Raspberry Pi Power Management Board

[PeCook]

Hallo community,

we have developed power management accessory board for Raspberry Pi. Maybe you will find this little piece of hardware useful. For detailed info please see http://igg.me/at/rpi-atx-ps if you are interested.

BR

Pete

[pepedog]

Looks nice

[photomankc]

You guys beat me to it! I have been working on something similar but with voltage detection and high current switching ability. The form factor you did is pretty slick.

[PeCook]

Thank you! Its always good to have smallest footprint as possible to leave room for other stuff. Aim was to integrate this board with available PRi plastic cases. Maybe you can help me to spread the word around.

[crashmaster]

Nice work but in my opinion price is too high to get lots of customers.

[PeCook]

Higher price is always problem when you don't do >1000 pcs quantity. If there will be demand, price will go drastically down. But that is another story ...

[crashmaster]

I agree.

I would try to add some not too pricy features but keep the pcb handy, like gpio stuff (f.e. uln2003 as amplifier), a 3.3 to 5v step up converter (for i2c, spi) and/or a new general power supply (drop down like MPC series) with current up to 3A, input voltage up to 20V and efficiency of around 95%. I think people would honor that better. But i know it's easier said than done

Good luck!

[PeCook]

This hw is only for proper OF/OFF of RPi. It should be used in systems without monitor, where correct shutdown is difficult.
Regarding I/O expansion. I have already developed and tested board featuring 8xDI isolated, 8xDO / 500mA, 2xAI, 2xAO, RS232/485 communication, DC/DC 12...24V/5V 2A. See picture. I am using it as snap in board for my home automation projects... Second one ix 16xDO, 4xDI isolated, RS232/485 communication, DC/DC 12...24V/5V 2A mostly for controlling of equipment... See picture. Some additional boards have real time too...

[kmihelich]

I'm really starting to wonder, with the explosion of add-on boards to enable extra functionality for the Pi, at what point does the total cost of the Pi, required accessories, and these add-on boards get so far beyond the cost of using a cheaper platform that has all these features already integrated, that the cost of implementing a solution with a Pi is economically, if not technologically, unsound?

I completely see the capitalistic motives for profiting off of the ever-growing user base, and I don't fault people for exploiting what has proven to be ripe for exploitation; however, there has to be a line drawn in the sand at some point where the platform is simply an endless money pit with the increasing number of third-party hardware implements required for advanced projects. Is the continued providing of add-ons simply a way to further lock people into the platform by spending more and more money to make it better, thus decreasing the desire to switch platforms due to the capital investment already made for this one? At what point do we say, look, you got your feet wet and saw what is available, now instead of spending more money on extras to go further, spend less to switch to something that has everything you want to begin with.

This isn't specifically targeted at you, PeCook, but rather at the larger ecosystem that is forming to perpetuate this idea that you need to buy more to do more as opposed to buy something else to do more, for less. I think these are serious questions to be thought about, if for nothing else than to expose alternative platforms and escape the tunnel vision; to really find the right tool for the right job.

[PeCook]

Yeees, agree to that, fully. RPi was meant as cheap computer for basic stuff and not for rather sophisticated things... And it always will be... People started to do crazy stuff with that and therefore add on boards comes up. I did few different for my personal use, to test the stuff and get more out of this Linux hardware for cheap projects. Quad core Rockchip or Allwinner based computers from China are much more powerful and I prefer those. RPi got very strong community and support, and if somebody wants to spent money for RPi add-in periphery, why not. Just give them this chance.... All is driven by demand

Pete