Raspberry Pi Power Supply

One of the things I love about the Raspberry Pi are the community projects that have grown up around it and a new one is an intelligent power supply Kickstarter project. The Pi Supply is simple power supply that takes the power from a standard micro-usb charger and adds a bit of intelligence. When you shut down the Pi using the SUDO HALT the power supply will detect the shutdown and cut the power when its safe to do so, you can then press a button the power supply to switch it back on so there is no more plugging and unplugging micro-usb port.

The Pi Supply is a self-solder kit and looks pretty simple to put together. The Kickstarter project goal is £750 and so far £3600 has been raised showing the interest for the solution. Power supply issues are the biggest causes of SD card corruption issues so this could be very handy.

5% of the profits goes to the brilliant MagPi Magazine and also 5% is going to the Raspberry Pi foundation so £15 for the starter kit seems a very good buy.

More details on the Kickstarter page and thanks to @shawaj2 for the tip

 

 

WHAT IS IT?

The Pi Supply is the solution to all of your Raspberry Pi power management problems. It is an “intelligent”, ATX style power supply switch for the revolutionary Raspberry Pi computer. It allows you to leave all of the power wires from the “wall wart” all the way through to the Pi permanently connected with just the quick push of a switch to turn the power on or off. Simple!

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Once you have finished using your Raspberry Pi, you just shutdown using the sudo halt command, and then a couple of minutes after the full and safe shutdown the Pi Supply cuts the power to the computer. From this point, once again, all you would need to do to restore power to the Pi is touch the on button.

There is also a hard power off button for use in emergencies which immediately cuts the power to your Raspberry Pi. Remember to only use this button when absolutely necessary (e.g. Pi has been frozen for a long time) as it risks corruption of the files on your SD card if done at the wrong moment.

What makes Pi Supply superior to other makeshift solutions available is that it allows you to restart the Raspberry Pi using the sudo reboot command without the power turning itself off. Perfect!

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