Next gen HAT design

Hey @CamDavidsonPilon, I’m just wondering how much you’re able to share on the next iteration of the HAT that you’ve mentioned a couple of times, fine if it’s secret. I’m toying with the idea of designing a HAT or similar that will take and distribute 24V power over RJ45 and control using modbus for a more industrial-friendly thing for probes, pumps, motors etc. vs i2c and dupont cables. Ideally only one source of power for the whole thing. Currently there’s a jack for 12V power on the HAT, and the Pi needs separate power, but I think you said the new HAT would transform this down to 5V to power the Pi potentially?

Hi @noahsprent,

We can share some details, yup:

  1. The entire Pioreactor will be powered from a single USB-C on the HAT. The USB-C negotiates with the PSU for 12V, ~2.25 A, and we transform this to 5V to feed into the Raspberry Pi. The existing barrel connector is being removed.
  2. The PWMs will have access to the 12V, and will have the same connectors as the existing HAT. The PWMs also are controlled by an H-bridge, and one can control the PWM output forwards or backwards.
  3. Stemma QT stays as we plan to keep using this ecosystem
  4. LED channels going from four outputs to three outputs

That’s all I can share currently!

Epic thanks! Given how cheap these things are to get made I’ll build for the current one then can update the next one with a USB-PD controller, but nothing else will fundamentally change