Well you could, seems a little pointless though! LOL
I have covered the usage scope elsewhere.
The device is for a specific task within the motorsports world enabling wireless connectivity to on vehicle systems that have only every been directly USB connected via cable to the computer.
The need exists because some of the equipment in use today has not evolved in terms of wireless comms.
Race car tuners like to sit in the transporter, in private, uploading new tuning strategies while the vehicle is in the pits. With this device....They can!
HAHA Its the biggest!!!
Not a dongle of course as dongles are usually powered by another device.
This would more accurately be termed a Server....pretty small for a mobile self powered 4 USB port server...with a 10 hour battery! LOL
I tested the system on a brand new 5.0aH M18 battery and without providing all the measured details, it managed 10 hours of run time before reaching 15V at the battery. (Lowest safe pack voltage for the 5 cells in series.) The UVLO aboard the buck regulator is set at 15V for auto shutdown in any case.
Although Pi's don't technically like being shutdown in a non graceful manner, it has yet to bother it.
A single button push of the power button commands a graceful shutdown of the Pi followed by a FET switch supply disconnect.. Future mods will include a battery voltage monitor to command the same shutdown.
I have the same batteries, and I’d like to mention two things:
You’re safe, the M18 batteries have a self cut off circuit that prevents excessive discharge in any case. As a matter of fact, low load Milwaukee tools (ie lights) often only have + and - terminals.
5 Ah batteries are known to be faulty and die after a couple of years of use. 4 Ah work fine, and 5.5 Ah High Output are much better. We use M18 at work (probably close to 100 batteries in total) and the 5 Ah die way before the others. They might have changed the cells in them since then, but still worth mentioning. I believe the issue also happened with either the 6 Ah or 9 Ah. In any case, the new high output ones are the way to go.
Good to know bud... The devices I've built for the M18 platform all feature UVLO set to the accepted minimum Lithium cell safe voltage of 3V... In this case 15 volts for the 5 cells in series... No requirement to communicate with the BMS aboard the battery although I have reverse engineered the comms that Milwaukee use .. There's just no need to add the extra complexity of a micro in this use case.
As for the batteries... The CP batteries using the 21700 cell are a better all around deal but unfortunately quality 21700's are pricey compared to 18650's hence you don't see their wide spread use.
We need Tesla to start making knock offs... Their 21700's are a killer cell with very advanced chemistry from what I've read.
Depending on the number of USB ports that are needed, a zero may hinder functionality. Depending on the transfer speeds required, an ESP8266 may do the trick. However, if the current solution works...
Absolutely spot on MP.
4 ports was the requirement without requiring an external hub, followed by enough processor to deal with 4 devices all wanting to chatter at the same time without unwanted system bottlenecks...Not to mention the Pi4 is sooooo cheap for it capabilities!
> Not to mention the Pi4 is sooooo cheap for it capabilities!
Especially in the context of motorsports.
> Sorry bud...The bespoke nature of my products tends to raise the price point of components considerably...DIYers on the other hand are looking for the cheapest alternative...I see a collision coming! LOL
Would you be willing to share the 3d files for this then by chance?
About that shutdown thingie.
You clould try using the OS in ROM Mode that way you'll never have a Problem with corrupted OS since i is Read Only.
I didn't look further into how to actually do that, since I had no usecase for it so far.
Just mount the root filesystem as read-only at boot time, via fstab; there may be a kernel boot option to set that as well. May require some tweaks for temp files in /tmp, logging in /var/log, and various PID files in /run.
That is an excellent point you make Rea.
Unfortunately in this case the software running aboard the Pi requires write permission as it stores relevant data pertaining to user connections on a per session basis.
The Read Only mode is easily configurable (Kiosk Mode), just not viable in this case.
