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microsoft / pxt-adafruit

Microsoft MakeCode editor for Adafruit Circuit Playground Express
https://makecode.adafruit.com
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Switch as hardware ON/OFF #149

Open pelikhan opened 7 years ago

pelikhan commented 7 years ago

Would it be possible to hardwire the switch to act as a physical on/off switch for the board?

One of the challenge with schools and batteries is that they constantly run out of juice: Kids forget to unplug the battery pack or they rip out the battery pack and eventually destroys the JST connector (some battery pack have switches but many cheap ones (like the micro:bit) don't).

Having a switch would provide a consistent way to avoid excessive use batteries/destroyed battery packages.

@Jaqster FYI

ladyada commented 7 years ago

the switch can't be a true on/off - cuz it doesnt connect directly to the power enable pin. but it can be used as a 'low power' switch, if you like, and put the device into sleep mode. only the green ON LED would be lit, probably about 3-5mA draw total. https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_SleepyDog has code for deep sleep modes

we found that when we did put a switch on the device, people couldn't reach it in an enclosure or project, so the battery packs we sell have on/off switches on purpose to avoid this problem! https://www.adafruit.com/product/3517 :)

pelikhan commented 7 years ago

Ok, deep sleep is also something that I wanted for a while. Like any good electronic toy, user should be able to say "turn off after 5 minutes of inactivity"

ladyada commented 7 years ago

ok let me know how integrating the sleep code goes - im open to using a 'brighter' (and more expensive) green LED but with a larger resistor so that the current draw goes down

i do recommend a MONSOON power meter for this kind of work: https://www.msoon.com/LabEquipment/PowerMonitor/ they are $ but really really worth it, i use mine weekly and it saves me a ton of time

pelikhan commented 7 years ago

No time yet but since there's a software solution, we're good here. No need to change the board.