Works perfectly and very easy to setup.
For Raspberry Pi Automatic ON/OFF V3.0 (NEW Version)
I ordered this board to power a Raspberry Pi 4b that I am using to drive a digital dashboard for a Megasquirt setup on a custom car I am building. The seller was out of stock for several weeks, but was very helpful and responsive when I asked for updates and additional information.
Once ordered, it took only 9 days (7 business days) to be delivered to North Florida (which is crazy-fast for an international order). The board functioned perfectly and the documentation made it easy to setup and program both the board itself and the Pi to talk to it.
Some tips for people thinking of buying this board (which you totally should!):
Buy a cheap CP2102 USB to TTL/Serial UART module (if you don't already have one) so you have it when your board arrives. That + Arduino IDE makes it very easy to program the board. The documentation shows a schematic using a push button on a breadboard to "trigger" ground for programing. I just used two jumper leads and skipped the button. Just make all the connections besides ground directly from the board to the USB programmer, then have a jumper lead going from the board to a breadboard and one from the USB "to" the breadboard, but not connected. When you are ready to program, just hover your mouse over "send", plug the USB jumper lead into the breadboard (so it shorts to the board lead) and hit "send". You do have to be somewhat quick about it, but it isn't anything difficult. You could also just skip the breadboard entirely and manually short the leads.
The 12v to 5v buck converter is a generic Chinese module available from many sources. I would suspect that if you have a failure/issue with the board down the road, there is a very high likelihood it will be with this module (as the rest of the board is well designed/assembled, and those Chinese modules are much more likely to die than the seller's circuitry, which all uses quality parts). So, if you are using this in a situation where you need high/constant availability, go ahead and buy a spare module or two. A search of "12v/24v 25w buck converter" should get you results with the same module.
If you are using this in a high-heat environment, it might be worth your while to swap the caps on the buck converter for higher quality ones. While the main board uses good-quality parts/caps, the caps on the buck module are generic parts of unknown quality (though are likely just fine for most applications). I swapped mine for some 510uf 35v 125°C rated United Chemi-con units. I would also use some Solastic/silicone/hot melt to secure the caps if you are using this in a high-vibration situation like an automobile.
Finally, if you want to use a different input connector (like I did) the pin pitch on the input terminal block is 5mm. Personally, I swapped the terminal block for a TE "Power Key" socket (model 1376383-1), so that I could use a single plug with latch retention instead of a terminal block. This made sense with my particular use-case, but is certainly not a required modification. Just thought I'd share the pitch and a compatible part in case anyone else had a similar need.
Overall, I am very satisfied with the board. The PCB itself is a good quality 1.6mm FR-4 board with ENIG (gold plated) finish (probably from JLCPCB or similar). The silk-screen legend is informative and well thought-out. Assembly (soldering quality, part placement, etc.) is good with no cold joints or tombstoned/misaligned SMD parts. All of the identifiable components are name-brand and of good quality (LittleFuse, ATMega, STMicro, TI, etc.)
Based on the components used and the ENIG finish, the price is EXTREMELY reasonable. I design boards like this all the time, and I doubt seriously that I could put together a "copy" using my normal sources (JLC and Digikey) for much less, even if I wanted to (and even then I'd have to write the code for it).
Also, based on my pre-purchase interaction with the seller (and the other reviews) if you were to have any problems, I would expect the seller to be very prompt and helpful in their responses. Marco was very fast and friendly in responding to questions about the circuit and very patient with my multiple "when will it be back in stock?" emails.
Thanks, Marco!!
Response from PicoTouchStore | Aug. 1, 2021
Hi Keith!
Thank you for the extensive review!
I am glad that you are satisfied with the module, also, as I see, you are familiar with electronics and I am glad to see good comments about the finishing of the PCB, selected components ...
Because of Covid, the delivery is absolutely unpredictable, from China to me, and from me to the customers.
Also, many companies have difficulty with stock parts, so the last batch is collected from 3 suppliers which caused me increased shipping costs, plus some EU regulations for everything that arrived from China to the EU ... I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep this price in future ....
The DC / DC converter has proven to be very good so far. It’s a little tall, maybe in some of the next releases I’ll change it with someone else if it passes the test.
I see that you have read the documentation carefully and I am glad to see that everything is described properly (programming process).
I may change the module description text with your reviews ;)
The PCB is 1.0 mm, and the connector pitch of the screw terminals is 5.08 mm, of course you can replace them with a pitch of 5.0 mm,
it is not too important for this short terminal ...
All modules were tested with a load of 2.5-3A @ 5V and input voltage range between 10V and 15V. Delivery is made after this step ...
Greeting,
Marko
