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Video, Power and SD ports

A project log for OverPi: Overpowered Raspberry Pi Media Center

An absolutely excessive, pointless but incredibly fun project & a valuable learning experience

shinshin 12/18/2017 at 14:320 Comments

I love the Raspberry Pi, and while the it's for the best that they are, the HDMI, Audio and Power ports being on the side make them difficult to work with and integrate into a case. A lot of the time, projects can become a bit like spaghetti with cables coming out both sides which is something I absolutely want to avoid in the OverPi.
To solve this, I'm rerouting the HDMI and USB connector to the back of the case. Additionally, I will be redirecting the SD card there too.

For the HDMI, I purchased this interesting HDMI cable (I contacted them for a custom A-3 to A-Female cable). I'm excited to try it as it seems like an ideal, low-profile solution, way better than soldering a new connection or something.


For the USB connector, I purchased this Micro-USB breakout board. It will be very simple and cheap to connect to the Pi's GPIO 5v and ground ports. I am investigating adding some spike to this solution though, as it can be somewhat risky to power via the GPIO without it.
Finally, I purchased this interesting gadget on eBay for rerouting the SD card slot. I chose a 25cm cable, which is way too long, but I should be able to shorted it. Alternatively, I think there will be enough room in the case to tuck the excess away. I am planning to lose the plastic casing and just mount the slot itself in the case myself.
That's it for this update. I'm currently working on my case design, which I should be able to share soon.

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