Power Shield for Astroberry

Dear all,

let introduce you my latest development, a power shield for Astroberry (Raspberry).
This board has the following HW features:

• One power input
• Integrated 3A 5V power supply for RPi
• 4 switchable (ON/OFF) (not regulated) power outputs
• 2 switchable (ON/OFF) or PWM controlled power outputs for dew heaters
• Each output has LED feedback
• Each output are protected with 4A fuse
• All fuses have separate sense pin to detect if a fuse burned
• Integrated GPS module with integrated antenna (but there is the possibility to connect external antenna as well)
• Integrated BME280 sensor to measure temperature/humidity/pressure
• Input voltage level measurement (max 20V)
• Total output current measurement (max 16A, allowed 15A)
• Cooling fan for RPi processor (selectable 3,3V or 5V fan power supply)
• 3,5mm jack connector with selectable one wire or I2C interface to connect external sensor or extension board
• Box size: 105x125x35mm (WxDxH)

I have already tested every feature of the board and they working correctly.
One thing is open, to load the board with 15A and check how the temperature spread over the board, the next weeks I will perform the measurement.

But I have a big problem, I am an HW developer, I can write some easy SW, like I wrote some scripts to test the different features of the board but I fill myself no so confident to write an Indi library with that high quality how you do it guys.
So if someone is interested in this board I am looking for somebody who could make an Indi implementation. Of course, I can provide HW for SW development.

And finally some pictures about it:

I very recently did something very similar. Except mine lacks the GPS and temperature/humidity sensor and instead has a Robofocus compatible stepper driver to control my moonlight.

I did mine on protoboard so yours looks way, way better. I'm embarrassed to show the internals of mine because it is a mass of wires, because protoboard.

I have 4 switched outlets and 2 pwm also.




I had a huge amount of fun building it, and it has really cut down the amount of time it takes to set up and tear down.

J.

That was also my main intention to set up the equipment much faster and do better cable management.
I will upload the design to a repository and if you want you can have your own build.

This looks fantastic, is the only option to build one ourselves according to your plans, or can this be developed into a purchasable product?

gilesco wrote: This looks fantastic, is the only option to build one ourselves according to your plans, or can this be developed into a purchasable product?

I created a repository for that project: github.com/tikiss/PowerShield
So everybody can build their own, but I am planning to order machine populated boards if there are interests.

Depending on price I'm interested in a machine populated board.

Where did you get the front and rear plates punched?

Thanks

J.

nebulasaurus wrote: Depending on price I'm interested in a machine populated board.

Where did you get the front and rear plates punched?

Thanks

J.

I have to request an offer from a company that can produce the raw PCB and can also populate it.
I am on that topic, maybe next week I can answer the question more precise.

The front and back plates are also PCBs, so it is drilled and milled, gerber files are also uploaded in GitHub, it can be ordered from any PCB manufacturer.

tikiss wrote: The front and back plates are also PCBs, so it is drilled and milled, gerber files are also uploaded in GitHub, it can be ordered from any PCB manufacturer.

Clever! I would not have thought of doing that!

nebulasaurus wrote: Depending on price I'm interested in a machine populated board.

Where did you get the front and rear plates punched?

Thanks

J.

I think I would certainly be interested, I have no idea how to use the files on the github repo to order the boards, and would that still mean I would have to source all the components and solder them on myself, or is that the service a PCB supplier would do?

If it could be supplied as a kit to assemble, with no soldering required, then I would suppose we need to find out how much interest there is, as I'm sure ordering a number of prototypes instead of one at a time would work out cheaper with the economy of scale.

Incidentally - I attach an external USB3 SSD to my Astroberry, if there was anyway to somehow accomodate that in the enclosure as well - even if it is a hole to loop a short USB cable round... This is the SSD : www.scan.co.uk/products/500gb-samsung-t7...e-c-bus-powered-blue

I think I would certainly be interested, I have no idea how to use the files on the github repo to order the boards, and would that still mean I would have to source all the components and solder them on myself, or is that the service a PCB supplier would do?

On Github, every file are available to modify the design and create your own variant. Or you can use the generated Gerber files, with these files you can order the PCB from any PCB manufacturer. Yes, also you have to take care of the order and solder every component.

If it could be supplied as a kit to assemble, with no soldering required, then I would suppose we need to find out how much interest there is, as I'm sure ordering a number of prototypes instead of one at a time would work out cheaper with the economy of scale.

I am working on to get price offer from manufacturers who can completely populate the board, I will post here how much would such a board cost.

Incidentally - I attach an external USB3 SSD to my Astroberry, if there was anyway to somehow accomodate that in the enclosure as well - even if it is a hole to loop a short USB cable round... This is the SSD : www.scan.co.uk/products/500gb-samsung-t7...e-c-bus-powered-blue

That is not a bad idea, but currently, there is no space in the housing, a new housing concept would be needed, this SSD has no fixing screws that would make the fixing a little bit difficult. I can also imagine that the front- and backplate design should be changed as well in case of a new housing concept.

Well, any SATA drive would do, I happen to use the Samsung one, because it fits in my current design of a wooden box with the Pi4, USB Disk, USB Hub etc...

You can use any Internal SSD disk coupled with a cable like this one: