You need to get all the power out of your Jetson Nano Developer Kit. Looky here:
Background
There are three ways to get power in to the NVIDIA Jetson Nano Developer Kit. The simplest is to supply 2 Amps at 5 Volt to the micro-USB connector. The hardest is to supply power through the GPIO Header. The GPIO Header has two 5V pins, each can accept up to 3 Amps. This gives 6 Amps total.
We cover the third possibility here. Supply 4 Amps at 5 Volts through the Barrel Jack connector. That’s what the cool kids do, you should too!
Why not Micro USB
There are times when you’ll may want to run your Jetson Nano through micro-USB. It’s pretty convenient; all you need is a cable and phone charger wall wart that you have laying around (make sure it’s 2 Amp). But here’s the thing …
The Jetson Nano module runs in 10 Watt mode by default. Quick math tells us that is 2A @ 5V. Sounds like everything’s good, right? Nope. That’s only for the Nano module, not the full board and attached peripherals. By the time you add on a keyboard, mouse, cameras and all the good stuffs, you’re over that. The Nano doesn’t like that so it turns itself off, similar to a circuit breaker when you draw too much current in your house.
Note: When running from the micro-USB connector, you should probably be running in 5W mode. See the ‘Notes’ section below on how to do that if you must.
What to Do?
Use the Barrel Jack Connector! You can supply 4A @ 5V, which should be plenty for most projects.
Installation
You will need two things. First, a power supply. In the video, we use a Adafruit 4A @ 5V power supply. The connector on the power supply is 5.5mm outer diameter (OD) x 2.1 mm inner diameter (ID) x 9.5mm length. This can be pretty easily confused with a 5.5mm OD x 2.5 mm ID, so make sure you get the right one.
You will also need a jumper pin. These are the standard 2.54mm hobbyist style. Also, you will also need an extra jumper pin if you plan to flash the Nano with NVIDIA SDK Manager, so at least get a couple. In the video, we use a bag of color jumpers. You may be able to get along with a bunch of black ones if you are soul less. SparkFun sells onesies if you just want to buy a couple.
You need to place one of the jumpers on J48. J48 is located between the Barrel Jack connector and the Camera connector. This jumper tells the Nano to use the Barrel Jack instead of the micro-USB port. Then plug the power supply into the Barrel Jack, and the Nano boots. No fuss, no muss.
Pro Tip
In the video, we label the power supply transformer, and add color electrical tape to the barrel jack to distinguish them from other, similar devices. You’ll find this is pretty common when you get out to places where people make their living do such things.
The reason people do this is that even though all the transformers and power supplies look similar (in fact the jacks can be the same size), the transformers may supply different voltages. For example, both the Jetson Nano and the Jetson TX2 share the same connector size, but the Jetson TX2 uses 19 volts, and the Nano uses only 5 volts. If you plug the TX2 power supply into the Nano, all the magic smoke will leave and you will be sad. And people ask why I have a fire extinguisher in the videos!
Notes
The Jetson has two power profiles, called modes. Mode 0 is 10W, Mode 1 is 5W. To set the mode to 5 Watt mode:
$ sudo nvpmodel -m 1
To set it back to 10 Watt mode:
$ sudo nvpmodel -m 0
The default image on the Jetson Nano is in 10 Watt mode. There’s another utility name jetson_clocks with which you may want to come familiar. Here’s a video which explains power management, modes and jetson_clocks in slightly more detail. Looky here:
85 Responses
Hi there. Here is kind of basic developer from South Korea.
Is there same process to install Realsense SDK with Nano module?
I already show to install realsense article for TX2.
I just on show you already use with nano & T265
best regard
thanks
jun goo lee
I am working on the libraries, they are not ready to be released yet. Thanks for reading!
Thanks for great video and article.
Was just wondering if you connected a 5V/3A portable charger output to the barrel connector (with a suitable cable) would Jetson Nano be able to run on that? Could you set it to the 10W mode which should leave about 1A for peripherals?
That should work. Thanks for reading!
I want to power a the Jetson nano (provide it max power) using a LIPO battery (say 2S, i.e 7.4V, 20C 1800 mah means it has no problem in supplying a peak >> 20 W).