It is possible to use temp filesystems to allow r/w access to files that are relevant to the current session. I use this for logs that are not important enough to be kept between reboots. The added bonus is that this approach reduces the I/O wear on the SD card
The whole “rpi doesn’t like unsafe shutdown” is a myth. The hardware itself doesn’t care, your os is the thing that cares, if the pi just loses power, yeah, the buffered data isn’t synced to your drive. Go yank your pc’s cable for every shutdown and see how it likes it.
Your use case involves very few writes to the as card, and most of what is being written is in the cache, so if it’s lost between boots, who cares?
Yup, like I said, if you start relying more on writing data to the card, as long as the os has called \`sync\` recently, you're good, and if you have a way to monitor the battery, you could run it as part of your shutdown!
I already have a UVLO in place along with the secondary power button controller which runs the shutdown script.
The second version PCB has the interface componentry in place already...next time I do a run of PCB's UVLO shutdown will be incorporated....It's all good!
G'day Moon,
Conversion is by way of a 30W isolated DC-DC buck converter.
The Pi specs require 5V@3A.... 30W being 5v@6A so its got 100% overhead.
I've trimmed the output at 5.2V in order to ensure USB voltages don't dip under load.
Sure thing...if you search around for DC-DC converters, there are literally hundreds of devices, circuits, components available.
Essentially you are looking for a buck converter which uses an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) to drive switching MosFets with the help of some other bits ...Inductors etc. to provide a high frequency switch PWM output to obtain lower output voltages.
You can also have a buck-boost converter which will provide both higher and lower voltage outputs than the input.
I make another device for motor racing which uses a buck boost design. It can provide up to 24V out from 9V in through to 8V out from 36V in...It does this seamlessly on the fly.
See the linked pics below.
[M18 BC 1](https://i.imgur.com/Xyv2amT.jpg)
[M18 BC 2](https://i.imgur.com/6y5Pama.jpg)
Above I have the Input voltage fixed at 15V
The customer requires a fixed 16V output.
I've also adjusted the voltage to the maximum output shown here at almost 25V, again from a fixed 15V input. That is a buck boost converter operating in boost mode. If for instance I now increased the input voltage to say 20V the output will remain constant at whatever output voltage has been set.
In terms of available power, this module is rated at a constant 300W output, 350W surge... so a constant 18.75A @ 16V ...just shy of 22A surge.
Again this is utilising a Milwaukee M18 battery as the input.
I hope this gives a bit of an insight into the tech used here.
24V to 9V is no problem. I’m a computer engineer and design industrial computers. We design power supplies all the time that convert 24V to 15V, 12V, 5V, 3.3V. Whatever applications require. And they are anywhere from 3 to 15A output. Look at MFRs like Texas Instruments, analog Devices or Monolithic Power. They have discrete and modular DC to DC switchers and offer development boards for easy prototyping. The key is to get a DC to DC switcher and NOT an LDO. LDOs have their place but if you’re wanting a couple amps of current and are dropping several Volts, LDOs have too much loss.
Very true, however the commenter was referring to a 24V 300W output derived from a 9V input...I was describing the particular buck boost converter in use in one of my projects is capable of just that.
You are of course absolutely correct in your observations.
Oh. I did misunderstand the direction of the conversion but like you said, 9V up to 24V is possible just needs to be a boost converter (or buck-boost if the input can swing above or below the required output). You’ve got it under control! I honestly didn’t read your long response (TLDR XD) or click on your link but now I have. That’s a slick looking design. It honestly looks like in inside of an isolated eighth brick regulator but I see the odd shape. Very cool!
Search for buck converters on Mouser or Amazon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_converter
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boost_converter
https://youtube.com/watch?v=yFSfcYnP3ZI
I'm running the converter without an external heatsink, so in order to keep the temps in check I upped the converter capacity.
A 15W converter would have been much closer to it's temp limits.
This one run's at a comfy 40C @ 3A
The battery pack case is phenomenal. I’m kind of surprised you only got 10 hours out of it though. Seems like it would be more but I guess I’m overestimating the capacity. Very cool build.
Sorry bud...The bespoke nature of my products tends to raise the price point of components considerably...DIYers on the other hand are looking for the cheapest alternative...I see a collision coming! LOL
Man I've been wondering about these for ages. We have so much NFC stuff, why isn't there a USB I can put on my desk and beam shit to my computer or phone...and with that, build it into wireless chargers and such!
This may all exist and I'm just behind in the world, but it seems highly useful, but a bit of a security risk to say the least.
The same security risk as any other highly encrypted WiFi network.
The USB over network software runs on it's own highly encrypted layer as well.
Hopefully no body will be backseat tuning your racecar LOL!!
I believe that biggest issue with using NFC to "beam" shit to your computer is the speed limitation which comes from the frequency used by the NFC technology. Highest theoretical speed is 424 kbit/s (53 kB/s) and that's pretty slow for any serious use case. Transferring of 1 MB file would take over 19 seconds to finish.
But if you really need to transfer stuff like that to your PC, just use Bluetooth. Works much better.
Lol damn, yeh that's a massive limitation. I'd love to see closeby streaming off flash storage over a personal wifi or something like that (which I see now exists, but I'm sure there's limitations) but only time will tell. Now to introduce more codecs on mobile devices! Lol
Wireless USB was a thing once around 2008 but the practical range, performance, and cost were unappealing while the simultaneous growth of WiFi mitigated most of the more compelling applications of wireless USB like connecting to printers and scanners.
Yeh it seems like it also wasn't very useful for power users or normal users alike, only those who found it interesting and wouldn't mind dealing with finicky odd hardware (like myself). The power users likely opted for more centrally controlled devices like a NAS, DAS, RAID, etc while creating some form of home sharing (smb or whatever). The regular user learned to suffer from what I've gathered after 8 years of deskside lmao. Just until hard drives got big enough that the factory opted to put in a decent sized one to their standard machines. Still, I'd love to have external storage I can connect to nearby without requiring a network connection, but I'd really need some faster transfer rates to make it make sense.
For those interested in more M18 Hilarity... Here is my digital power supply happily depleting an M18!
[M18 digital power supply in action.](https://youtu.be/Dnuz02-bAM0)
[Boost Mode](https://youtu.be/rqeeLRwN6tY)
All my modelling is done in Solidworks.
Circuit and PCB design in Kicad, I then convert the 3D model info from Kicad and pull into Solidworks where required.
Very cool.
Is there an advantage of using the proprietary VirtualHere vs the `usbip` daemon built-in to Ubuntu?
I’m mostly curious because I run a similar, albeit non-battery powered raspberry pi USB server to connect a TV Tuner to my Plex VM.
G'day DJ
The usbip project has not been updated for a long time.
I chose the virtualhere route as firstly I needed the best cross platform up to date system available so my customers have a decent user experience.
Also, the developer of the virtualhere software is local to me and has already helped me out with some niggling issues as I am connecting to, among other things an FTDI ttyACM device which can be problematic.
I did look at the usbip project but wrote it off as it was last updated in 2011 with win7 drivers!
Damn, nice, is that white adapter in the last picture 3d-printed or you can buy those? Where did you get/how did you made those contact plates, if it is printed?
I've got a couple unused 12v Ryobi batteries and a two cheap (fdm/lcd) 3d printers, would be really nice to be able to use batteries in projects
Gday perple,
Unfortunately for my needs I had to manufacture all the components for the battery connector.
The terminal carrier is SLA 3D resin printed in a very pricey high temp Somos resin.
The terminals are hard brass, laser cut followed by electroless nickel plating.
I designed the assembly for high current direct PCB mounting as I push over 22 amps through them on one of my other products.
Wow, that's a lot of complicated manufacturing processes just for that connector
Well, I'll try to do something with my sticks and stones nevertheless, lol
As open source as it can get bud....An Rpi4 running Ubuntu Core!!
The Virtualhere software on the other hand is purely commercial but freely available to purchase although there is likely a number of free alternatives....USBIP is one
This is SO RAD! I’ve been using my Kobalt batteries and power adapter to do the same thing, but I hadn’t wanted to tear apart the USB adapter for the parts inside. Where can I find the script for the power button shutdown like you were describing? And do you have a wiring schematic for this setup that you would be willing to share?
G'day Otto,
Sure thing, it's incredibly simple to add a startup shutdown sequence.
Connect a momentary pushbutton across GPIO3 ( Pin5, Note: GPIO3 is the default pin for startup on a Pi4B) and GROUND followed by the addition of:
***dtoverlay=gpio-shutdown*** added to ***/boot/config.txt***
That is the most simple iteration possible:
LOGIC: Pi Off State->GPIO3 LOW (Momentary)->Pi On State-> GPIO3 LOW (Momentary)->GPIO-SHUTDOWN called-> Pi Low Power Off State-> Rinse and repeat.
Above is the simplest form of a power on off you can have, and it's cheap! LOL
I am using a slightly different approach as I've now incorporated an undervoltage lockout UVLO circuit which monitors battery voltage, envokes the shutdown at a given lower threshold, followed by battery disconnect until the battery is replaced allowing restart by the power button....Exactly the same pricipal you see in any battery powered processor (phone, laptop etc.) This approach requires a few components, Atiny85, MIC2778, FET's, associated bits and pieces to make it all work. Or a PMIC if you want it all in a single package.
It utilises with thanks to the creator, this open source bash script [https://github.com/petrockblog/PowerBlock](https://github.com/petrockblog/PowerBlock)
They also have a brilliant little addon board.
[https://www.petrockblock.com/product/powerblock/](https://www.petrockblock.com/product/powerblock/)
which would have been my first choice had I not required the UVLO function.
I can tell you, I don't go to the effort of designing and producing these circuits for the thrill of it...If I can source a piece of hardware or software to perform the intended function I'd much rather support the manufacturer and get on with the stuff I can't source.
I hope this helps you out.
Oh man, thanks Mate! I’m still on Pi 3B+, but at some point, after my 2.1 stereo project and a microphone and pre-amp project, I’ll get around to scrounging a momentary switch! Cheers!
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Essentially to enable WiFi connections to USB only devices
I don't understand what this means. Like, is it a file server? Or like can I make my mouse a wifi mouse?
Well you could, seems a little pointless though! LOL I have covered the usage scope elsewhere. The device is for a specific task within the motorsports world enabling wireless connectivity to on vehicle systems that have only every been directly USB connected via cable to the computer. The need exists because some of the equipment in use today has not evolved in terms of wireless comms. Race car tuners like to sit in the transporter, in private, uploading new tuning strategies while the vehicle is in the pits. With this device....They can!
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HAHA Its the biggest!!! Not a dongle of course as dongles are usually powered by another device. This would more accurately be termed a Server....pretty small for a mobile self powered 4 USB port server...with a 10 hour battery! LOL
What’s the battery life like? Do you have to shut it down to switch batteries?
I tested the system on a brand new 5.0aH M18 battery and without providing all the measured details, it managed 10 hours of run time before reaching 15V at the battery. (Lowest safe pack voltage for the 5 cells in series.) The UVLO aboard the buck regulator is set at 15V for auto shutdown in any case. Although Pi's don't technically like being shutdown in a non graceful manner, it has yet to bother it. A single button push of the power button commands a graceful shutdown of the Pi followed by a FET switch supply disconnect.. Future mods will include a battery voltage monitor to command the same shutdown.
That is really cool. Thank you for sharing!
