RpiZero Power Supply through 40 pin Power/GPIO Header or microUSB connector

Question

As the title states I want to power my pi-zero with an adafruit powerboost 1000. I have looked into ways to do this and it seems there are 2 possibilities:

• Use the USB output of the powerboost to power the pi-zero through it's intended usb port. However this takes up some space.

• Use the expansion header of the pi-zero, specifically the 5v and the ground pins. This seems to be more compact.

I'd prefer option 2, but I also read that the usb option is safer since it has a fuse to protect the pi. However I think that doesn't apply to the pi-zero right?

So my question to you is am I correct that these 2 options are possible and are there some other up/downsides to either that I missed?

Answer 1

Question

USB option is safer since it has a fuse to protect the pi. However I think that doesn't apply to the pi-zero right?

Answer

Yes, RpiZero does not have poly fuse protection. So I added poly fuse and also slow blow fuse myself.

I prefer to apply power at the micro USB connector, because it is easy to do maintenance work like measuring voltage levels, modifying PSU with UPS etc. Applying power to the 40 pin Power/GPIO DuPont male plug is bit risky, because careless shorting 5V, 3V3 power pins to ground or GPIO pins might damage something.

References

Rpi PSU by pass capacitors to reduce noise problems

Clean Power for Every IC, Part 1: Understanding Bypass Capacitors - Robert Keim, AAC 2015sep21

Clean Power for Every IC, Part 2: Choosing and Using Your Bypass Capacitors - Robert Keim. AAC 2015sep27

Viability of using a USB power bank as a UPS?