Are you aware of any off-the-shelf adapters ? If I am to make oneself, can you give me some pointers ? So should I plan to supply it via the barrel jack or the 2 X 3A pins ? Will it consume 30 W if I supply 5v 3A via the two pins ?
I think there are several things to take into consideration, and you should have a broader discussion in the Jetson Nano community about this. Please ask this question on the official NVIDIA Jetson forum where a large number of developers and NVIDIA engineers share their experience. The forum is here: https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/board/371/jetson-nano/
I am researching for a project with the nano; thank you for your informative video. In using the J25 barrel jack, what is the polarity? Is ground to attach to the inner pin, or does it attach to the outer barrel?
Center pin positive. Thanks for reading!
Thank you for the article. Just wondering if I could connect (5V/3A charger) or (5v/2.5A Charger) to microUSB port? Will it cause any problem to Jetson Nano? Or should I not use these chargers that I have and buy a Barrel Jack 5v/4A Charger to draw those extra watts for my project?
The microUSB chargers you list should work. The Nano will only draw was much current as it uses. The amount that it can use is limited to 2A if you only use the microUSB power input. If you want to use more power, you will need to use the barrel jack, the GPIO pins or the POE ports. Thanks for reading!
I am using a 5V-2.5A USB power Supply from Raspberry pi.And i have only connected monitor to it and but the display seems to be not working.The green LED of JETSON NNano is ON (Does that mean Nano has booted).But monitor is not displaying due to extra power consumption.
So do i need to buy 5V-4A power supply?
Can you please suggest your thoughts here.
There could be a wide variety of issues here. You do not say what type of monitor you are using. Please ask this question on the official NVIDIA Jetson forum where a large number of developers and NVIDIA engineers share their experience. The forum is here: https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/board/371/jetson-nano/
I am using TELEFUNKEN D32F286X3C LED TV with power ratings 220-240V 50 hz 65W.
You need to use a display that is compatible with the Jetson Nano. The Jetson Nano supports HDMI and DP monitors. A HDMI to DVI converter most likely will not work.
That’s correct. The NVIDEA specs state that an HDMI to DVI adapter is NOT supported.
Just wondering, if power mode 0 is 10W, why do we need a 4×5=20W power supply? Is 10W just the Jetson module power consumption, and we need to supply more (hence the 10W extra up to 20W) in order to bear with peripherals (like USB keyboard, mouse, HDMI,…)?? Just wondering. Thanks.
That’s correct. The 10W power envelope is for the module alone, with no peripherals. In some cases, the module can draw a little more than 10W. There’s the USB, as well as the M2.Key E slot, and all the other little power suckers as well. Thanks for reading!
I am using TELEFUNKEN D32F286X3C LED TV which is smart TV .it has ratings of 220-240V 50Hz 65W .
H
Yes this TV has HDMI ports .I am using the same with raspberry pi .
I will buy 5V-4A power supply and try once.
Thank you
i have a 5v 4a barrel jack power supply, but still see random power downs…
the heat sink is extremely warm to the touch…
I have not experienced this issue, it could be thermal shutdown. Please ask this question on the official NVIDIA Jetson forum where a large number of developers and NVIDIA engineers share their experience. The forum is here: https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/board/371/jetson-nano/
I probably missed this in your literature, but what is Nvidia Jetson Nano identifying faces by Principal Component Analysis (PCA)?
(Alright, in plain English) How is Nvidia Jetson identifying faces?
No PCA, it just uses the OpenCV Haar Cascade Classifier. Here’s the code. Here’s the article on how it is installed. Thanks for reading!
Hey, I’m just a country boy from Boston, and you’re throwing all these unfamiliar terms at me. I’ll check out the OpenCV Haar Cascade Classifier. This past week, I’ve been reading with great interest about a deep CNN visual identification system finding features that just aren’t there.
I am going to power a cluster of 5 Nano boards. What kind of power supply would I need to do that? Does it need to be exactly a 5V 4A power supply with roughly 100 watts or so? Or can it be higher say 12V 10A and the voltage regulator on the board will only draw what it needs in 10 Watt mode?
