CarPiHAT PRO – Car Interface + DAC for Raspberry Pi [Discontinued]

The CarPiHAT PRO offers the same core functionality as the standard CarPiHAT, whilst also integrating a high-quality audio DAC!

This removes the need for an additional DAC HAT or a USB-based DAC and offers a true all-in-one solution for automotive Raspberry Pi projects. This all-in-one approach also reduces space requirements, an important factor in automotive projects.

The CarPiHAT PRO is equipped with a 192kHz/24bit Burr-Brown digital-to-analog converter, offering best-in-class sound quality for your next OpenAuto installation.

PLEASE NOTE: PCB colour may vary between batches (black or green).

Plus the Standard CarPiHAT Features

The HAT includes a 12V to 5V buck converter to power your Raspberry Pi and touchscreen, safe shutdown circuitry, a low (< 1mA) current draw when switched off, dedicated reverse/illumination/aux 12V inputs, 2x general-purpose opto-isolated 12V inputs (5 in total), 2x high current high side switched 12V outputs (@1A) ideal for switching relays/lights, an independent CAN bus port, RTC, I2C bus, 1W for temperature sensors etc and 5V out for displays and other components.

The HAT conforms to the official Raspberry Pi specification and is compatible with any Raspberry Pi with the 40 pin GPIO header, although it is primarily designed for use with non-zero variants.

The HAT comes with a 6-way Molex NanoFit pigtail, standoffs and screws. It’s available with or without a shroud+cooling fan (please select an option before adding to basket). We also stock  Molex NanoFit 4-way pigtails compatible with the board’s connectors, for making easy terminations to existing wiring (useful for connections such as I2C, CAN etc).

Need more IO? Check out the CarPiHAT IO Expander!

Features

• 12V -> 5V buck converter to power the Pi and touchscreen, with fuse and filtering
• Safe shutdown circuitry to allow the pi to control its own power
• High Quality Audio DAC
• < 1mA current draw when switched off
• Dedicated reverse, illumination and aux 12V inputs.
• 2 general purpose 12V inputs (for a total of 5 12V inputs)
• 2 high current, high side switched 12V outputs (@1A – great for switching relays, lights etc)
• 1 independent CAN bus port
• Real-time clock to maintain system time across reboots
• Broken out I2C bus
• Broken out 1W for temperature sensors etc
• 5V Power Output for displays and other 5V devices
• Optional: protective shield

Who might use a CarPiHAT Pro?

Any situation where you require high-quality audio output from the Raspberry Pi in an automotive (or other 12V) environment. Particularly useful in situations where the additional size of a CarPiHAT + DAC stack would be prohibitive.

Since the HAT allows the Raspberry Pi to take control of its own power supply, this means corrupted SD cards (due to unexpected power loss) are a thing of the past! A simple script, or service, running on the Pi allows you to monitor a 12V feed, and gracefully shut down when this is removed.

At a more advanced level, the additional peripherals on the HAT would allow you to connect any number of inputs or outputs to the system. The 12V outputs allow you to control lights, amplifiers, relays, solenoids, you name it! The CAN port allows the connection of an IDrive controller for a great human interface experience, or even interrogate your car’s ECU with some custom software. The I2C and 1W ports allow you to connect any number of external devices such as light, temperature or environmental sensors, or even external microcontrollers!

There’s a project log and inspiration page here including a link to the designer’s very own project build.

How to use the CarPiHAT?

The designer has set up a GitHub page with full information (see sidebar), including a Quick Start Guide to get you started. The BlueWave Studio forum is also a useful resource.

DAC Setup

The CPH Pro contains a high quality digital to analog converter IC, that allows for much higher quality audio output than the native 3.5mm jack on the Raspberry Pi. The easiest way to enable the DAC is by using the ‘HiFiBerry’ dtoverlay, as below:

Add the following to ‘/etc/modules’

dtoverlay=hifiberry-dacplus

Pinout

Package Contents

• 1x CarPiHAT Pro Board
• 1x 6-way Molex NanoFit Pigtail
• 4x Metal Standoffs
• 4x Metal Screws
• OPTIONAL (select before adding to cart): Protective Shroud + Cooling Fan