Reset, shut down and power switches for bar top arcade

cmscss

Hi There,

I've found videos/tutorials on this but they either don't do exactly what I'm after, or I'm totally confused! So sorry if this is easy.

I'm building a bar top arcade unit and would like:

A main power switch
A shutdown switch
A reset momentary switch (for safe reset)

The main power switch should be easy (I assume I just wire that from the main power cord) but I'm unsure how to setup the other switches.

Is there an easy tutorial out there for beginners which covers these sorts of buttons?

Or is there a board/PCB I should be buying which makes all this painless?

Any help or pointers in the right direction would be much appreciated.

Cheers

cyperghost

@cmscss You can take a look here - Multi Switch Shutdown Script!

This can be the software base for your build. But you decide if you want a switch that just cuts power on/off or a switch that can be triggered by software actions.
I've included several commands like --es-poweroff(to shutdown retropie) or --es-closeemu (to terminate running emulators only) that can be called by any software.

For first tries you can use the multi_switch script and use the --generic command. This watches GPIO3 for actions. So you connect just a switch to GPIO3 and to common ground. That's it you press the button and RetroPie will proper shutdown. If you want to power on then press the button again.
This state is just a "deep sleep" and no power cut.

The script supports also some other devices (power cut devices) like the Pimoroni OnOffShim, Mausberry, POLOLU, NESPi+ case....

Feel free to ask....

jamesnj

I use the RetroFlag NESPI case

It needs a strong power supply, I purchased this one

(I have no affiliation with either product)

This works well for me as a stand alone unit, and retroflag has a github repo with easy instructions to download and and install the power off/reset script. You could ignore the power supply power button and just use a regular power switch if desired. For a bar top unit you could just embed this whole unit into the case and relocate the switches to some desired location. The case also gives you extra USB ports which could be useful.

Just a thought

cmscss

@cyperghost Thank you for this much appreciated.

I was a bit confused by your 'deep sleep' comment. I'm looking for a safe way to shut down the Raspberry Pi before unplugging the power cable, does --es-poweroff do that?

Cheers

Ben

cyperghost

@cmscss Yes... the multi_switch.sh script always provides safe shutdowns.

Deepsleep happens if after shutdown the red LED still glows. So you need a power device that cuts power after shutdown. But no script can change the behaviour without the hardware parts.

But deep sleep is a very cheap alternative to those power devices. You may try it out ;) Just connect any switch to GPIO3 and ground (it's pin 5 and 6 on the Pie header) only this GPIO enables a repowering after shutdown ;)