Not sure what you are asking. The Jetson Nano requires 5V to operate. If you use 12V you run the risk of damaging the unit (though more than likely you will trigger the over voltage protection circuit and the device will not power on). You will need to provide each unit with the 5V@4A. An integrated solution is beyond what I can explain here. Please ask this question on the official NVIDIA Jetson forum where a large number of developers and NVIDIA engineers share their experience. The forum is here: https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/board/371/jetson-nano/
Can I use 6.6V 5A adapter for jetson nano as power supply?
The Jetson Nano requires 5V to operate. If you use 6.6V you run the risk of damaging the unit (though more than likely you will trigger the over voltage protection circuit and the device will not power on).
How about edp panels.
I would like to connect 21 inch edp panel. They can be power hungry, also some panel types require different voltage for backlight.
In short what I should look into to be sure that edp panel will work with Jetson?
Please ask this question on the official NVIDIA Jetson forum where a large number of developers and NVIDIA engineers share their experience. The forum is here: https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/board/371/jetson-nano/
Great article! Just one note: on my version of Jetpack 4.2, the syntax is ‘$ sudo nvpmodel -m 0’ to get into the high power mode. To see the other options, just type ‘$ nvpmodel’
Thank you for the kind words and the tip. Also, thanks for reading!
Always great info on your blog.
I’ve been trying to find out some specs for the recommended adafruit 5v 4a switching power supply, e.g what the approximate “~” symbol in the only spec I could find on it translates to for the nano’s tolerance. Have you by chance measured the output of that adafruit supply?
Thanks.
Tolerance in what respect?
The tolerance of the 5v DC voltage input on the jack.
nice video,I working on project in wich i using jetson nano and zed camera I have two problems i hope you can help me . The first one that i used micro _usb (5v,2.5A) but when i inserting the camera to jetson the jeson shutting dowen.
Not sure how to help. The article tells you that there is not enough power on a micro usb connector to drive both the Jetson and another power hungry peripheral like a ZED camera. You could use a powered USB 3.0 hub to power the ZED. Good luck on your project.
Thank you
what about the GPIO pins can it drive both the jetson and ZED camera ?
thank you at all
Hi!
I was just wondering if it’s possible to power the nano by the third method, which is supplying 5V 6A to the 2 GPIO pins, but instead of 3A to each pin, supplying 2.5A to each pin or 3A to one and 2A to other pin, and in total a power supply of 5V 5A through GPIO pins, will it work?
also, as shown in the video, we need to connect jumper pins at J48 while powering through barrel jack connector so that the nano takes power input from barrel connector and not from the default micro USB slot, so do we have to make any such connection while powering through GPIO pins?
I believe that you can, though I have not tired it. The power is direct to the bus, so you shouldn’t need the jumper. Thanks for reading!
For those who are suffering the power shut off when using DC power and mode 0: use a better power supply, or use the multimeter to measure the voltage delivered to Nano’s DC power jack, if it lower than a certain value, this may cause the power off . My observation is when it’s below 4.85V, Nano will turn itself off. But only in the mode0, the maximum power mode. I hope this can be helpful to others.
I need to correct what I said here. I tried another 5V3A power supply, the actual voltage delivered to the nano could be lower than 4.75V, but everything’s fine. Seems like the issue is related to the bad power supply.
Thank you for the update! One of the issues appears to be that there is quite a wide range of voltages and current delivered from what is advertised on the power supplies. There’s some tolerance built in to the Nano, but once you get outside a reasonable range things get a little dicey. As you note, it doesn’t fail gracefully.
my nano shuts off when I do higher power applications such as things with opencv despite being attached to a 3a power supply through the barrel jack. the cable is 24awg so maybe that’s why. anyway, I have attached a wireless keyboard receiver, a small 5v fan, an hdmi cable and an ethernet cable. I have a power bank that is capable of supply 2.4 amps per usb port, of which it has two. If i put them both on the GPIO pins should it be enough? I would like to have one 5v pin free for the fan so maybe i can solder on a new header
If you are keeping it plugged in, the barrel jack can take 4A. Replacing your current power supply with a larger one may help solve the issue. If you are going to use the power bank, the GPIO pins can accept up to 3A each. You may want to ask on the official NVIDIA Nano forums for more advice. The forum is here: https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/board/371/jetson-nano/
Thanks for reading!
