🎉  Happy 13th Birthday Raspberry Pi!   🎂   1,000+ deals in store!   🥳
🎉  Happy 13th Birthday Raspberry Pi!   🎂   1,000+ deals in store!   🥳

SparkFun Hydra Power Cable

by Sparkfun

The Hydra breaks out the 5V and GND lines from your USB power supply, computer or otherwise into three connectors: Barrel Plug, JST and alligator clips!

Behold, the Hydra! This USB power cable probably looks a lot like something you've hacked together before. We do it all the time, because what is a computer if not a 5V power supply that happens to run software?

The clips are shrouded to avoid shorts and the barrel plug is center positive. The cable is 6 feet long overall which give you plenty of room to work.

Remember that USB power does have its limitations. Most USB hosts will only provide between 100 and 500mA at 5VDC.

12 customer reviews

3 years ago
Works a treat. I'm now using old lithium batteries I scavenged from a vacuum cleaner to power my raspberry pi 4, save in the knowledge that the shim will keep my pi safe!
by Graeme about LiPo SHIM for Raspberry Pi via REVIEWS.io
4 years ago
A great lightweight solution to put my Raspberry PI zero into a rocket and get some great photos from above.
by Philip about LiPo SHIM for Raspberry Pi via REVIEWS.io
5 years ago
The perfect power source for your Raspberry Pi Zero W HQ Camera combo! https://github.com/PaulZC/Pi_Zero_HQ_Camera_Adapter
by Paul about LiPo SHIM for Raspberry Pi via REVIEWS.io
5 years ago
It is a practically necessary piece of kit all things considered. I strongly recomment using it coupled with the stacking headers, so that you can still take advantage of the pins which aren't used by the shim
by Savvas about LiPo SHIM for Raspberry Pi via REVIEWS.io
7 years ago
Great product as always! Wanted to add a lightweight power source to my raspberry pi zero robot and using this circuit with a LiPo battery was just what I was looking for.
by Sam about LiPo SHIM for Raspberry Pi via REVIEWS.io
8 years ago
This is a great piece of kit - you can either solder the board directly to the Pi's GPIO (like I did) or attach female headers that you can pop onto the Pi's headers if you want to remove it later on. I've also soldered a switch to the board, so that I can turn it on and off... well, at a flick of a switch! This makes a battery powered, yet compact, Raspberry Pi!
by Wesley about LiPo SHIM for Raspberry Pi via REVIEWS.io

User photos