“Those who are satisfied with MoPi2 have obviously not tested it properly.
What the MoPi2 _can_ do:
- convert some 6.5VDC or more to 5VDC for a Pi, when a power source is connected to either of X2 inputs
- read the voltages on X2
- cut power to the Pi after a delay of X+30 seconds
What the MoPi2 _cannot_ do:
* boot with less than some 9300mV on either X2 input
* read the voltage on X1
* charge a battery
* use the power from X1 when available to power the Pi
* save its settings in persistent memory (even when powered is maintained)
boot after X seconds (you will have to press the button on the MoPi)
* shutdown in less than 30 seconds
* reduce LED intensity or disable them (which would be useful for saving battery power) ; in particular D7 is strong enough to make your eyes twitch even in full daylight so I obscured it with some tape.
Additionally, the "mopi" dialog-based configuration is very awkward to use.
I have purchased three of these, all of which exhibit the same behavior. Reports in the bug tracker suggest the problem has been known for over a year without any sort of action from the project maintainer except notes such as "it should work". The project maintainer has obviously no interest in fixing his flawed design. He also has no interest in opening the firmware or full schematics to let other people fix it. This is so bad as him deliberately writing code (within simbamon, see lines 108-128) that actually uploads the user config to the board once after boot so as to make the user believe the config was saved on the MoPi. Evidence in the git repo shows the relevant code has been here since may 2014.
Although the software reports a firmware version, I have yet to see a trace of firmware upgrades and instructions on how to flash it. Until this is available, with the source code of the firmware and full schematics, I mark MoPi2 as BROKEN / FOR PARTS.”
“I have read good things about the MoPi Top hat device used to power a Raspberry Pi or act as as USB power supply. I can only look at the parts uninstalled as I have no written instructions to go by as of yet.
My portable 7 inch screen and container remain without some of the parts to make it active. I am waiting for a wireless keyboard and mouse, yet.
The unit arrived right after the email "is everything all right?" got to me today. I guess that is within the 10 day shipping range. (give or take). So USPS not withstanding, it actually got here ok on timing.
I think the delivery was fine. . . without a tracking number, I was kind of at the mercy of the USPS.”
“I have had a MoPi 1 for a few years now and been very happy with it.
So far the MoPi 2 seems to be just as good. And it works properly with a Pi 3! Been desperate for it for a while. I use it to allow me to power a Pi from the same 16 (2 Banks of 8) AA batteries that power my bot. Apart from this the ability to cleanly power off a headless Pi from a button is great.
2 comments. 1, it's a shame the power in ports are in a different place to the MoPi 1. This required some modifications to my wiring loom. This is not tragic and is not a problem for new installations. 2, the lack of pins on the GPIO is a pain. I purchased some extended length pins, but they are simply not long enough. I wish they were an added extra so I could have bought them at the same time, thus saving me postage and, more importantly, I could be sure they were long enough.
Overall a great bit of kit.”
