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I'm using a Raspberry Pi model B and need to power a USB cellular adapter from the GPIO 5V. I used pins 2 and 6 of the GPIO and connected it to pins 1 and 4 of a female USB jack after double checking the polarities of the connectors. I prefer the GPIO as opposed to the USB outputs because the adapter will be inside the raspberry pi box.

I checked the power on the female USB and it was 5.1V. But the USB cellular adapter is expensive and I don't want to blow it.

So is there any reason why I should avoid powering a USB device from GPIO? Is it in any way safer to use the USB outputs to power a USB device?

Al Piran
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What you are proposing should be OK. It actually depends more on what you are using to power the Pi itself. The Pi has no voltage regulation, so supplies the Power pins on the expansion header with whatever the PSU supplies. See Raspberry Pi Power Limitations

NOTE the Pi model B has a polyfuse which limits TOTAL current, including that used by the Pi itself, to ~1.1A. Most users find they need a powered hub for high current devices.

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