Pi Desktop Case

For those with an interest there’s a stylish black case for the Rasberry Pi 3 now available form Element 14 for £40

It includes:

• intelligent and Safe Power Controller
• Interface to connect mSATA SSD (upto 1TB)
• Real Time Clock to keep track of time
• Heat Sink
• Enclosure

Here’s the link

I’d love to see some disassembly pictures.

Ooh, that’s really nice! Almost a commercially available version of the ill-fated but very nice PlusBerry Pi. I’m assumung that the mSATA is connected using the “lined-off” USB port with an adaptor taking the connection back in to the mSATA using the what-looks-like a MicroUSB connector above it?

It’ll be interesting to see what kind of current this needs. The PiSSD needs ≈4a to run reliably, so I’m guessing this will be similar.

I’m assumung that the mSATA is connected using the “lined-off” USB port with an adaptor taking the connection back in to the mSATA using the what-looks-like a MicroUSB connector above it?

Seems to be what the comments suggest, yes.

I’d love to see some disassembly pictures.

“Expected to ship in June”. I’m sure somebody will do a teardown once this things make it into the wild…

What I’d like is a solid state UPS that runs of the 5V supply and, in its absence, can switch over to a battery module.
I think I’ve found one here: https://m.banggood.com/Geekworm-UPS-HAT-Board-2500mAh-Lithium-Battery-For-Raspberry-Pi-3-Model-B-Pi-2B-B-A-p-1105260.html
Does anybody have experience of this?

Isn’t lithium a terrible battery for UPS?

Probably a trade off between service life (hopefully it won’t get used that often!) and size (Lithium = small, Lead acid = very much not small).

Lead acid = very much not small

You have to admire technology from mid-1800s still being used today.

Hmm that looks very similar to PiSSD from RISCOSbits :-).

Hmm that looks very similar to PiSSD from RISCOSbits :-).

Wouldn’t mind seeing pics inside that too

Cool case! It’s still just a case, but a nice one with some added functionality. Makes an RPi3 more friendly as a light desktop solution.

You have to admire technology from mid-1800s still being used today.

As time progresses they become even more obsolete yet they keep being used. Sure they can output high current for a little while, but they don’t like being discharged, have limited charge cycles, and fail in all sorts of ways.
Maybe I just have a chip on my shoulder about them because of the sheer number of failed car batteries I’ve had.

Probably a trade off between service life (hopefully it won’t get used that often!) and size (Lithium = small, Lead acid = very much not small).

For service life, what you want is nickel-iron. Also more tolerant of heavy discharge than lead-acid. But don’t even think about it for size! Makes lead-acid look compact. Lithium’s not bad for service life nowadays – better than lead-acid if you get significant numbers of power cuts. Lead-acid does well if it’s never deep discharged.

As time progresses they become even more obsolete yet they keep being used.

I’m not sure I agree with that. There are applications were lead-acid seems like the most balanced fit.

but they don’t like being discharged, have limited charge cycles

Fully discharging them isn’t ideal, but the technology is so simple it’s not hard to revive them. They do have lower charge cycles.

They’re cheap and reliable, rugged, tolerant to abuse, low impedance, world’s most recycled battery and are great for trickle or float charging over long periods.

Lithium’s not bad for service life nowadays – better than lead-acid if you get significant numbers of power cuts

But you would need a significant amount to decide lithium is best, no?

I’d probably choose something like this battery if I was building a UPS pcb. It will NOT be compatible with the OPs hat though. It only weighs 300gram and should be good for 30 mins under half-loaded Pi.

Edit: Fixed spelling mistakes caused by sleep inertia xD

But you would need a significant amount to decide lithium is best, no?

Yes – apart from the size issue, anyway.

Nice case, I hope it supplies enough power to overcome the Pi’s power droop issue and requirement for an external USB hub. Definitely going on my Christmas list.

This is also available:

http://www.riscosbits.co.uk/pissd.htm

I got one last Christmas and I’m very happy with it!.

The thing that I find odd about the Element 14 one is that it still has wires coming out from two sides. That would make it unusable for my purposes…

Jon: Not sure if it’s much consolation but I found the power droop issue can be largely rectified with a nice big capacitor between +5v and Gnd. It’s those instantaneous peak loads that cause issues. Even with a more than adequate power supply and a short cable it can be very borderline.
There is another issue I’ve found. Many cases allow the Micro USB cable to plug in and allow the Pi to operate, however they block the connector from going all the way in, severely limiting the available current. I had to whittle one USB cable’s connector surrounds and in another case lightly file the case hole for the USB connector.

The thing that I find odd about the Element 14 one is that it still has wires coming out from two sides. That would make it unusable for my purposes…

The problem is without a larger case you can’t reroute connections. I do find the photos of the Element 14 case rather misleading as it doesn’t show the USB link back cable (board?). I’ve also seen this problem on other Pi units. Some people have mistakenly concluded that the SATA drive was not USB connected.

After a quick scan of the Element 14 thread the case seems to have support for a “camera slot”. I’m not sure how useful that is, but it sounds interesting.