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Raspberry Pi PiCoolFAN4 User Manual

Advanced active cooling system
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PiCoolFAN4
Firmware Code 0x14
Print Date 10.11.2019
4
PiCoolFan
Advanced Active Raspberry Pi® Cooling System
with Hardware RTC
user LEDs, Sounder, Relay, IR and 1-wire interface
User Guide
Designed for the Raspberry Pi® 4 Model B
Compatible with
All former models of Raspberry Pi®
"Raspberry Pi" is a trademark of the Raspberry Pi® Foundation
Designed by
www.pimodules.com
manufactured in co-operation with
www.thepihut.com

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Summary of Contents for Raspberry Pi PiCoolFAN4

  • Page 1 LEDs, Sounder, Relay, IR and 1-wire interface User Guide Designed for the Raspberry Pi® 4 Model B Compatible with All former models of Raspberry Pi® “Raspberry Pi” is a trademark of the Raspberry Pi® Foundation Designed by www.pimodules.com manufactured in co-operation with www.thepihut.com...

  • Page 2: Table Of Contents

    PiCoolFAN4 Firmware Code 0x14 Print Date 10.11.2019 Contents SYSTEM OVERVIEW ............................... 3 ................................3 NTRODUCTION FAN 4 PCB L ............................4 AYOUT SET UP PROCEDURE ............................... 5 ’ ? ..............................5 S IN THE ................................6 SSEMBLY ................................. 8 SING A EATSINK BASIC FUNCTIONALITY ............................

  • Page 3: System Overview

    (‘hard’ cooling) or gradual changes in speed in-line with temperature changes (‘mild’ cooling). The PiCoolFAN4 does not use any GPIO pins - all communication with the Raspberry Pi is via I C. This leaves your GPIO pins free for your projects or other HATs, which can be stacked with the PiCoolFAN4.

  • Page 4: Picoolfan 4 Pcb Layout

    PiCoolFAN4 Firmware Code 0x14 Print Date 10.11.2019 PiCoolFAN 4 PCB Layout Designed by www.pimodules.com manufactured in co-operation with www.thepihut.com...

  • Page 5: Set Up Procedure

    Set up Procedure What’s in the Bag? This package comes with everything you need to start using the PiCoolFAN4 right out of the box. It’s assembled, tested and contains all required accessories. Minor assembly is required by the user and no soldering is necessary.

  • Page 6: Kit Assembly

    PiCoolFAN4 Firmware Code 0x14 Print Date 10.11.2019 Kit Assembly 1. Cut the bag on upper side by scissors and remove components from the bag: 2. Place the fan on the top of the PCB with the cable to the right. It is important to place the fan this way, as there are slots on the PCB matching the fan position.
  • Page 7 PiCoolFAN4 Firmware Code 0x14 Print Date 10.11.2019 3. Turn the PCB and fan over, and screw the first two screws in opposing corners as per the image below. At this stage there is no need to full tighten the screws, just a couple of turns in order to keep the fan in place.

  • Page 8: Using A Heatsink

    Screw the 4 x 7mm spacers to the rear of the PCB with the provided nuts as per the image below: 7. Fit your PiCoolFAN4 on to the Raspberry Pi 4. For basic usage there is no need for any software installation.

  • Page 9: Basic Functionality

    Temperature step (tstep) = 1 Note: More information on these values and Cooling Profiles can be found on page 13 Fan LEDs The PiCoolFAN4 is equipped with 3 System LEDs (Blue, Green, and Red) which are also enabled at this factory default state: •...

  • Page 10: Identifying The Current Setup

    Print Date 10.11.2019 Identifying the Current Setup A simple script is provided which indicates the current setup alongside temperature readings. The scripts can be downloaded at the following address and should be moved to the Raspberry Pi home directory: https://pimodules.com/download/picoolfan4-daemons-and-python-scripts The user will likely need to enable I C at this stage.

