XIAO RP2040 Breadboard Power Supply with Monitor
The XIAO PowerBread is a breadboard power supply that runs off of USB and uses a XIAO RP2040 to output power stats to its screen.
Breadboarding projects is a fundamental skill/task for learning and developing new electronics. To complete your circuit, you typically need to apply a power supply to the power and ground rails, which typically means scrounging around for the proper connections. Or if you’re very well prepared, you might have a plug-in breadboard power supply.
Such supplies are useful for getting power to your rails, but how much power – i.e. voltage x current – does your circuit use? After a bit more scrounging around, you can probably figure these stats out. However, as seen here, you could instead use Nicho.D’s XIAO PowerBread breadboard power supply with real-time monitoring, now available for $25 on Tindie, and skip a few steps.
This all-in-one unit is powered via USB-C, provides 5V and 3.3V outputs, and features a small screen that displays the voltage, current, and power for both rails simultaneously. The screen can also be set to display one channel’s readings, along with a line chart that shows historical power usage values, or statistics for average and peak current readings.
Current sensing is taken care of by an INA3221 chip, and processing is accomplished via a XIAO RP2040 board. While it’s already feature-packed, the open source nature of the design means that new features could be added as needed, and per the board layout, other XIAO-format devices could be subbed in. While it might take some development / experimentation, a Wi-Fi and Bluetooth-enabled XIAO ESP32C3 could present some interesting possibilities!
For another breadboard/power supply possibility, check out this Modular Electronics Prototyping System that we featured recently.