Hi, I am trying out the Jetson Nano on my car for on-the-spot object detection. I have a barrel-jack-USB connector plugged in to a high-power USB car charger(can do 4A), when the GPU activates, the Nano dies out. Surprisingly, a short micro-USB charger connection works fine, and I see that during the inferencing, it reaches around 2.5A. I would still want to pump the power via barrel jack, but cannot find any on the internet.
Do you have any recommendation on this? AC-DC inverter is not an option (I have the DC-barrel jack AC supply but don’t I don’t want to use an a AC-DC inverter on my car- it further complicates my wiring).
It is unlikely that your USB car charger actually delivers 4A. Typically USB delivers only 2-3A. You should investigate using a buck converter (DC to DC) for converting to 5V. Good luck on your project, and thanks for reading!
I need to use the jetson nano as a switch and am wondering if the GPIO pins can handle 12V and 1.5A. I am hoping it can but if it can’t is there a way around this.
No, they can’t. The GPIO pins are 3.3V. Typically you would use some sort of relay with that voltage and 1.5A using a single board computer or microcontroller. If you are seeking more information, please ask this question on the official NVIDIA Jetson forum where a large number of developers and NVIDIA engineers share their experience. The forum is here: https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/board/371/jetson-nano/
I applied 5V to micro usb with J48 short. Now my nvidia nano does not display any thing. Before it was running fine with 5V 2A adopter. How to fix the issue. Nvidia nano powers on but does not display any thing
Please ask this question on the official NVIDIA Jetson forum where a large number of developers and NVIDIA engineers share their experience. The forum is here: https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/board/371/jetson-nano/
I am planning on using 5v 4A supply into the barrel jack. My question is what is the max amperage I can pull from the 5v gpio pins? I am hoping to pull upwards of 2 amps for a brief period. What is the limit to on the 5V gpio pins?
I seem to recall that it is 1A at each 5V pin. I suggest that you ask on the official NVIDIA Jetson Nano forum where a large group of NVIDIA engineers and Jetson developers share their experience. The forum is here: https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/board/371/jetson-nano/
Hi, I’m currently using a 5V 4A DC supply with a jumper. But recently I have encountered a strange problem. When I plug in the power supply, the voltage goes high for a second and then goes low again to nearly 0V. Powering up the machine with USB supply works fine, but with DC barrel jack doesn’t.
I do not have any experience with this issue. Please ask this question on the official NVIDIA Jetson forum where a large number of developers and NVIDIA engineers share their experience. The forum is here: https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/board/371/jetson-nano/
Thanks for reading!
Hello, @kangalow
Have any of you experienced any problems with booting when you unplug the dc jack from the jetson nano devkit carrier board and immediately plug the dc jack back in?
If so, does anyone know a solution?
Thank you.
Thank you, very helpful article. Just wanted to mention that some details may have changed. I recently ordered a Nano, and it came with a jumper pin for this purpose. Also, the J48 jumper location is (slightly) different now: https://imgur.com/a/MtLvocK
Thank you for the info, and thanks for reading!
Great article. Thanks.
I am unable to get a 5V 4A adapter. But I can get 5V 3A and 5V 5A.
Which one do you suggest ?
https://www.electronicscomp.com/power-supply/adapter/5v-3a-dc-power-adapter-india
https://www.electronicscomp.com/power-supply/adapter/5v-5a-dc-power-adapter-india
Does using the 5V 5A adapter mean that I can power more peripherals ?
