GROVE connector - still powered when StickC (orange) is turned off?
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I have two StickC devices. One of them, when turned off, cuts power to the GROVE connector. The other one keeps power to the GROVE connector. Why are they behaving differently, and which one is correct?
Also, is this something that can be configured in software as I need both to cut power to the GROVE connector when powered off.
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I have the very first m5stickC from the $1 limited trial version. The way mine operates is that when it is off (long hold the power button for 6 seconds), there is ~3.8 Volts on the top Extendable Socket 5V Out pin and ~3.8 Volts on the Grove connector. When powered on, it's ~5 Volts on both. Whether this is correct or not, I have no idea. My guess is that power on those ports when the m5stickC is off is due to the internal battery. If I measure the internal battery voltage using a uiFlow program, then power off the m5StickC and read the voltage of the Extendable Socket with a multimeter, they are about the same.
The m5stickC has gone through several hardware revisions per the Version Change table on this link, but there is not a lot of detail.
Mine (SH200Q version) looks like this one and doesn't even have the two screw mounting holes in the back near the grove connector.
These must be the two newer versions. The picture shows two different back labels
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Thanks for the info. The voltages I'm seeing on the GROVE connector when powered on, and powered off match with what your StickC is outputting. I have four StickC devices, only one of which cuts power fully to the GROVE connector when powered off. After opening the cases, the one device that behaves differently actually has a different colour PCB (it's a yellow colour, compared to red for the others). The components on the PCB are also different. The red PCB's also have a silk screen logo on them saying M5Stick which is missing from the yellow PCB. Either the yellow PCB, which is behaving differently, is a copy, or it's a different hardware revision. However, all four have the MPU6886 which suggests they are later revisions, but clearly there's different PCB designs, presumably from different factories maybe?
Since I need the GROVE connector to power down when turned off, and I am happy to just have a 3.3v output at that connector, I've snipped the 5v pin to isolate it, then soldered a jumper wire from the 3v3 pin on the PCB to it. I now have 3.3v on the GROVE connector, which also looses power when the device is turned off. It's a bit of a hassle doing this modification, but at least it solves the problem. I hope in future versions, the StickC will disable power to the GROVE connector when powered off, otherwise any attached devices will run down the battery when not in use,
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Did you buy all four from the same vendor? If not, then one might be a clone/copy/non-official version. You could send a picture of it to m5stack support and see what they say. Also, from what I have seen over the last few years, you'll get faster responses sending a tweet to @m5stack on Twitter. Jimmy (m5stack owner) is very active on Twitter. These forums are monitored by m5stack employees, but they aren't always super responsive.
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Hi, can you post pictures of the yellow PCB to the Different board versions topic? I'm going to copy the pics of @world101 there.