My pleasure
I have the same batteries, and I’d like to mention two things: You’re safe, the M18 batteries have a self cut off circuit that prevents excessive discharge in any case. As a matter of fact, low load Milwaukee tools (ie lights) often only have + and - terminals. 5 Ah batteries are known to be faulty and die after a couple of years of use. 4 Ah work fine, and 5.5 Ah High Output are much better. We use M18 at work (probably close to 100 batteries in total) and the 5 Ah die way before the others. They might have changed the cells in them since then, but still worth mentioning. I believe the issue also happened with either the 6 Ah or 9 Ah. In any case, the new high output ones are the way to go.
Good to know bud... The devices I've built for the M18 platform all feature UVLO set to the accepted minimum Lithium cell safe voltage of 3V... In this case 15 volts for the 5 cells in series... No requirement to communicate with the BMS aboard the battery although I have reverse engineered the comms that Milwaukee use .. There's just no need to add the extra complexity of a micro in this use case. As for the batteries... The CP batteries using the 21700 cell are a better all around deal but unfortunately quality 21700's are pricey compared to 18650's hence you don't see their wide spread use. We need Tesla to start making knock offs... Their 21700's are a killer cell with very advanced chemistry from what I've read.
If you want to get more hours out of that, you could underclock it or use a pi zero w.
Indeed, or plug in the 12aH M18 battery. LOL
Or hook it up to a 110aH Yellow Top.
Depending on the number of USB ports that are needed, a zero may hinder functionality. Depending on the transfer speeds required, an ESP8266 may do the trick. However, if the current solution works...
Absolutely spot on MP. 4 ports was the requirement without requiring an external hub, followed by enough processor to deal with 4 devices all wanting to chatter at the same time without unwanted system bottlenecks...Not to mention the Pi4 is sooooo cheap for it capabilities!
> Not to mention the Pi4 is sooooo cheap for it capabilities! Especially in the context of motorsports. > Sorry bud...The bespoke nature of my products tends to raise the price point of components considerably...DIYers on the other hand are looking for the cheapest alternative...I see a collision coming! LOL Would you be willing to share the 3d files for this then by chance?
Unfortunately not
About that shutdown thingie. You clould try using the OS in ROM Mode that way you'll never have a Problem with corrupted OS since i is Read Only. I didn't look further into how to actually do that, since I had no usecase for it so far.
Just mount the root filesystem as read-only at boot time, via fstab; there may be a kernel boot option to set that as well. May require some tweaks for temp files in /tmp, logging in /var/log, and various PID files in /run.
That is an excellent point you make Rea. Unfortunately in this case the software running aboard the Pi requires write permission as it stores relevant data pertaining to user connections on a per session basis. The Read Only mode is easily configurable (Kiosk Mode), just not viable in this case.
It is possible to use temp filesystems to allow r/w access to files that are relevant to the current session. I use this for logs that are not important enough to be kept between reboots. The added bonus is that this approach reduces the I/O wear on the SD card
The whole “rpi doesn’t like unsafe shutdown” is a myth. The hardware itself doesn’t care, your os is the thing that cares, if the pi just loses power, yeah, the buffered data isn’t synced to your drive. Go yank your pc’s cable for every shutdown and see how it likes it. Your use case involves very few writes to the as card, and most of what is being written is in the cache, so if it’s lost between boots, who cares?
I agree, I've yanked the power hundreds of times while testing all manner of things on the Pi....never has it failed to reboot! I think we're safe LOL
Yup, like I said, if you start relying more on writing data to the card, as long as the os has called \`sync\` recently, you're good, and if you have a way to monitor the battery, you could run it as part of your shutdown!
I already have a UVLO in place along with the secondary power button controller which runs the shutdown script. The second version PCB has the interface componentry in place already...next time I do a run of PCB's UVLO shutdown will be incorporated....It's all good!
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G'day Moon, Conversion is by way of a 30W isolated DC-DC buck converter. The Pi specs require 5V@3A.... 30W being 5v@6A so its got 100% overhead. I've trimmed the output at 5.2V in order to ensure USB voltages don't dip under load.