I don’t recommend products I haven’t used. The description does not list the size of the connector. The board limits the power to usage of 4A through the barrel jack. 5A should be fine. 3A may not be enough in certain situations, depending on the peripherals attached. Please ask your question on the official NVIDIA Jetson Nano forum where a large group of developers and NVIDIA engineers share their experience: https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/c/agx-autonomous-machines/jetson-embedded-systems/jetson-nano/76
Is there a design guide for powering through the pins? I want to use the full 6 amps (just in case), do I need to manually restrict the power to 3 amps in each pin? Or can I just connect 5 volt to both of the pins? (and connect them to the same converter)
This question is probably better answered on the official NVIDIA Jetson Nano forum, where a large group of developers and NVIDIA engineers share their experience: https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/c/agx-autonomous-machines/jetson-embedded-systems/jetson-nano/76
Might it concern anyone, here is the reply from a forum moderator: https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/nano-devkit-power-supply-via-gpio/156488
Very helpful article! I have a 5V 4A barrel jack power supply but when I run a more demanding job on the Jetson Nano there is a warning about the system being throttled due to low input voltage. Does that mean I should try out another power supply or could there be another reason for that? The warning appears only when running this one specific job.
You are welcome. Have you set the nvpmodel to MAXN? Also, are you sure that the barrel jack is the right size for the Nano?
nvpmodel is set to MAXN, but the barrel jack has the wrong inner diameter of 2.5 mm. Thanks! So that’s probably the problem, right? I’m sorry I didn’t think of that myself after having read your article…
Hard to tell without trying it, but I would think that it is not helping your situation.
Thank you, with the new barrel jack everything seems to be working normally.
I bought mine in Dec 2020 and it already came with a jumper on J48 though it is the soulless black kind.
Get the paint out and make your jumper a stunner! Thanks for reading!
I guess that is power drop issue. So. I have solved this problem.
Jetson nano is need 5.5~5.65 voltage.
Hi, nice article- I didn’t understand what the extra jumper cap is for.
Where I have to put it? I flashed the nano with the standard image.
Thanks in advance.
I do not understand your question. As described and pictured in the article, as well as shown in the video, the jumper is for selecting between providing power from the USB port or the barrel jack on the Jetson Nano (4GB model). The jumper header is labelled J48, as shown in the video and pictured in this article.
Hi,
My question refers to this part of the post:
“you will also need an extra jumper pin if you plan to flash the Nano with NVIDIA SDK Manager, so at least get a couple.”
I’m wondering what does it mean.
The first version of the Jetson Nano (the A02 as shown in the video) did not ship with a jumper. However, the current version (B01) does. Therefore an “extra jumper” refers to the additional jumper people need if they want to use the barrel jack on the A02.
The A02 is the version that was shipping at the time the article was published.
Ok, now it’s clear, thanks.
I bought this kit
https://www.amazon.it/gp/aw/d/B081CN3VB1?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title
Unfortunately, it doesn’t include the jumper and the kind suggested in the artcle are currently unavailable.
Is this type ok:
https://www.amazon.it/200PCS-standard-Circuit-Shunts-jumper/dp/B07F2SV6Y3/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=jumper+caps&qid=1628264606&sr=8-3
That is a B01 Jetson Nano. Those jumpers should work fine.The J48 jumper is right behind the barrel jack.
Thanks a lot for your help and time.
When you say:
Note: When running from the micro-USB connector, you should probably be running in 5V mode. See the ‘Notes’ section below on how to do that if you must.
You probably mean:
… be running in 5W mode (not 5V mode, which all are).
Best.
Thanks for pointing this out, you are correct. I changed the article to reflect that. Maybe the new AI tools will implement “Do what I mean, not what I type”. Thank you for taking the time to catch this and comment, much appreciated!
Hi everyone, how to use power supply 5V-4A on my Jeson Nano IO-Base-A when my carrier board doesn’t have barrel jack j48 (I use adapter 5V-4A for J25).
Hard to tell without knowing which carrier board you have.
We have two Jetson Nano boards in our lab that we wish to use for our research project. We need to power both these boards at 20 watts each so we need the barrel jack. The micro USB is working for both the boards and they are turning on through micro USB but it’s obviously limited to 10 watts. The barrel jack used to work before and I used it that way for 4-5 months but it has since stopped working on both the boards. I was using a 5V 5A adapter to power them.
Help is appreciated, thank you.
You need to install the jumper for the barrel jack to work.