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Wearable Raspberry Pi – Some Adjustments

USB Hub
USB Hub

As the first USB hub I was using was certainly not stable – it would not enumerate between boots & to get it working again would require waiting around 12 hours before applying power, it has been replaced. This is a cheapie eBay USB hub, of the type shown below.

These hubs are fantastic for hobbyists, as the connections for power & data are broken out on the internal PCB into a very convenient row of pads, perfect for integration into many projects.

Breakout Hub
Breakout Hub

I now have two internal spare USB ports, for the inbuilt keyboard/mouse receiver & the GPS receiver I plan to integrate into the build.

These hubs are also made in 7-port versions, however I am not sure if these have the same kind of breakout board internally. As they have the same cable layout, I would assume so.

 

Connector Panel
Connector Panel

Here is a closeup of the back of the connectors, showing a couple of additions.

I have added a pair of 470µF capacitors across the power rails, to further smooth out the ripple in the switching power supply, as I was having noise issues on the display.

Also, there is a new reset button added between the main interface connectors, which will be wired into the pair of pads that the Raspberry Pi has to reset the CPU.
This can be used as a power switch in the event the Pi is powered down when not in use & also to reset the unit if it becomes unresponsive.

 

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Wearable Raspberry Pi Part 2.5 – Battery Pack PCM

Battery PCM
Battery PCM

The final part for the battery pack has finally arrived, the PCM boards. These modules protect the cells by cutting off the power at overcharge, undercharge & overcurrent. Each cell is connected individually on the right, 12v power appears on the left connections. These modules also ensure that all the cells in the pack are balanced.

 

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Wearable Raspberry Pi SMPS Modifications

SMPS Mods
SMPS Mods

A few modifications were required to the SMPS modules to make the power rails stable enough to run the Pi & it’s monitor. Without these the rails were so noisy that instability was being caused.

I have replaced the 100µF output capacitors & replaced them with 35v 4700µF caps. This provides a much lower output ripple.

There are also heatsinks attached to the converter ICs to help spread the heat.

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Wearable Raspberry Pi Part 2 – Power Supply

All Fitted
All Fitted

Progress is finally starting on the power supply unit for the Pi, fitted into the same case style as the Pi itself, this is an 8Ah Li-Poly battery pack with built in voltage regulation.

Regulator Boards
Regulator Boards

Here are the regulators, fixed to the top of the enclosure. These provide the 12v & 5v power rails for the Pi unit, at a max 3A per rail.

Battery Pack
Battery Pack

In the main body of the case the battery pack is fitted. This is made up of 4 3-cell Li-Poly RC battery packs, rated at 2Ah each. All wired in parallel this will provide a total of 8Ah at 12.6v when fully charged.

Powered Up
Powered Up

Here the regulators are powered up from a 13v supply for testing. I have discovered at full load these modules have very bad ripple, so I will be adding extra smoothing capacitors to the power rails to compensate for this.

I/O
I/O

Here are the connectors on the top of the unit, outputting the two power rails to the Pi & the DC barrel jack that will be used to charge the pack.

 

 

 

 

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1.5W 445nm Lab Laser

Assembled
Assembled

Here is a followup from the 1.5W laser module post.

The module has been fitted into a housing, with a 2.2Ah Li-Poly battery pack. Charging is accomplished with an external 12.6v DC power supply.

Above can be seen the pair of switches on the top, the keyswitch must be enabled for the laser to fire.

Armed
Armed

When armed, the ring around the push button illuminates blue, as a warning that the unit is armed.

Switch Wiring
Switch Wiring

Inside the unit. The Li-Poly battery pack is at the bottom, with it’s protection & charging circuitry on the top. The switches are wired in series, with the LED connected to illuminate when the keyswitch is turned to the ON position.

Laser Driver
Laser Driver

The push button applies power to the laser driver module, which regulates the input power to safely drive the semiconductor laser in the aluminium heatsink housing.