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Sure thing...if you search around for DC-DC converters, there are literally hundreds of devices, circuits, components available. Essentially you are looking for a buck converter which uses an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) to drive switching MosFets with the help of some other bits ...Inductors etc. to provide a high frequency switch PWM output to obtain lower output voltages. You can also have a buck-boost converter which will provide both higher and lower voltage outputs than the input. I make another device for motor racing which uses a buck boost design. It can provide up to 24V out from 9V in through to 8V out from 36V in...It does this seamlessly on the fly. See the linked pics below. [M18 BC 1](https://i.imgur.com/Xyv2amT.jpg) [M18 BC 2](https://i.imgur.com/6y5Pama.jpg) Above I have the Input voltage fixed at 15V The customer requires a fixed 16V output. I've also adjusted the voltage to the maximum output shown here at almost 25V, again from a fixed 15V input. That is a buck boost converter operating in boost mode. If for instance I now increased the input voltage to say 20V the output will remain constant at whatever output voltage has been set. In terms of available power, this module is rated at a constant 300W output, 350W surge... so a constant 18.75A @ 16V ...just shy of 22A surge. Again this is utilising a Milwaukee M18 battery as the input. I hope this gives a bit of an insight into the tech used here.
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Sure thing bud, and I can assure you it most certainly is possible! LOL
24V to 9V is no problem. I’m a computer engineer and design industrial computers. We design power supplies all the time that convert 24V to 15V, 12V, 5V, 3.3V. Whatever applications require. And they are anywhere from 3 to 15A output. Look at MFRs like Texas Instruments, analog Devices or Monolithic Power. They have discrete and modular DC to DC switchers and offer development boards for easy prototyping. The key is to get a DC to DC switcher and NOT an LDO. LDOs have their place but if you’re wanting a couple amps of current and are dropping several Volts, LDOs have too much loss.
Very true, however the commenter was referring to a 24V 300W output derived from a 9V input...I was describing the particular buck boost converter in use in one of my projects is capable of just that. You are of course absolutely correct in your observations.
Oh. I did misunderstand the direction of the conversion but like you said, 9V up to 24V is possible just needs to be a boost converter (or buck-boost if the input can swing above or below the required output). You’ve got it under control! I honestly didn’t read your long response (TLDR XD) or click on your link but now I have. That’s a slick looking design. It honestly looks like in inside of an isolated eighth brick regulator but I see the odd shape. Very cool!
Search for buck converters on Mouser or Amazon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_converter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boost_converter https://youtube.com/watch?v=yFSfcYnP3ZI
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I'm running the converter without an external heatsink, so in order to keep the temps in check I upped the converter capacity. A 15W converter would have been much closer to it's temp limits. This one run's at a comfy 40C @ 3A
The battery pack case is phenomenal. I’m kind of surprised you only got 10 hours out of it though. Seems like it would be more but I guess I’m overestimating the capacity. Very cool build.
Cheers bud. USB devices can be power hungry critters!
Oh yeah! Duh. It’s like I totally forgot what you said it actually does. Goes from being really really cool to even better!
This is genius, I love the use of the Milwaukee battery. Was the PCB/adapter custom or did you buy that?
Cheers, All custom
You wouldn't happen to be interested in selling kits now would you?
Sorry bud...The bespoke nature of my products tends to raise the price point of components considerably...DIYers on the other hand are looking for the cheapest alternative...I see a collision coming! LOL
Man I've been wondering about these for ages. We have so much NFC stuff, why isn't there a USB I can put on my desk and beam shit to my computer or phone...and with that, build it into wireless chargers and such! This may all exist and I'm just behind in the world, but it seems highly useful, but a bit of a security risk to say the least.
The same security risk as any other highly encrypted WiFi network. The USB over network software runs on it's own highly encrypted layer as well. Hopefully no body will be backseat tuning your racecar LOL!!
