Kickstarter Update – USB PowerControl Video Demo

March 10, 2015 Products, Projects, Raspberry Pi, SunAirPlus, SwitchDoc Products
SunAir Power Controller Manufacturing Prototype

Kickstarter Update – USB PowerControl Video Demo

USB PowerControl Manufacturing Prototype
USB PowerControl Manufacturing Prototype

Our new kickstarter is “Really Useful Breakout Boards for Raspberry Pi/Arduino” and is here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sunair/really-useful-breakout-boards-for-raspberry-pi-ard.  After 3 days, we are at 52% of funding.  We are loving the comments that folks are making and their excellent suggestions.

USB PowerControl

USB PowerControl Block Diagram
USB PowerControl Block Diagram

The USB PowerControl board is designed to provide a controllable USB Switch for computers and other USB devices.  The board switches power on and off to a USB plug.  You can connect anything to the USB out connector and control it.

Our test system below consisted of a SunAirPlus Solar Power Controller board driving a USB PowerControl board connected to a Raspberry Pi B+.  We connected the control pin on the USB PowerControl to a variable power supply.  First we ran the power supply up to 3.9V and it turned on as promised.  The Raspberry Pi B+ booted correctly and started running supplied by power from the SunAirPlus board.  We then shutdown the Raspberry Pi B+ (sudo halt) as it is never good to just remove the power while the Pi is still running.  It leads to SD card corruption which is never fun.

USB PowerControl / SunAirPlus / Pi B+ Test Setup
USB PowerControl / SunAirPlus / Pi B+ Test Setup

We then move the power down from 3.9V to about 3.5V and it shuts the Pi off as predicted. This could be connected to a LiPo battery in a Solar Power System.  There is hysteresis built into USB PowerControl (ON at 3.9V / OFF at ~3.5V) to make sure you aren’t just ping ponging on and off (that is what seems to have killed Project Curacao last November).

You could also be controlling the USB PowerControl from another computer (such as an Arduino) or just to a mechanical switch that is connected to 5V.  The possibilities are endless.

We were asked to show a demo of the USB PowerControl Board working.  Following is a video showing the USB Power Control Board hooked up to a Raspberry Pi B+.


You can get these boards at a substantial discount (50%!) on the Kickstarter.