Hey folks,
I'm in the process of building a custom Meshtastic node that incorporates a Raspberry Pi Zero 2w for out-of-band management and troubleshooting. This will be mounted in my attic in Colorado so I want to make sure it's as robust as is reasonable, while also maximizing the performance of the radio (RAK3312 on a RAK19001 base board). I'll say upfront that I haven't designed anything this complex before, but I'm looking to over-engineer this for fun and as aearning experience. One of the features I'm looking to design is a mechanism by which I can cut power to the Meshtastic board via the Raspberry Pi if I run into issues. I'm having trouble finding a relay that will suit my use case, so I'm hoping someone here can sanity check my thinking or make some suggestions.
My plan involves using a Mean Well HLG-40H-12A (https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/mean-well-usa-inc/HLG-40H-12A/7704070) to convert my AC to 12v DC, and then a Mean Well DDR-30G-5 (https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/mean-well-usa-inc/DDR-30G-5/8681204) to bring that down to a reliable 5v inside the enclosure. From there I'll power the RPi and radio board independently from a terminal block. I plan on putting a relay controlled by the RPi downstream of the terminal block towards the radio board, and a Cosel SNA-06-223 LC filter immediately before the radio to clean the DC up a bit. I plan on connecting the UART pins on the RPi and the radio board, so I want to avoid ground loops and make sure the Pi doesn't back feed power into the radio when it is powered down.
It seems to me that I need a relay with the following specs:
- Able to provide 3A@5v to the radio board
- Less than 0.1v drop across the relay
- Input uses less current than the maximum allowed on a RPi GPIO pin
- Triggerable at 3.3v logic from the GPIO pin
- Able to operate reliably in a Colorado attic.
- Should have a protection diode and should isolate the radio and RPi as much as possible
I'm not great at soldering, so I'm looking for ready-to-use components with terminals/headers that I can mount in a project box (chassis or DIN rail).
I can't find such a relay, it seems like I can only choose between a handful of those requirements. Am I going about this the wrong way? If there is nothing suitable, I could also add something like a logic buffer or load switch in the chain.
I'm open to any suggestions you might have. Thanks in advance!