Hi guys,

1:I’m trying to get power to a mini android smart TV dongle. It needs to be 5v 2a, with a micro usb plug.

Whilst searching for a PSU, I’ve come across chargers, switching adapters, power supplies etc. Is there any actual difference between them, or are they one and the same ?
Actually, any of them with my requirements are few & far between.

2:Obviously my TV doesn’t have a USB slot, but I was wondering if anything else on it might supply external power at the required rates ?
My bedroom Toshiba XV505 is on a ceiling bracket – and the last thing I wanted was cables hanging from it. I foolishly assumed that the dongle would be host powered like USB – or I might not have gone for this type.
Does anyone know if this TV might provide external power please ?

Many thanks

Not obvious at all these days. Are you sure?

You could use one of these at the power point where the TV is plugged in

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Masterplug-S.../dp/B006AROHDI

The only USB charger / supply that is non-standard AFAIK are those used for Creative media players which use some unique internal wiring. Not sure if they are safe to use with other devices and I am not about to try it out.

Is the OP sure about the 2A, it sounds a lot of power for a dongle. At 10W it's going to get very warm.

Just checked the power supply for my 10" HD Asus TF700 transformer. That's 5V at 1.2A and that has to run a HD 10" display.

Decimal point in the wrong place? 0.2A for a small dongle would not be beyond the realms of possibility. 2A does sound a bit on the high side I agree. Especially if it is designed to be powered from a PC USB port which I doubt would supply 2A anyway.

500mA is the design limit for USB power delivery.

Thanks gomezzzzz:
Yep – No USB on this set.
The link shows a pretty damn good item – albeit with only 1amp power. On top of that I’d need a cable,,, so it starts to add up a bit.
There must be proper items out there – millions of these dongles are being bought’n’sold – they must be getting power somehow !
More searching for the time,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

grahamlthompson + ChrisJR:
Hopefully uploaded image of features.
Couldn’t upload – see here:
Model M8 Mini TV
Operation System Android 4.1.1
CPU RK3066 Dual Core 1.6Ghz
GPU Mali- 400MP,Support OpenGL ES 2.0
RAM 1GB DDR3
Nand Flash 4GB
Note:Android system will occupy a part of memory ,so the rest of the space available around 2GB.
such as mobile phones and computers all the same. the system will occupy some disk space.
Expand Micro SD T-Flash(Maximum Support 32GB)
WIFI Support 802.11 b/g/n
HDMI Support,1080P &2160P
Power Device Adapter Input 100-240V 0.3A 50/60Hz output 5V-2A
Dimensions 100x40x10mm
Office Support MS Office Word, PPT, Excel
Email Email, POP3/SMTP/IMAP4
Others QQ ,skype, flash11.1
Multi- Media
Video AVI, MP4, FLV, 3GP, MKV, WMV etc.
Audio MP3,WMA,WAV,APE,FLAC,AAC,OGG etc.
Picture JPG/BMP/PNG/GIF.
E- Book PDF, TXT etc.
Port 1 x USB HOST
1 x DC IN
1 x HDMI Plug
1 x TF Card Slot

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Have just messaged the seller, asking him to check with manufacturer about the 2amp bit.

Will update when - if - I get any info.

You're going to need a good quality adaptor / charger to power the stick, as these devices are power hungry and do indeed need something around 2A to run. Anything less and you'll get lockups / restarts etc.

I had a so-called '2A' cheap Chinese adaptor included with mine, but it was useless, and nowhere near the power rating shown on the label (as is often the case).

I found an adaptor being sold off cheap in B&M stores for £4.99. It's an iLuv (mod. i108 BLK) rated at 2A, which does the job perfectly. It looks and feels better quality than the usual stuff, and I've had no 'power problems' since using this.

Ah! A bastardisation of the USB standard. So did you not get the power adaptor with the dongle? Being used so close the ceiling sounds like a fire hazard waiting to happen.

Hi stylo:
thanks for that. I hadn't heard of B&M (my initials so I might have remembered !?).

We don't have them in cornwall, but i'll persue it with them.

I see that the old Tesco boss, Terry Leahy, is the 'new' charman of B&M

They carry all sorts of 'cheap' stuff (some very tacky!), but also get some decent 3rd-party 'clearance' items in there.

It doesn't have a USB cable with it, but I used the one supplied with the original Chinese adaptor.

They carry all sorts of 'cheap' stuff (some very tacky!), but also get some decent 3rd-party 'clearance' items in there.

It doesn't have a USB cable with it, but I used the one supplied with the original Chinese adaptor.

Luckily, I'm capable of bastardising most things, if I have the bits to hand, & appropriate advice.

It seems B&M don't have a store within travelling distance to me - & it looks like they don't post things out.

I can't actually see the item on their site, so I guess it’s only available 'in store'.
We have a similar store – Pound Stretcher I think – so I’ll have a look in there.

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I also need to buy --or make-- a 2-way usb splitter. It’s pretty obvious I’m new to ‘smart’ and assumed that as it has 2 usb ports, I could plug in a meece as well as a flash/hdd,,,, but I didn’t know that one was for the power ! I must seek advice before spending money,,,,,

I've got mine set up with a powered USB hub plugged into the dongle's main USB port. I can then connect a harddrive, memory stick and RF receiver for 'air mouse' into the hub.

Doing similar in your case, you'd be able to keep everything at ground (or table) level, with the only thing leading to the TV being a long HDMI cable.

Would that be something like gomezz's link ?
Can you use them as a hub ?

The initial intent, was to plug the dongle either into a rear facing HDMI = everything out of view, or maybe the edge HDMI, so that I could reach to stick hdd/flash into it.
The one on the side won't allow the dongle to fit, through body design.

As you say, It now looks like the only way, is to have a cable running.

The link by gomezz is for a suggested power supply only (and wouldn't work anyway unfortunately). I've got one, and the rated power is 'divided' over both USB outlets, so you don't get the full power by just using one outlet.

Just have to realize that anything extra you plug into the dongle will draw some power away from it. Basically, if the power adaptor is already near it's capacity by just running the dongle alone, then adding the 'extras' could cause problems.

You might be OK if just using an RF dongle and flash drive etc, but probably run into problems using a keyboard / harddrive combination.

A powered hub (something like this item on eBay 150671370402) will do the trick, and leave the 2A power adaptor to do it's job of just running the dongle.