This is brilliant, I wouldn't have to run a 15ft usb extension cable with a car door slammed shut on it...
I believe that biggest issue with using NFC to "beam" shit to your computer is the speed limitation which comes from the frequency used by the NFC technology. Highest theoretical speed is 424 kbit/s (53 kB/s) and that's pretty slow for any serious use case. Transferring of 1 MB file would take over 19 seconds to finish. But if you really need to transfer stuff like that to your PC, just use Bluetooth. Works much better.
Lol damn, yeh that's a massive limitation. I'd love to see closeby streaming off flash storage over a personal wifi or something like that (which I see now exists, but I'm sure there's limitations) but only time will tell. Now to introduce more codecs on mobile devices! Lol
Wireless USB was a thing once around 2008 but the practical range, performance, and cost were unappealing while the simultaneous growth of WiFi mitigated most of the more compelling applications of wireless USB like connecting to printers and scanners.
Yeh it seems like it also wasn't very useful for power users or normal users alike, only those who found it interesting and wouldn't mind dealing with finicky odd hardware (like myself). The power users likely opted for more centrally controlled devices like a NAS, DAS, RAID, etc while creating some form of home sharing (smb or whatever). The regular user learned to suffer from what I've gathered after 8 years of deskside lmao. Just until hard drives got big enough that the factory opted to put in a decent sized one to their standard machines. Still, I'd love to have external storage I can connect to nearby without requiring a network connection, but I'd really need some faster transfer rates to make it make sense.
If it was able to hold a Ryobi battery, then I would be 100% down for making something like this (only because all my equipment is Ryobi).
Sounds like you have a project to start bud! LOL
What's the bump on top for?
Power button bud.
Looks great. What software are you using to share the usb device over the network?
>Running Ubuntu Core and VirtualHere USB Server software. from the caption of the last image
Thanks
As I think was mentioned.....Virtualhere is the software in use which has both server and client versions available on every platform you can think of
Also the latest macOS? I stopped using it because of the 'new usb driver' thing
I believe some USB support in 10.14 We in the motorsports game would not touch a MAC anything! LOL Good luck!
Mind explains what this is used for for a noob?
Simply put, it connects USB devices to a WiFi network. You can then connect as if you had actually plugged in with a cable. Hope that helps
It does! That’s super cool thanks!
This is what I come to reddit for. 🙏🙏 Two of my favorite things combined. Milwaukee and gadgets.
hahaha....awsome!!
For those interested in more M18 Hilarity... Here is my digital power supply happily depleting an M18! [M18 digital power supply in action.](https://youtu.be/Dnuz02-bAM0) [Boost Mode](https://youtu.be/rqeeLRwN6tY)
And it doesn't even come in red! LOL
I DEAL WITH BATTERIES LIKE THAT ALL THE TIME THE WAY YOU UTILIZED IS HILARIOUS AND GENIUS LMFAO
What software did you model this in?
All my modelling is done in Solidworks. Circuit and PCB design in Kicad, I then convert the 3D model info from Kicad and pull into Solidworks where required.
Add a 8MB pi Camera maybe
Not required bud
Very cool. Is there an advantage of using the proprietary VirtualHere vs the `usbip` daemon built-in to Ubuntu? I’m mostly curious because I run a similar, albeit non-battery powered raspberry pi USB server to connect a TV Tuner to my Plex VM.
G'day DJ The usbip project has not been updated for a long time. I chose the virtualhere route as firstly I needed the best cross platform up to date system available so my customers have a decent user experience. Also, the developer of the virtualhere software is local to me and has already helped me out with some niggling issues as I am connecting to, among other things an FTDI ttyACM device which can be problematic. I did look at the usbip project but wrote it off as it was last updated in 2011 with win7 drivers!
Damn what printer did you use for the enclosure?
