This Handy Little Board Powers Your Raspberry Pi for an OctoPrint Setup

OctoPrint is fantastic open source software that lets you remotely monitor and control your 3D printer. If you have it configured to do so, you can view a live video feed of the current print on your smartphone and you can even start new print jobs. OctoPrint is intended to run on single-board computers and most people use a Raspberry Pi for the job. While the Raspberry Pi itself is very compact, you can end up with a mess of wiring once you add the power supply, camera, light control, and so on. That’s why SNR Tech Bytes designed this handy little board that powers your Raspberry Pi through your 3D printer.

If you’ve ever used a Raspberry Pi with a cheap smartphone charger, you know that it can be pretty finicky about power. If a Raspberry Pi is receiving even a tiny bit less voltage than it should, you’ll get that lightning bolt icon on the screen that indicates that it is underpowered. Anything less than that and the Raspberry Pi will simply turn off. That problem is exacerbated if you have peripherals connected, because the Raspberry Pi will require more current to power them.

This board completely eliminates that problem by providing plenty of current from your 3D printer’s power supply. That also means you can have nice, tidy wiring. As a bonus, the board lets you easily control your 3D printer enclosure’s LEDs and fans.

The most important components on the board are regulators that pull your 3D printer’s 24V power supply down to 5V for the Raspberry Pi and LEDs, and 12V for the fans. The 5V regulator can be adjusted to provide exactly the right voltage, since the Raspberry Pi works better when it is receiving slightly more than 5V. You can plug the Raspberry Pi into one of the USB power ports on the board and there are two extra ports you can use for peripherals like a webcam.

Additional plugs on the side of the board can be used to power fans and LEDs. The Raspberry Pi controls those through an Adafruit Metro Mini development board. There are also plugs that allow you to easily connect physical buttons, so you can control the lights and fans without having to go through the OctoPrint interface. They have even designed a simple little 3D-printed enclosure available to protect the board. SNR Tech Bytes isn’t currently selling this board, but they have made the files available on GitHub so that you can build your own.