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Update camera documentation to include USB power requirements #920
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[-]Update USB documentation to include power requirements[/-][+]Update camera documentation to include USB power requirements[/+]on Jul 14, 2026 +1, and here is some data from our side in case it helps whoever writes this up.
HERO13 Black, no battery,
*WAKE=2*TUSB=1, inside a fixed timelapse rig where a Raspberry Pi 5 needs power + data to the camera on the same USB-C, so the power has to go through an intermediary board.The official Raspberry Pi 27W PD supply plugged straight into the camera auto-boots it fine. A Coolgear CG-UCUSBPDB PD injector (65W, power + USB data) only gave a red LED for ~1 s and no boot. A generic USB-C breakout + HW-773 PD trigger board did exactly the same. Both of those DO boot the camera when the battery is inserted.
So it wasn't raw power (the 65W path failed, the 27W one worked). @dnewman-gpsw confirmed on gopro/labs that the HERO13 looks at the USB data lines to estimate how much current the port can deliver before deciding to boot without a battery, and those boards were being read as ~500 mA. An experimental Labs build (v2.10.72) fixed it for us, both setups now boot fine without battery. The latest public Labs firmware at the time (2.10.70) did not. Full thread: gopro/labs#1801.
So yes, documenting this per model/firmware would save people a lot of time. For HERO13 it's clearly not just "2A is enough", it depends on how the source presents itself on the data lines.
PS, to avoid confusion: you don't need the Coolgear for this. We ended up not using it at all. The camera runs from the cheap USB-C breakout + HW-773 PD trigger board, and that's enough once the camera has the fixed firmware.
Cameras up to and including the Hero12 seem to require only legacy Apple 2A power in order to boot without a battery. The Hero13 and newer appear to have different requirements.
It would be extremely useful to developers of USB-enabled GoPro solutions if the exact USB power supply requirements were listed for each camera model in the OpenGopro documentation, for example Apple, BC 1.2, PD. This information could be listed next to each camera model and firmware revision under the 'Compatibility' heading on the main OpenGopro documentation page.