PiPower5 isn't booting my RPi 5

Accessories for Raspberry Pi and Arduino
1

The RPi 5 seems to be getting power, but I suspect not enough to successfully run it. My router sees the RPi briefly, but I can’t access it with Putty and after about a minute, the listing disappears. My color vision isn’t good enough to tell what color the RPi LED is for sure - I think yellow and when I asked my wife, she said yellow-green, which was no help. I’ve tried two different 45W RPi power supplies and tried setting the PiPower5 switches to several settings with no success.

The RPi has the both the RPi Active Cooler and the RTC battery. There is also an offset to the GPIO header due to the Active Cooler. The OS is up-to-date and the RPi functions normally without the PiPower5.

If you have any suggestions of what I might do, or things to test (I have a multimeter), I would appreciate it.

2

Thank you for providing such detailed information – it is very helpful.From your description, the Raspberry Pi 5 itself appears to be fine, since it boots and runs fine without the PiPower5 connected.

Here is a summary of the current situation:PiPower5 connected: The Pi 5 starts briefly and is visible on your router for a short period.After about one minute: The device goes offline.SSH (PuTTY) connection: Not possible.

This indicates that the Pi 5 at least begins the boot process, but an issue occurs during startup.

To help us further diagnose the issue, could you please check the following items?

  1. Check the PiPower5 status LEDs
    Please observe the LEDs on the PiPower5 (a photo would be very helpful). Specifically:Is the PWR LED solid on?Is the BAT LED lit?How many battery level indicator bars are showing?This information will help us determine whether the PiPower5 is currently being powered by the external power supply or the battery.

  2. Check boot messages via HDMI monitor
    If possible, please connect an HDMI monitor to the Raspberry Pi 5. Compared to just watching the router list, the monitor can directly show:Whether an undervoltage warning appears,Whether a Kernel Panic occurs,Whether the boot process gets stuck at a particular stage
    This would provide very valuable information.

  3. Check the SDSIG jumper setting
    Please confirm that the SDSIG jumper is connected to the PI3V3 position as required for the Raspberry Pi 5. If convenient, please also take a photo of the current jumper settings on your PiPower5.

You mentioned trying different “switch settings.” Could you please clarify whether you are referring to:The Charge Power DIP switch settings?Or the Default ON / SDSIG jumper settings?
We want to confirm exactly which part you adjusted.

  1. Check the influence of the Active Cooler on GPIO connection
    You mentioned that you have the Raspberry Pi Active Cooler installed and that the GPIO header is offset in height. We suggest a simple test:Temporarily remove the Active Cooler,Connect the PiPower5 directly to the Raspberry Pi 5,Try to boot again

Poor GPIO contact can sometimes cause intermittent startup issues like this. (This is only for a short test and will not harm the Pi.)

  1. Measure the 5V voltage with a multimeter
    If you have a multimeter handy, please measure the voltage between:GPIO Pin 2 (5V) and Pin 6 (GND) Or GPIO Pin 4 (5V) and Pin 6 (GND)

Observe the voltage during the boot process. Under normal conditions, it should stay between approximately 5.0V and 5.3V. If the voltage drops significantly below 4.8V during startup, please let us know the measured value.

We look forward to your findings so we can continue troubleshooting.

3

Thanks for the quick reply. I’ll pursue these as I can – it should be fairly soon.

A couple of additional notes. The PiPower5 looks like it is functioning properly. The status lights are consistent with it working properly. I’ll provide additional info once I am able.

Using the monitor is a good idea. I usually run headless, but any info I can get from watching the monitor would be useful. I can look at the RPi 5 logs too, to see if there’s something useful there.

The SDSIG is set to PI3V3. The DIP switches I mentioned were the Charge Power DIP switches. I tried several settings with no success.

It is recommended to not remove the Active Cooler once installed as the risk of damage to the RPi exists. I would do that last, if at all. The RPi 5 would be too expensive to replace at current prices. I have some RPi 4s that I can check the PiPower5 with – that might be a most valuable next step. I am suspicious of the GPIO contact on the RPi 5, but the GPIO extender is really on tight. I’ll check the pins to see what voltage they are reporting.

Thanks again

4

I’ve gathered a lot of info, but perhaps the solution is very simple. I thought I was using a 45 W RPi power supply, and it turns out it’s the 27 W version. I think I have a 45 W supply around somewhere, but haven’t located it yet. Before we get much deeper, I’ll try a beefier power supply.

The OS does complain about lacking 5V at 5A. If the better supply doesn’t work, I’ll provide more info. If it does, I’ll check in to close this out.

Thanks!