“PowerBlock” – A Raspberry Pi power button add-on board
The PowerBlock is a Raspberry Pi power button add-on board. It allows safe shut down and allows you to conveniently turn on and turn off the power to the Raspberry Pi with a toggle or a momentary button.
Instead of just cutting the supply voltage with the risk of data loss the PowerBlock ensures a safe software-controlled shutdown without the risk of any data losses that could occur otherwise.
Furthermore, an LED that you can optionally attach to the Powerblock indicates the power status at all times.
PowerBlock in Action – Demo Video
Features and Technical Specifications
- Soft power button / power switch for the Raspberry Pi
- Clean system shutdown before cutting the power
- Supports toggle and momentary buttons
- Automatic detection of button type
- Smooth power status indication via optional external LED
- USB-C connector for power supply
- 2×6 pin header for mounting on the Pi
- Pin outs for optional external 5V power supply
- Additional switched 5V output pins
- No soldering required
- Software daemon for clean shutdowns
- Input Voltage: 5V
- Output Voltage: 5V
- Maximum Continuous Current @ 25°C: 7 A
- MOSFET Static On-Resistance: 6 mΩ
Any toggle or momentary button can be connected to the PowerBlock. The type of switch is automatically detected. The power status of the Raspberry Pi can be indicated via an optional status LED.
You can order the PowerBlock here:
What our customers say
Further Details
The PowerBlock provides a Raspberry Pi power switch functionality. Why is it useful? The Raspberry Pi comes without a power switch. As soon as you plug the USB cable into the Raspberry, it turns on. If you want to shutdown the Raspberry Pi, you need to call a shutdown command to bring the system into a state in which you can safely remove the power cable again. If you just pull out the power cable the file system of the Raspberry might become corrupted and you risk losing data.
Here, the PowerBlock comes into play for safe shutdowns. It is stacked onto the GPIO header of the Raspberry Pi and provides a USB connector itself, a connector for a power button to control the power supply of the Raspberry Pi, and a connector for an optional LED to indicate whether the Raspberry Pi is off, booting, running, or shutting down. A micro controller on the PowerBlock board manages the power supply and monitors the button state as well as the state of the Raspberry Pi. The driver ensures that a clean shutdown is done when you switch off. This also means that you do not need to plug and unplug the USB cable from the Raspberry anymore if you want to completely and safely turn it off.
Hardware Details of the PowerBlock
Compatible with Raspberry Pi Models A, B, and Zero
The dimensions exactly match the mounting holes of the Raspberry Pi and can be mounted to the Raspberry Pi models A, B, and Zero.
2×6 pin female header as connector to the Raspberry Pi
This header makes use of pins 1 to 12 of the GPIO header. The PCB is kept as small as possible so that you can easily access all other pins that are not used by the PowerBlock.
USB-C Connector for the power supply
The PowerBlock comes with a USB-C connector so that you are able to use your latest power supply accessories.
Pin Out for a toggle or a momentary button
To control the power state of the Raspberry Pi the PowerBlock provides an interface for attaching a toggle or a momentary switch. The on-board microcontroller monitors the state of that switch as well as the one of the Raspberry.
Pin Out for Status LED
The PowerBlock indicates the power state of the Raspberry Pi an optional 5V status LED. It can be attached to the two dedicated pins. These possible states can be “off”, “booting”, “on”, and “shutdown”. The different states are indicated with easy-to-distinguish static and pulsing patterns.
Signal breakouts for input voltage, output voltage, and control signals
There are individual pin outs for the 5V input and output voltages, as well as for the control signals S1 (pin 12), and S2 (pin 11).
In-Service Programmer (ISP) pin-out for ATtiny
The PowerBlock makes use of an ATtiny85 microcontroller. You can access the microcontroller with the ISP header to reprogram it with whatever functionality you like.
Getting Started with the PowerBlock – Hardware and Software Setup of the Soft Power Button
You can use a toggle or a momentary button. The type of button is detected automatically be the PowerBlock.
The LED will blink in four different patterns that depend on the power state of the Raspberry Pi:
- Off: The LED is simply off.
- Booting: The LED slowly fades in and out.
- On: The LED constantly stays on.
- Shutting down: The LED fades in and out twice as fast as during boot up.
For the software installation please follow the instructions from the driver website.
Related Posts
New PowerBlock: Now with High-Current Power Switch IC and USB-C
The PowerBlock, a popular soft power button for the Raspberry Pi, got updated! It can now handle more energy hungry accessories due to its re-designed power circuitry with dedicated power switch IC and nearly [...]
Tutorial: A Power Switch for LibreELEC
In the following we will learn how to add a power switch for LibreELEC running on a Raspberry Pi. We will use a PowerBlock to not only add a power button, but also a [...]
Tiny Power Button for Raspberry Pi
Are you looking for a tiny power button solution for your Raspberry Pi that provides safe shutdowns? You only want a small button to turn off and on your Raspberry Pi without the need [...]
PowerBlock: A Safe Power Button for Emteria.OS
If you are looking for a power button solution for your Emteria.OS project that makes use of a Raspberry Pi then look no further: The PowerBlock now supports Emteria.OS. Emteria.OS describes itself [...]
PowerBlock and ControlBlock also Support Momentary Buttons
Many of you have asked for the possibility to support toggle as well as momentary buttons for safely switching your Raspberry Pi on and off. We are glad to announce that the ControlBlock and the [...]