OLIMEX© 2015
A13-SOM user's manual
Sometimes when starting Android it is possible the board to enter battery save mode even before
booting fully. Especially, if you have turned off the board without quick boot mode enabled. In this
case you should press the PWR button for at least 5 seconds which would allow the board to start.
2.3.2 Mounted powering
Typically, A13-SOM gets evaluated when mounted connected with A13-SOM-WIFI. In this case
the former is powered via the latter. The power line, altogether with a number of other important
processor lines, is transferred via the 10-pin and 40-pin headers. A13-SOM receives power from
A13-SOM-WIFI, but what are the requirements to power A13-SOM-WIFI?
There are two main scenarios for the powering A13-SOM-WIFI (and respectively A13-SOM):
1) a miniUSB cable connected to either a personal computer or a 5V power source; A13-SOM-
WIFI has miniUSB connector – note that USB ports of personal computers usually provide up to
0.5A of current – this might be insufficient in certain cases. For example, if you have a lot of
peripherals or a display powered by the board.
2) +5V directly provided to GPIO row of pinholes (the pinholes are 5V and GND – near the
PWR_LED and the USB_OTG); these pins can be used to connect a power jack
Some typical consumptions are listed below:
- A13-SOM-512 + A13-SOM-WIFI-4GB running Debian – consumption: 0.45A @ 5V
- A13-SOM-512 + A13-SOM-WIFI-4GB + A13-LCD7-TS running Debian – consumption: 0.75A
@ 5V
- A13-SOM-512 + A13-SOM-WIFI-4GB + A13-LCD7-TS running Android – consumption: 0.40A
@ 5V
Do not provide AC voltage to the A13-SOM-WIFI board! Do not provide more than 5V of voltage
to the A13-SOM-WIFI board!
The default username/password combination for the default Linux image on the SD card (if
purchased) is: root/olimex.
Note that it is normal that when the board is powered some integrated circuits might appear hotter
than others. This is perfectly normal for some electronic components (for instance – the voltage
regulators and the main processor).
2.4 Button functions
The two buttons usually are supported under both Android and Debian:
RESET
– used to perform software turn off, software turn on; used to turn on board when powered
by battery – has to be held down for at least 5 seconds to perform each action
UBOOT/HOME
– used to boot up the board, can be used for navigation in Android
Note that: the board lacks recovery button! This is not a problem if you are using Debian Linux.
However, it would make it impossible to wake the board in Android. You would need to disable
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