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The USB PowerControl board is a USB to USB solid state relay. It is is a digitally controlled power switch for your Arduino or Raspberry Pi. It is a Pi On and Off switch.
Anything you can plug into a USB port can be controlled with USB PowerControl. It’s easy to hook up. You connect a control line (a GPIO line or the output of a LiPo battery) to the LIPOBATIN line and if the line is LOW (< ~3.3V) the USB Port is off. If it is HIGH (above 3.8V) the USB Port is turned on and you have 5V of power to the USB plug.
This board was initially designed to sit in-between a Solar Power Controller (such as SunAir/SunAirPlus) and a Raspberry Pi / Arduino. The input to the board was designed to come directly from a LiPo battery so the computer won’t be turned on until the LiPo battery was charged up above 3.8V. We provide a hysteresis circuit so the board won’t turn on and then turn immediately off because the power supply is yanked down when the computer turns on (putting a load not the battery). This really happens!!!! You kill Raspberry Pi SD Cards this way.
The software for this device is simple. You use one GPIO line to turn it on or off (or connect it directly to your LiPo battery for automatic control!). It controls the 5V line that powers a USB device plugged into the female USB A power end of the board.
Features
- Can Switch the Power to any plugged into the Female A USB port
- On/Off Controlled by a single control line Implements Hysteresis on Control line
- 3.8V/3.3V Turn On/Off Voltage on Control Line 3.3V Turn Off Voltage on Control Line
- Over Current Protection
- Thermal Shutdown
- Reverse Current Blocking
- Can be connected to GPIO Pin or directly to LiPo Battery
- Supports both Arduino and Raspberry Pi
- Has Dual USB ports – no more cutting USB cables
- Will work with SunAir and SunAirPlus Solar Power Controllers
For more detail: USB PowerControl for Raspberry Pi and Arduino
