Pisugar2 Plus Portable Module Platform for Every Raspberry Pi 3B/3B+/4B Model Accessories handhold(Not Include Raspberry Pi)

This UPS is built well and modular. Meaning I can swap the battery if I want to upgrade it anytime or the battery wears out(and it will !!). Wish their UI was a bit better and exposed an API to set the custom button command from the cmd. I constantly need to wipe the whole RPi file system and restore all the tools & s/w back using my own script which basically sets up my RPi entirely. But every time I do this, I end up manually setting the custom command. But everything else works beautifully and even though a bit pricey i still love it.

This entire endeavor began when my VPN failed to reboot after a power outage while I was out of town. There are many great (and cheaper) UPS options for the Pi, but I was looking specifically for something that wouldn't interfere with cooling. This thing fits perfectly on the bottom of my Raspberry Pi 4 and allows me to keep my Ice Tower on top. I recommend the Pi Sugar software as it allows you to monitor the UPS as well as configure a safe shutdown. The software also includes a smart charging capability to save the battery. The UPS will automatically cycle charging/discharging and you're able to configure the percentage (default 80%).The Ice tower more than negates adding a heat source directly beneath the CPU. Although, to the touch, the Pi Sugar doesn't seem very warm. My Pi server is overclocked to 2 GHz, and it's running an Open Media Vault NAS, a Wireguard VPN, and a DoH Pi-hole. The temps are always under 30C. This is all overkill, but why not?

Pros: - I was able to stream youtube videos on a 5" attached display for about 90 minutes. I was able to leave the Pi on standby viewing the desktop via vnc for more than three hours, at hour 3 the battery was at 50% powering the Pi alone, no display.- It doesn't add much to the overall thickness of the device- It includes a handy magnetic situation to keep everything in place- You can charge it while it powers the Pi + display- It has custom functions via button- You can control battery behavior via a remote or local http address- Cheaper that PiJuice and much more battery capacityCons:- confusing instructions, you need to install this by installing the control board under the raspberry, with the control board powering the raspberry by making contact with the *underside* of the raspberry gpio pins. This contact is facilitated by the installed pogo pins that are put in direct contact with the short gpio pins (that appear on the bottom of the Pi)- See what I mean? That can be a little confusing. To make matters worse, the manufacturer published a video on youtube that purports to explain all of this, and it does a really bad job of doing so.- Not a knock on the company, but when you're using the included screws to secure the control board to the Pi and the gpio pins, you need to make sure you screw the screws from the top of the raspberry via unthreaded holes, into the control board, which has the threaded holes. Otherwise you will think you're done but the but then the whole thing falls apart because you did it backwards. Not that this happened to me, I am too smart for that, I just know a guy that this happened to, he lives in a different state. But it's not me, I wouldn't make such a rookie mistake. It was that guy I know. - You have to enable it by long pressing a button and even after that works you may need to long press that button again so make sure you don't install it in a way that the button us no longer reachable - it took that guy I mentioned in the above bullet point a long time to figure this out. - If you have fat fingers (which I don't, I just know a guy that does) the tiny switches you need to manipulate can lead to frustration. - Feel free to contact me if you need help

Great product, the only complaint will be that after I installed it would not work, on/off, nothing.... there is a very small "ACTIVATE" button in it that you will need to press before the storage work. I hope this helps.

To those who might be wondering if this thing can truly power off the Pi after a halt and stop your lcd backlight from staying on, the answer is yes, after some work and installing their 1.4.8 builds on github.The caveat vs the Pijuice is that you must connect a usb-c to the Pi AND the Pisugar in order for this to work, otherwise when power is restored the Pi will not power back on.The menu doesn't have any options to shutdown automatically when power is lost, but only when it reaches a certain percentage. For our application this is the functionality we need. To get this, you can query it's local api for power unplugged status to indicate a power loss, then call your graceful shutdown.There is a systemd script called pisugar-poweroff when called will actually power down the Pi - no more 5v or red LED.

It's possible my board is malfunctioning but beside that the layout isn't conducive to laying out into a custom case.I got this item to power a pi4 because it boasted solderless connections and i2c interfacing. The i2c interface works but I had to offload my other i2c device to another set of gpio pins and that caused a bunch of headaches with re-installing the software/drivers for that other device.The board I have may be malfunctioning but it doesn't "recognize" the battery when it is connected. It powers the pi4 with the battery connected but if I disconnect the battery and reconnect it, it needs wall power connected to "initialize" and then I have to use the on/off switch on the side of the board to toggle power.There is no way to breakout the power switch or the "activate" button so designing this into a custom case is more work than it needs to be. When the pi4 is shutdown it shuts all the way down. There is no way to use a gpio power button because this item kills all power on shutdown. The on/off switch requires a toggle to get power back to the pi.Nice idea, bad execution.