702 Using USB C to Power a Raspberry Pi 3 or older

One of the challenges I have with the older Raspberry Pi is that it uses a micro USB for power.  Micro USB was fine in its time, but it did not provide enough voltage to the Pi. Today we have USB C, which provides enough voltage and watts over a unified connector. The more I use USB C, the better I like it.

I found a USB C breakout board on Amazon (link) that allows us to connect an older Raspberry Pi to USB C.

The image above shows what I am talking about.  The breakout board has a VBUS and GND connection, but more importantly, it has two pull-down resistors. Those resistors tell the power supply to supply 5 volts at 1.5 amps. You may even configure it to supply three amps. I found that the configuration out of the box is enough to power a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ and the Raspberry Pi Offical touch screen.

I use a 24ga silicone insulated wire (link) to connect the breakout board to the Pi. You connect the VBUS (+) to pin 4 (second from the upper left) and GND to pin 6 (third from upper left).  That is all there is to it. Be very careful and connect the power to the correct pins. You will let the magic smoke out if you connect it wrong. Ask me how I know.

Note: the numbers above are the GPO numbers.