We've just launched a crowd-funding campaign on Kickstarter for mobile and uninterruptible power for the Raspberry Pi!
[MoPi is mobile, hot-swap and 24/7 power for the Raspberry Pi. How to order.]
The ranks of Raspberry Pi add-ons gain a new member today with the launch of a crowdfunding campaign for MoPi, Mobile Power for the Pi.
The board allows you to power the Pi from standard batteries, car power sockets, solar panels, old laptop supplies etc. You can then do hot-swap power replacement without stopping work, and an open source daemon will shut down the Pi cleanly when batteries discharge.
There's an integrated power switch, and the device doubles as a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) when both batteries and mains are connected.
Battery power isn't new to the Pi, of course, but up to now there hasn't been a way to protect your Pi from getting an abrupt power cut when the batteries run out, which can lead to corruption of the SD card that the operating system is loaded from.
Mobile Pi projects range from a simple bit of timelapse photography in the garden to driving Lego mindstorm robotics to near-orbit space adventures like Dave Akerman's balloons.
The video for the new board — now launched on Kickstarter — includes a hackable GoPro-type camera videoing downhill skiing, air pollution sensing and solar panel management. Details of other projects using the board prototypes are here on Pi.GATE.ac.uk, for example this virtual paint brush rig.
The team behind the project include Linux and Pi specialists from the University of Sheffield — and hardware people from Pimoroni Ltd., the company behind the iconic Pibow case:
You can sign up from £18 (early bird discount), or spend more and pick up a UPS rig, or various outdoor experimenter kits (the latter with an orientation on schools and the new computing curriculum and the like).
Set your Pi free?!
Follow us on @PiTronics.