Turning it off

diegzumillo

Hey all
About turning the pi off, I noticed that if I turn the system off through the software, the whole thing shuts down but there are still some lights on. Is it really off?

If at all possible I really don't want to buy power block. As useful as it may look, I find it expensive.

opensourcefan

With the latest update only the red light should stay on. If you have a fresh 3.7 image of which I have no idea... both the green and the red led's will stay on solid.

Finhead

@diegzumillo
If your going to run a cabinet IMO a power switch is really the way to go, if not yes as @opensourcefan said you should only have a red light if on the latest build.
This is what I bought for my cabinet build, just another option

diegzumillo

OK, so it's just the LED then. I can live with that.
On the subject of avoiding power block, any idea what would the easiest way to implement turning on/off functionality? Let's say I wire a button to turn off the system through software, then to turn it back on I have to unplug and plug back, right? Tricky...

The best way I an think is to have two buttons. One works as ON and Reset, the other as off. Ideally they would be the same. Maybe power block is necessary after all.

diegzumillo

@Finhead It's for a handheld. I'm actually considering just a regular switch to cut the power. Considering it's only for playing emulators the risk of corrupting system files should be... very small? I hope. As long as I don't turn it off while it's saving state, opening or closing anything, it should be fine I guess. Right?

glennlake

@diegzumillo If you want to add a switch to your Pi, check out this site on just how to do it. https://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-78055/l/adding-a-shutdown-button-to-the-raspberry-pi-b

diegzumillo

I almost didn't click on that article, thinking it was just wiring a switch. But the first comment is VERY useful! it says that grounding GPIO pin 3 starts the pi! so you could use the same button for turning it on and off. I tried here and it works :)

glennlake

@diegzumillo You can make the same button work as on and off by changing the python script from gpio 18 (pin 12) to gpio 3 (pin 5).

diegzumillo

I know. It's great! Not going to need power block after all.