  • Page 11: Tuning The Factory Default Temperature Threshold

    - this can be achieved easily with the provided software. Users who are not using a case with their Raspberry Pi are also strongly advised to tune the fan threshold. Remember: The PiCoolFAN4 temperature sensor is 3.5mm above the Raspberry Pi CPU. It is not a direct reading from the Raspberry Pi’s CPU temperature sensor (although this can also be set up –...
  • Page 12 40°C, however the user can change this to whatever value is right for their requirements. Remember, in this scenario based on the factory default setup, we’re setting the PiCoolFAN4’s temperature sensor reading for the threshold. Should you wish to use the Raspberry Pi’s internal temperature sensor as the threshold sensor, see page 18.

  • Page 13: Advanced Functionality

    Print Date 10.11.2019 Advanced Functionality This section will guide the user in using the advanced functionality of the PiCoolFAN4, such as configuring the software to use the Raspberry Pi’s temperature sensor, changing the cooling mode (hard or mild), adjusting the temperature threshold, fan speed changes and more.

  • Page 14: Cooling Profile Parameters

    Users can change any one (or all) of these parameters to customize cooling to their exact needs. All changes are stored in the EEPROM i.e. the settings are saved, even when the Raspberry Pi is turned off and on again.
  • Page 15 PiCoolFAN4 Firmware Code 0x14 Print Date 10.11.2019 Ttemp and Tstep Ttemp defines the temperature threshold to be used in the cooling profile. Tstep defines the number of steps (temperature in degrees) it takes to increase/decrease fan speed to the next range.
  • Page 16 PiCoolFAN4 Firmware Code 0x14 Print Date 10.11.2019 Here is an example of Ttemp set to 45°C and Tstep set to 2: Designed by www.pimodules.com manufactured in co-operation with www.thepihut.com...

  • Page 17: How To Set A Cooling Profile & Parameters

    -y 1 0x60 0x0f 0xaa && sudo i2cset -y 1 0x60 0x08 0x10 In this example, the setting is 0x10 which uses the PiCoolFAN4 sensor and a Hard cooling profile. Other smode settings can be seen in the table on page 14. Setting Ttemp...

  • Page 18: Using The Raspberry Pi Temperature Sensor

    PiCoolFan4 sensor is not practical. Enable the daemon To enable the software to use the Raspberry Pi sensor as the temperature monitor (as part of the cooling profile), the following steps are required: 1. Copy provided python pcf4.py script to the root directory, if not already done so.
  • Page 19 Once this service is activated, the user has the option to use both Cooling Profiles (Mild or Hard) based on the Raspberry Pi temperature sensor (see page 13). Note: Even with the Daemon running, the user can still use the PiCoolFAN4 internal sensor if desired. Note: To check your current system setup, please see page 10 Designed by www.pimodules.com...

  • Page 20: Low Noise Fan Cooling Techniques

    3. Never select the ttemp (threshold temperature) at a very low level. This will cause the fan to run at full speed for no reason. 4. Remember that even if your fan is running at low speed, The PiCoolFAN4 is a smart device, and if needed, will run the fan at 100% speed (if temperatures hit that level).

  • Page 21: I2C Address Table

    PiCoolFAN4 Firmware Code 0x14 Print Date 10.11.2019 C Address Table This table details the I C addresses used for the various features/setting for the PiCoolFan4: Address Name Explanation Core Raspberry Pi temperature – user by software (Daemon) to provide exact Raspberry Pi temperature if Raspberry Pi sensor is configured to be used.

  • Page 22: Additional Feature Setup

    The most frequently used is the Hardware Battery Backed Real Time Clock. Follow below description in order to make it easy used on your system. After plug-in the PiCoolFAN4 and start the Raspberry Pi, you can see existing the following addresses on the I...
  • Page 23 PiCoolFAN4 Firmware Code 0x14 Print Date 10.11.2019 In order to make the HW RTC installed follow the below procedure step by step. 1. Ensure to run below line sudo apt-get -y install i2c-tools 2. Edit by running the following line...
  • Page 24 # exit 0 11. Run date to verify the time is correct. 12. Plug in Ethernet or WiFi (if not plugged before) to let the Raspberry Pi sync the right time from the Internet. Once that's done, run: sudo hwclock -w 13.

