Author Topic: Understanding MightyBoost + MoteinoUSB + RPi + LiPo B/U  (Read 2654 times)

G550_Pilot

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Understanding MightyBoost + MoteinoUSB + RPi + LiPo B/U
« on: May 11, 2016, 04:26:01 PM »
OK, I went ahead and ordered some of the mightyboosts and a couple more moteinos (USB version) and I want to make sure I am going to hook everything up correctly.

I have several Pis that I want to provide battery backup for unattended intelligent shutdown as well as the functionality of the ATXRaspi (ie, button shutdown & startup).

So I have:

MightyBoost with USB-A connector
Moteino R5-USB
Power Button


So my understanding is that I need the USB-A to act as power output from the mightyBoost to the Raspberry Pi. Then I need the Moteino R5 to act as the 'brains' for the low power, power out shutdown for the Pi. In this case, I also need tall headers as the USB-A connector interferes with the R5 with normal length headers.

The Shutpff BTN and BTN -LED+ are self explanatory and I assume that shutoff and BootOK are the same as on the ATXRaspi, they go to the RPi GPIO (whichever ones are set in the software on the Pi).

That and a 3000mAh LiPo and I am all set!

If I have all of this setup, can the R5 also act as my gateway modem for the rest of my Moteinos or would I need a separate "gateway" Moteino? I did purchase two of the MotenoMegaUSB for this purpose, just wondering if the Moteino attached to the MightyBoost can do the job at the same time.


Thanks!

Felix

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Re: Understanding MightyBoost + MoteinoUSB + RPi + LiPo B/U
« Reply #1 on: May 11, 2016, 04:46:55 PM »
Well, I think you could have gone by with just a MightyHat. That is a more elegant gateway board that has the same functionality and plugs right ontop of the Pi via provided tall header, has a gateway sketch sample to use with the onboard radio of your choice (code sample for RFM69 only), plut it's very compact compared to the MBoost combo and requires minimal soldering. The MightyBoost sketch only handles the PSU brains for MBoost, not the gateway part. Basically the MBoost is just a booster that allows you to control it either via a jumper, or via Moteino (which gives you more features and ability to make it behave like ATXRaspi).
Now that you have all this hardware you can make it happen, just like you said, and i think you're on the right track. It will be more soldering and wiring and sketch uploads but it will work, that's how I ran my gateway for about 2years+. That being said, you could use the MBoost for other similar projects where the Hat will not be suitable.

MBoost will not need taller than regular headers (female + male) to have enough clearance between Moteino and USB-A output.
With MBoost you will not be able to integrate the gateway sketch with the MBoost sketch simply because you will not be able to control the output across power cycles. The MHat has a special feature that allows the PSU to operate independently of what the atmega328 does (or if it freezes, resets etc. This is because the Pi is critical to keep going if something bad happens on the atmega328 side. Hence you will need a separate Moteino for the gateway part in a MBoost combo.

G550_Pilot

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Re: Understanding MightyBoost + MoteinoUSB + RPi + LiPo B/U
« Reply #2 on: May 11, 2016, 09:28:34 PM »
Felix -

Sounds like a smart idea, just ordered a MightyHat to use as my gateway and will use the MightyBoost for my non-gateway Pi.