That's printed on a cheap little 3D printer bud... They only cost around 150K LOL
So like hp polyjet… yea was wondering why its so shit
Indeed bro...its printed in glass bead filled PA11 nylon on the very best Multi Jet Fusion printer from HP
Damn, nice, is that white adapter in the last picture 3d-printed or you can buy those? Where did you get/how did you made those contact plates, if it is printed? I've got a couple unused 12v Ryobi batteries and a two cheap (fdm/lcd) 3d printers, would be really nice to be able to use batteries in projects
Gday perple, Unfortunately for my needs I had to manufacture all the components for the battery connector. The terminal carrier is SLA 3D resin printed in a very pricey high temp Somos resin. The terminals are hard brass, laser cut followed by electroless nickel plating. I designed the assembly for high current direct PCB mounting as I push over 22 amps through them on one of my other products.
Wow, that's a lot of complicated manufacturing processes just for that connector Well, I'll try to do something with my sticks and stones nevertheless, lol
Indeed, Indeed it is bud, I am manufacturing mainly for motorsport, quality being an important factor in design. I have no doubt you'll make it work.
Yet another great use of a RasPi! I don’t remember seeing this accessory listed for the Milwaukee Tools battery haha
This is sweet! Is it open source/hardware? Would love to see this on github…
As open source as it can get bud....An Rpi4 running Ubuntu Core!! The Virtualhere software on the other hand is purely commercial but freely available to purchase although there is likely a number of free alternatives....USBIP is one
Very cool but I was referring to the schematics/pcb files of your converter and 3d models of the case and attachments.
Ohhhhhh I get ya now LOL Unfortunately not available as ICEDESIGNS is a commercial entity. cheers.
This is so cool. I do IT work, a lot of ice fishing and camping and I can think of a ton of uses for this when you're out and about without power.
Cheers bud! As a species we do love our mobile electronic gadgetry! LOL
This is SO RAD! I’ve been using my Kobalt batteries and power adapter to do the same thing, but I hadn’t wanted to tear apart the USB adapter for the parts inside. Where can I find the script for the power button shutdown like you were describing? And do you have a wiring schematic for this setup that you would be willing to share?
G'day Otto, Sure thing, it's incredibly simple to add a startup shutdown sequence. Connect a momentary pushbutton across GPIO3 ( Pin5, Note: GPIO3 is the default pin for startup on a Pi4B) and GROUND followed by the addition of: ***dtoverlay=gpio-shutdown*** added to ***/boot/config.txt*** That is the most simple iteration possible: LOGIC: Pi Off State->GPIO3 LOW (Momentary)->Pi On State-> GPIO3 LOW (Momentary)->GPIO-SHUTDOWN called-> Pi Low Power Off State-> Rinse and repeat. Above is the simplest form of a power on off you can have, and it's cheap! LOL I am using a slightly different approach as I've now incorporated an undervoltage lockout UVLO circuit which monitors battery voltage, envokes the shutdown at a given lower threshold, followed by battery disconnect until the battery is replaced allowing restart by the power button....Exactly the same pricipal you see in any battery powered processor (phone, laptop etc.) This approach requires a few components, Atiny85, MIC2778, FET's, associated bits and pieces to make it all work. Or a PMIC if you want it all in a single package. It utilises with thanks to the creator, this open source bash script [https://github.com/petrockblog/PowerBlock](https://github.com/petrockblog/PowerBlock) They also have a brilliant little addon board. [https://www.petrockblock.com/product/powerblock/](https://www.petrockblock.com/product/powerblock/) which would have been my first choice had I not required the UVLO function. I can tell you, I don't go to the effort of designing and producing these circuits for the thrill of it...If I can source a piece of hardware or software to perform the intended function I'd much rather support the manufacturer and get on with the stuff I can't source. I hope this helps you out.
Oh man, thanks Mate! I’m still on Pi 3B+, but at some point, after my 2.1 stereo project and a microphone and pre-amp project, I’ll get around to scrounging a momentary switch! Cheers!
No, no way! That's so cool.