For being such a revolutionary device, there are still a few
problems with the Raspberry Pi. For one, the USB host ports are
only able to source 140 mA per port, while the USB ports on your
desktop, laptop, and even tablet are able to send a full 500 mA
per port. The official ‘fix’ for this problem is to use a
powered USB port for any device that requires more than 140 mA,
something that didn’t sit well with [Manis]. He came up with an
easy fix , though, that only requires a few bits of wire and a
soldering iron. The USB ports on the Raspi are current limited
to 140 mA by a pair of polyfuses. [Manis] bridged these fuses,
effectively taking them out of the circuit with a short length
of wire. This allowed him to use a USB hard drive (powered by
USB, of course) with the Raspi. There’s one small problem with
sending that much current through the Raspi’s USB port.
Sometimes, when the high-power USB device is powered on, the
voltage will sag, resetting the SoC and rebooting the system.
[Manis] did his homework and