Power on and off

KillerQ

@KillerQ Your idea?! Well done pal! Actually I always wanted to add a power (ON at least) button but was afraid to drill the case and break any or end up with something ugly. A few days ago I saw the video and when a nearby store dropped the price of those jacks to 2€ I grabbed one to test if was working... And it did!
Good job everyone involved.

Although i don't use the A/V and the button is beautifully hardly noticeable, I still wonder if a jack splitter, although ugly, may give both power ON flexibility and A/V out but I doubt I will soon test it.

I found a splitter. I'll test it out this evening.

A Former User

Is there an easy way to hook up a Super Nintendo Power button to a Raspberry Pi? I know nothing about soldering.

space cadet

Soldering is simple. Try it out on some junk components first. The worst thing that will happen is you try again. Trust me trying out a new skill is rewarding! You can pick up a simple soldering iron cheap.

A Former User

Meh, I don't know. I'm really not old enough yet to solder by myself, and I don't think anyone I know knows how to solder.

space cadet

You could learn in less than an hour including research. It's fun and easy! Your choice and not trying to be pushy. I just like to try new things for myself to learn .

A Former User

Huh. Might try it.

zupi

@KillerQ Nope... Two stereo audio splitters I tried didn't do anything. Possibly a 4 segment mini jack Y splitter might do but it seems there are only 1 or 2 in the entire universe from a not so toughtful Google search. Like this one maybe:

Blimey...

KillerQ

@zupi said in Power on and off:

@KillerQ Nope... Two stereo audio splitters I tried didn't do anything. Possibly a 4 segment mini jack Y splitter might do but it seems there are only 1 or 2 in the entire universe from a not so toughtful Google search. Like this one maybe:

Blimey...

Yea, no luck here either.

BUT, anytime you insert or remove any type of 3.5mm jack, it triggers the button sequence because it bridges the circuit.

So, to shutdown, just remove the jack. To turn on, plug the jack back in. It was always this way.

Hopefully that helps your situation

Capeman

@itsnitro said in Power on and off:

Meh, I don't know. I'm really not old enough yet to solder by myself, and I don't think anyone I know knows how to solder.

You're never too young to learn to solder!

whositwhatnow

@DorkVonWaterfall

I have this and it doesn't work with retropie and emulation station. i followed steps exactly, and once you try to power on the device it powers on and then shuts down

Capeman

@relivingthepast said in Power on and off:

@ExarKunIv
Have you or anyone heard of this http://www.ebay.com/itm/IR-Remote-Control-Switch-Module-Power-Button-Module-for-Raspberry-Pi-3-2-Model-B-/222412691189?hash=item33c8d456f5:g:CaQAAOSwTuJYprud.
It looks like it should work, anyone know if it needs script? Or does anthing you do need script? Thanks again

I bought one of these off ebay a few days ago to test out, I'm super interested in being able to power on and off with an IR remote, might be the powerblock killer for me. I'll post my results with retropie when it comes in, but given free e-packet china shipping, might be a minute or two before i get it.

Dadtro

@whositwhatnow said in Power on and off:

I have this and it doesn't work with retropie and emulation station. i followed steps exactly, and once you try to power on the device it powers on and then shuts down

Got one delivered earlier today which I've plugged in to my Retropie setup (after removing a heatsink and the top of my PiBow case ;) ) and I get it powered on and accessible via SSH - but just a flashing underscore on a black screen instead of EM appearing? Guessing you didn't work out what the problem is?

edmaul69

@itsnitro your profile says your 32. How old do you think you need to be to solder? I started at the age of 11

A Former User

@edmaul69 I lied. I'm 14

A Former User

I just do not like revealing personal information since I'm kinda young.

edmaul69

@itsnitro i think its cool to see kids on here. Leaves hope that the classics arent going to completely die off with a new generation. Plus your learning about computers and electronics.

Capeman

@edmaul69 said in Power on and off:

@itsnitro i think its cool to see kids on here. Leaves hope that the classics arent going to completely die off with a new generation. Plus your learning about computers and electronics.

I agree, it's refreshing to see the younger generation getting into the classics. I feel bad for all the kids who are growing up on Candy Crush, haha, the younger generations have it rough when it comes to quality gaming.

A Former User

I've always had a fascination with computers and retro games. I've built a computer from scratch and I've taken apart 2 computers. I've also taken apart a keyboard.

But soldering is something I wanna do. I'm a little nervous about it. I might do it though. Any advice?

Capeman

@itsnitro Of all the regrets i have in my setup, i am most disappointed that I didnt get an iron with a flexible cable, the cable on mine is like a standard AC cable, it's stiff, tangles a lot and tends to get in the way.

Other than that, though the precision seems tempting, don't use fine point tips (use the wedge style). Get thin solder with flux built in, and get soldering iron tip cleaner with the mesh that looks like gold brillo pads.

Also watch lots of videos on youtube, there are some really good teachers out there. Collin's lab videos, sponsored by Adafruit, are pretty good. https://learn.adafruit.com/collins-lab-soldering/video

Capeman

Ok, so i bought the ebay power button that was mentioned above. There is one comparison that i can make to the Petrock Powerblock.

When the petrock powerblock shuts down, it seems to run a longer process, I am not sure what this process is or why it's needed (i'm guessing its a script that cleanly exits emulation station so that all xml files are saved? Maybe a dev can elaborate on this). But it takes upwards of 20 seconds to fully turn off.

The ebay IR power HAT seems to simply send a SUDO HALT command to the pi, which supposedly safely shuts it off, but does so in a pretty abrupt way. I am not sure if this is safe for a retropie installation, considering it's a software shutdown that probably instantly crashes out all running apps, it's probably still safer than pulling the plug because nothing will be "interrupted" but it seems odd that it shuts off this quickly.

This seems to be the same speed shutdown as the single button GPIO method detailed in the video by ETAprime in a previous post. Can anyone elaborate on if this is a safe way to shutdown?