  • Page 25: Sound Generation System

    Print Date 10.11.2019 Sound Generation System The PiCoolFAN4 can be optionally equipped with Simple Sound Generation System. It is can be used dedicated user applications offering the whole range of acoustic frequencies full programmable by user. There is 1 register bfreq that are responsible for the generating sound. The user needs to enter the requested frequency and just after that, sounder will be generated it.

  • Page 26: High Current Relay

    It is absolutely not allowed to use the Integrated Relay for switching 220 V AC at any current, even very low due to security reasons. For PiCoolFAN4 I/0 Embedded Handler (User LEDs and Relay) is using a common register, that each bit is dedicated to different I/O device. Therefore bit 2 is assigned to the Relay.

  • Page 27: User Leds

    PiCoolFAN4 Firmware Code 0x14 Print Date 10.11.2019 User LEDs The PiCoolFAN4 is standard equipped with 2 LEDs for user applications: Green and Red. They can be switched ON or OFF each one respectively. Therefore bit 0 and 0 and 1 is assigned to the user LEDs.

  • Page 28: Infra-Red Receiver Interface

    4 pin header and put the jumper on the place BL. Then restart the system. Alternatively you can short the RS pins if not like to restart the system – this will cause reset of PiCoolFAN4 and enter the bootloader.

  • Page 29: Setting Factory Defaults

    PiCoolFAN4 Firmware Code 0x14 Print Date 10.11.2019 Setting Factory Defaults There is a Factory Defaults set, that user can recall at any time. The Factory Defaults are the following: • Smode=00 • Ttemp=55 (changed in the new firmware v1.3 to 50) •...

  • Page 30: Bootloader Operations

    C address. On such request user need to make sure that required firmware as also bootloader script is located on the Raspberry Pi root, and if so, execute the following command. Always replacing the PiCoolFAN.hex with a current name of the firmware release.
  • Page 31 Serial Port activation and checking In order to use bootloader, user need to have activated and free Serial Port on Raspberry Pi. The below procedure is showing how to make sure that Serial Port is free and available for Bootloader process.
  • Page 32 PiCoolFAN4 Firmware Code 0x14 Print Date 10.11.2019 Finally, our UART is enabled for Serial Communication on RX and TX pin of Raspberry Pi. Then, reboot the Raspberry Pi. Designed by www.pimodules.com manufactured in co-operation with www.thepihut.com...

  • Page 33: Using Different I2C Address

    PiCoolFAN4. The available addresses are the 0x30, 0x40, and 0x50. All handling of the PiCoolFAN4 is identical, the only changes are needed are to bootload new firmware addressed to selected new address. Due to ultra-small memory footprint on the used micro controller (due to price reasons) in the PiCoolFAN4, there is no space to implement I C selection on a single firmware.

  • Page 34: Common Problems & Solutions

    Raspberry Pi is closed in a case (especially in the official one), however it could be too high (so fan not activate) for Raspberry Pi running alone outside of case. Then user need to decrease this threshold to 50 °C or even 45 °C, to have a proper cooling process. Such post installation process is needed in order to set the best threshold temperature for your exact system.
  • Page 35 During boot loading process system hang up (or for any reason and not completed uploading) The implemented in the PiCoolFAN4 bootloader is very secure. If the bootloaded new firmware not finished successfully, PiCoolFAN4 will not start. Will wait for repeated loading until completed properly.

  • Page 36: Document Revisions

    PiCoolFAN4 Firmware Code 0x14 Print Date 10.11.2019 Document Revisions Version Date Modified Sections Comments N.A. 02/09/2019 N.A. First Preliminary Public Document Release N.A. 06/09/2019 N.A. Updated Version N.A. 05/11/2019 Corrected some mistakes in the No update firmware released – as not needed manual text.

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