximum currents as well.

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Yes, you can run the Arduino Mega off of a 5V supply. Instead of connecting the voltage to the DC jack, instead feed your 5V into the +5V pin on the Arduino header. (it is one of the red pins in the image below). Ardiono Mega pinout

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    It's important to add that this only works if it's a regulated 5V power supply, that means it must be able to provide (more or less) exactly 5V, regardless of the load.
    – PMF
    Apr 5, 2021 at 16:53

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