Super Watchdog HAT with UPS Battery Backup for Raspberry Pi
Supports Li-Ion, Li-Poly, Li3PO4, LiFePO4, Na-Ion batteries; 5V or 10-24V Power Supply; Overheating Protection.
FEATURES
Enhancements in the latest release:
- Charging can be stopped with a software command at any time
- Wide power supply: 5V or 10-24V with separate connectors
- Provides 4A continuous or 5A peak to Raspberry Pi
- Breakable PCB for one or two 18650 Li-Ion batteries
NEW: MULTI-CHEMISTRY SUPPORT
- Software selectable for virtually all types of 18650 batteries
- Supports Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion), Lithium-Polymer (Li-Poly), Lithium-Phosphate (Li3PO4), Lithium-Iron-Phosphate (LiFePO4), and Sodium Ion (Na-Ion) cells
- Voltage limit during charging is software settable to 3.5V, 3.6V, 3.7V, 4.05V, 4.1V, 4.2V, 4.35V and 4.4V.
Also from the previous version:
- Enhanced battery charger provides up to 700mA charging current
- Charge and Standby status LEDs
- Battery overheating protection
- Sockets for two Li-Ion 18650 batteries
- A must for all RPI mission-critical installation
- Cycle RPI power after software lock-up
- Prevent SD Card damage during power outages
- On board battery charger, step-up converter, and intelligent power monitor
- Double power supply jacks: USB-C and pluggable 3.5mm connector
- Provide up to 5A/5V power to Raspberry Pi from Li-Ion Battery
- Uses only I2C port (address 0x30) leaving all GPIO pins available
- Works with any Raspberry Pi from ZERO to 5
- ECCN Code EAR99
- On board resettable fuse
- On board reset pushbutton
- Command Line Interface
- Python Library
ERRATA
The 24V power connector is labeled on the silkscree 10V-32V. This connector accepts power from 10V to 24V maximum.
DESCRIPTION
Based on customer's suggestions, the Super Watchdog has been redesigned. The latest Version 9 has significant improvements:
- Dual socket for 2x 18650 batteries
- Battery overheating circuit which cuts charging if the battery temperature increases
- Better (faster) charghing circuit
- NEW: 10-24V Input Power Supply for Industrial Applications
- Step Down converted can supply 4A continuous and 5A peak to Raspberry Pi
- Breakable PCB for space-restricted applications where one battery is enough
- Software command to stop charging. You can monitor the charging voltage and stop charging when the battery achieves a preset limit.
If you use your Raspberry Pi for any mission-critical project, you need the Super-Watchdog HAT with battery backup. The watchdog is the same size as Raspberry Pi (85 x 56mm) and packs a lot of functions.
The card provides the safety required by mission-critical projects, implementing two major functions. It power-cycles the Raspberry Pi in case of software lock-up, resetting not only the Pi but also any peripheral attached to it, and it prevents SD-Card failure in case of power loss, by allowing the Raspberry Pi to shut down itself safely.
The Super Watchdog HAT has a default timeout of 120 seconds. Once installed, if it does not receive a reset from Raspberry Pi within 2 minutes, it cuts the power and restores it after 10 seconds.
Raspberry Pi needs to issue a reset command before the timer on the watchdog expires. The command can be sent either on the I2C port or by toggling GPIO11 ( Pin 23 on the GPIO connector). The timer period after power-up and the active timer period can be set from the command line. The number of resets is stored in flash and can be accessed or cleared from the command line.
COMPATIBILITY
The HAT is compatible with all Raspberry versions B+, 2, 3, 4, 5 and Zero. The card shares the I2C bus using only two of the Raspberry Pi’s GPIO pins to manage all eight cards. This feature leaves the remaining 24 GPIOs available for the user.
POWER REQUIREMENTS
The Super Watchdog HAT can be powered by 5V or 10-24V power supplies. Five volts supply can be provided through a pluggable connector or a USB Type-C port. Ten to 24V can be provided on a separate pluggable connector. IMPORTANT: In order to operate, the watchdog must supply the power to the Raspberry Pi.
BATTERY OPERATION
Two 18650 Li-Ion batteries (not provided) can keep the Raspberry Pi running for hours, assuring continuous operation during power outages. When running on battery power, the Watchdog processor monitors the battery voltage. To prevent permanent damage to the battery due to over-discharging, the processor will cut off the power to Raspberry Pi when the battery drops below 2.8V. A software command is available to the user to also monitor the battery voltage. It is strongly recommended that Raspberry Pi performs a self-shutdown and then the battery voltage drops below 3.0V.
SELF TEST
The Super Watchdog HAT has on board hardware to self-check all the major functions. Self-check is performed at each power-up. The on-board LED is flashed rapidly (5 times per second) if a hardware error is detected, or slowly (1 time per second) to indicate normal functionality. The LED is turned on if the Watchdog HAT resets the Raspberry Pi, and off if the Raspberry Pi is powered down for a specific time interval.
PUSH-BUTTON
Version 6 of the Super Watchdog HAT has an onboard pushbutton that can be read by the local processor, which in turn can interrupt the Raspberry Pi. The push button can be used to shut down or reset the Raspberry Pi without a keyboard and monitor. A 2-pin jumper parallel to the pushbutton permits to installation of the pushbutton at a remote location when Raspberry Pi is installed in an enclosure
BOARD LAYOUT
DOWNLOADS
SOFTWARE
SOFTWARE INTERFACES
You can write your own application using the Command Line or Python Libraries provided. Python application example is provided.
YOUR KIT
1. Super Watchdog HAT for Raspberry Pi
2. Mounting hardware and connectors
QUICK START
- Plug your card on top of your Raspberry Pi and power up the system from the watchdog.
- Enable I2C communication on Raspberry Pi using raspi-config.
- Install the wdt software from github.com:
- ~$ git clone https://github.com/SequentMicrosystems/wdt-rpi.git
- ~$ cd /home/pi/wdt-rpi
- ~/wdt-rpi$ sudo make install
- ~/wdt-rpi$ wdt
The program will respond with a list of available commands.
Customer Reviews
This multi chemistry super watch dog is amazing! I have been a big fan of LiFePo4 batteries for a while for their safety but this will also run on Sodium-ion cells. I am very impressed! This hat can power a Raspberry pi 5 and a 10” screen at 65% brightness. The sample scripts are super useful with data logging already setup to simplify integration. An absolute necessity for Codesys applications using persistent memory but also super useful for 1 button appliance style shut down.
This is a great article. I will use it for my industrial control classes. Please change the order of the wires in the 24 V connector or use the same order for all hats (industrial automation hat v4 in my case), so we can change the plug from one hat to another without problem (I burned my 24 V connection because of that). And a 24 V reverse voltage protection could be a plus for a new version.
Watchdog works as expected. Two 18650 of 5Ah each can power my Raspberry Pi for many hours. Very useful HAT
While I like the Watchdog, it mostly does what it is supposed to do, the documentation is only for version 6.0, while I have Version 7.0
Also, not all details about the behaviour are well explained, e.g. how to do a clean shutdown of the raspberry disabling the watchdog, and how to turn it back on afterwards through an external button.
The Super Watchdog is a great product. I use the previous version productively in my private home automation environment. In the event of a power outage, it keeps my Raspberry Pi4 running for 2.5 hours before shutting it down. After the voltage returns, it restarts it.
Very reliable and professional.
