Month: January 2019

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How to Configure your McPi Raspberry Pi case Power Switch

Below are instructions on how to configure your McPi Raspberry Pi case power switch.

The Raspberry Pi, the $35 mini linux computer rocked the computing world on a small scale but in a big way. They ended up being way more popular than even Ebon Upton imagined. This allowed them to improve the performance and increase the feature count dramatically. Current Pi3s are 10X the practical speed of the 1st gen boards. Wow.

I was an early adopter of the Pi. Years ago Donour Sizemore and I designed a motorsports scale system that incorporated four Pi model Bs. These were great except when power was abruptly removed they were not gentle on SD cards . Shame. Our fix was to implement a button on the HMI panel that allowed for easy shutdown and make the file system read only.

Race car on Scales powered by Raspberry pi model Bs.
Scale data was received via UDP packets over Wifi from the Raspberry Pi Scale corners.

The Motorsports Switch Fix

From experience, we can assure you having a user friendly power switch is a necessity on the Pi. That said, Why not use the best looking and highest performance switch available? Our case includes a waterproof stainless steel momentary switch with blue LED ring indicator.

Now that we have a switch, we need some user feedback to indicate if the pi is operating or not. The indicator output is a bit of a hack but works beautifully. We simply enable the serial port to determine whether the Pi is active. When active, it provides a 3V signal an illuminates the blue LED ring light.
See below for the raspbian modifications to make the power switch and indicator operate properly.

Please note that on the Pi3b+ this is not a total power shutdown. The processor does halt and power consumption is decreased dramatically, down to approximately 90ma. The red power led does remain on the main board. The onboard LEDs can be seen through the two ports on the side of the case. Note that clear PETG filament makes a great light pipe!

Press the button again and the pi will wake from power down. Reboot and you are good to go after the normal boot process. EZ as pi!

Stainless Steel Blue Ring LED Soft Power Switch

Code

Edit /boot/config.txt
sudo nano /boot/config.txt

Add these lines at the bottom:

#Added below for the MACSBOOST.com McPi Raspberry pi case soft shutdown and start blue ring led switch.
#https://www.macsboost.com/2019/01/24/mcpi-carbon-fiber-aluminum-racing-raspberry-pi-case
dtoverlay=gpio-shutdown
enable_uart=1

You can easily edit the config.txt on a pc. Insert the SD card on a PC. You will see a folder with the config.txt in it. Just edit the file, place the SD card back in the pi and hit the gas!

Wiring loom

Attach the switch wires (blue) to header pin 5 and pin 6.
Attach the LED wires (white) to header pin 8 and pin 9. Polarity does not matter.

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McPi Carbon Fiber Aluminum Racing Raspberry Pi Case

The McPi case is precision Machined from 6061 aluminum and anodized in matte silver.  Topped with an aerospace grade carbon fiber bonnet and assembled with stainless fasteners this case has all the technology you need to put your Raspberry Pi in the winner’s circle.

Yes this is one awesome looking case but does it perform? Rumor has it the performance of this case is so high even the Stig may not be able to administer it.

MACSBOOST McPi Racing Carbon Fiber Aluminum Raspberry Pi Case
Carbon Fiber Aluminum Motorsports inspired Raspberry Pi Case Rendering
The actual McPi case, just after being machined!

High performance thermal characteristics are provided by the precision machined heat sink risers that touch both the processor and ethernet engine. Think high W/(m⋅K). Ebon Upton eat your heart out.

Internal view of the MACSBOOST McPi Raspberry Pi Case

Internal access is provided for the Pi’s Header, however the huge heatsink might get in the way and will likely not fit your hat accessories.  The good news is you get thermal performance that obliterates the competition. This pi case is best suited for hat free duty such as Pi Research, Coding, Hackathons, Street Racing, Octopi, Kodi, Mining, Emulationstation or Retropie. Check this site for great torrents of retropie images: https://www.arcadepunks.com/64gb-pi-3b-3b-pi-loaded-image-all-killer-no-filler-from-budz71/

A functional stainless steel power switch serves as both Pi(t) command and a telemetry indicator.  The ultra blue indicator ring LED illuminates on power up and turns off with shut down after a brief modification to /boot/config.txt.

Don’t let your underpowered pi case get blown off your desk or entertainment center! Our case is wind tunnel tested and leaf blower approved. Is yours?  You never know when the next office leaf blower office chair race will commence.

Now featuring our proprietary internal *Extra Gravity* technology and low CG optimization.


Pi R Squared design provides optimum (CL) and minimum (CD) at 45 degree angles of attack.

McPi Racing Motorsports Raspberry Pi Case MACSBOOST
Rear and side view of the MACSBOOST McPi Raspberry Pi Case

Radio performance is still awesome despite the premium materials surrounding your pi.  If you need better wifi performance you can hack an external high gain antenna or plug in an external USB wifi adapter.   (not recommended if your are under FCC surveillance)

Carbon Fiber “Bonnet” on the McPi Raspberry Pi Case

Optimized for the Pi 3B+ form factor.  Older Pis will fit but your mileage may vary.

Design cues were provided by the high performance motorsports electronics cases from Techmor.  Go check out some of their great motorsports products.

Custom Designed by MACSBOOST in Race City, USA

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I have an R-12X Honda Aquatrax, what mods should I do?

If you are on a budget. We recommend to start with the infamous MACSBOOST module. This by far is the most cost effective modification for your Honda Aquatrax R-12X Turbocharged PWC.

In an instant you will see higher speeds and much greater acceleration. Boost is increased and lag is electronically reduced. Jumping waves is far more fun as peak boost recovers much faster than stock.

check out this customer video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_evx8Ke_E6M&t=41s
Honda R12X with only the MACSBOOST module