Description
The POWERplate24 is an industrial power management solution for your Pi-Plate stack which provides a number of must-have features for the Raspberry Pi including:
- Conversion of any high input voltage between 8 and 30VDC to the 5V required by the Raspberry Pi and the other boards on your stack
- UPS support and event monitoring through supported power supplies such as the MeanWell DRC family
- an RPi compatible, battery backed, Real Time Clock
- a 45mm cooling fan
- a power switch with bicolor status LED
- a low power microcontroller to handle scheduled tasks
- four, always on high voltage output connectors to drive external sensors and accessories
- a 5VDC power output connector to drive additional peripherals in your system
- Included with the POWERplate24 is a set of heatsinks for the hot components on your RPi and the backup battery for the RTC
Experiments found that the combination of chip mounted heatsinks and a fan provided the best cooling performance for the quad core CPU on the Raspberry Pi4:
Unlike our other products, only a single POWERplate24 is required for your Pi-Plate stack and it should be placed directly above the the Raspberry Pi for maximum cooling. Also we are using plugable terminal blocks to eliminate the hassle of having to disassemble a stack of plates to add or remove cables. See below for detailed features for the POWERplate24.
Power Management
- Converts any input voltage from 8 to 30VDC to the 5VDC required by the Raspberry Pi and the rest of the boards on the stack.
- On board 5VDC regulator capable of producing 15W of power (5V at 3A)
- UPS support and event monitoring via and external power supply such as the MeanWell DRC series
- Can also be powered by 5VDC using a dedicated USB-C input - useful for development and bench testing
- Four "always on" 3.5mm pluggable terminal blocks that routes the supply voltage (8-30VDC) for your setup
- One "always on" 3.5mm pluggable terminal blocks to provide 5VDC for your setup
- Onboard A/D converter allows monitoring of both 5VDC and the input supply voltage
- Smart customizable power switch
- Power up scheduler for remote battery operated applications
- Software shutdown
- Bicolor LED provides programmable power status at a glance
Cooling
- Onboard 45mm fan cools RPi
- Each POWERplate24 includes a set of heat sinks for the hot components on the RPi
- Fan can be controlled manually for custom cooling solutions or to minimize quiescent power consumption when running on UPS battery.
Real Time Clock
- RPi compatible PCF8523T RTC chip
- Ultra low power
- Included CR1220 battery keeps clock running when power is off
General
- Uses SPI signals, CE1 and two dedicated GPIO pins (16 & 22)1
- All features accessible via rich Python command set
- Compatible with all 40-pin versions of Raspberry Pi
- Uses less than 10mA of DC current during standby2
- Conforms to ROHS, FCC Part 15 Class A, and CE standards
- Designed in the USA.
- Each POWERplate24 is 100% tested
- Detailed Online Users Guide with Examples
- Dimensions: 100mm long x 75mm wide X 25mm high
Compatibility
- The POWERplate24 is compatible with all Pi-Plates except for the TINKERplate.
Notes
- More pins may be required if additional features are enabled
- GPIO 22 is required when interrupts are enabled
