Project- Joining two power supplies

ivr

Hi, I am a student looking for help on a project that involves basic electrical knowledge. If anyone is able to contribute their ideas, I would greeeatly appreciate them.
The project is about creating a system that would work with a refrigerator. The system would be composed mainly of the 'pandaboard' (a microcontroller development board).
The main electrical issue we have, is that the pandaboard comes with its own power supply connection to an outlet. We would like to join this somehow to the refrigerator's power cord in order to have one cable power both the board and the refrigerator.
We don't know much about electrical stuff, but we are hoping someone can help us figure this out.
Thanks in advance

michaelcherr

How about something as simple as plugging both devices into a power strip?
then their power would be controlled together

McSteve

I assume you're talking about some kind of wall-wart type power supply, right?

You can probably obtain a 5V power supply module (assuming the pandaboard takes 5V) which has terminals to connect the incoming 120V power to. Then you would merely need to tap into the power wires inside the fridge, and connect to the input of your power supply. Bonus points for adding an inline fuse of about .5 to 1 amp.

Usual electrical safety rules apply; make sure your method of tapping into power is safe, and won't come loose or short out.

All this assumes that this is a one-off student project, not intended for permanent use.

If you're not comfortable dealing with 120V power, I'd get more experienced assistance, or stick with the power strip idea. 120V can kill.

a7ecorsair

So, the pandaboard has a power supply that connects to wall power and of course the refrigerator also connects to wall power. If a power strip won't work for your project then you will have to better explain what you are attempting to do.