SunFounder has sent us a sample of the Pironman 5 Pro Max tower PC case for Raspberry Pi 5 for review alongside a PiPower 5 UPS board. The “Pro Max” builds upon the Pironman 5 Max we reviewed last year, but adds a 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen display, a 5MP camera module, two speakers, a USB microphone, and a 3.5mm audio jack. The PiPower 5 is a UPS HAT designed for Raspberry Pi Zero/Model B single board computers, and not directly compatible with the Pironman cases, but we’ll still try to use it.
I’ll start this review with an unboxing of the Pironman 5 Pro Max and PiPower 5 packages, followed by an assembly guide for the Pironman 5 Pro Max, a test of the new features (display, camera, audio interaction), and finally, I’ll have a quick test of the UPS HAT with the Raspberry Pi 5 enclosure.
Unboxing of Pironman 5 Pro Max and PiPower 5
I received two retail packages for the devices. The PiPower 5 package had a rough trip and was a bit damaged, but more importantly, its content survived.
Each package provides basic information. The PiPower 5 ships with a 2,000 mAh battery, supports up to 45W DC input (5/15V via USB-C), outputs up to 5V/5A, and implements I2C battery monitoring and safe shutdown. The Pironman 5 Pro Max comes with a 4.3-inch IPS display, two M.2 sockets, a 5MP camera (written 500 MP due to mistranslating 500 “Wan” MP), a 0.96-inch OLED, three RGB fans, two speakers, and a USB microphone.
There are many more parts than in the original Pironman 5 case, so reserve about two hours to assemble the Pro Max enclosure with a Raspberry Pi 5. I was unable to find the usual printed assembly guide found in previous versions of the Pironman 5 enclosures, which was a disappointment.
Let’s now open the PiPower 5 package. It ships with the PiPower 5 HAT+ itself, a 7.4V/2,000 mAh Lithium Ion battery, an acrylic plate, a screw driver, a wrench, various zip bags with screws, standoffs, and a heatsink, and an assembly guide.
The bottom side of the PiPower 5 HAT+ lists basic features of the board:
- USB Type-C – 5V/3, 9V/3A, 12V/3A, 15V/5A power input
- Screw terminal – 5V-15V DC input
- Output – 5V/5A
- Charge power – Up to 20W
- Battery – 7.4 2S Li-Ion
Pironman 5 Pro Max assembly
I usually start working on my computer at 9 am, and will typically perform tasks like teardown and assembly earlier in the morning without using my phone or laptop. But the assembly guide was not provided in the package, so I went to the documentation page and printed the “assembly instructions” (PDF) out myself on A4 paper. The guide is not designed for this paper size, so the text was rather small and hard to read. I eventually managed, but not before making a few errors due to misreading a couple of times.
The build instructions are very similar to the ones for the Pironman 5 Max enclosure, so I haven’t taken as many photos this time around. Assembly starts by separating the two metal parts of the case, installing the Pironman 5 HDMI USB adapter and your own Raspberry Pi 5 with the microSD card extender, and inserting various cables (MIPI, PCIe, fan) and the two speakers. I also added the three thermal pads provided in the kit.
Two important steps here are to insert the provided RTC battery and cable (I completely forgot about these two), insert the 4-pin power header, and configure the speaker jumper (left default: ON). I had to reopen the case to insert the RTC battery and cable, and let’s say it’s much better to do it while assembling the case than after.
After that, I installed the ICE cooler, inserted the dual NVMe PiP and Pironman 5 Pro Max HAT+ boards, connected the wires as instructed, and also installed an NVMe SSD and a Hailo-8 AI accelerator (my own parts, not part of the kit).
We can now start working on the second metal part by installing two RGB LED fans and two speakers on it. I also added the OLED (bottom left), and inserted the MIPI CSI cable into the camera opening.
We can now secure both metal parts of the enclosures and place the OLED in its location, after peeling the 3M protective film. It’s easy to lose a few screws during installation, but SunFounder has got you covered since they always provide some spares for screws and standoffs.
The next step is to install the 4.3-inch DSI capacitive touch display on the acrylic using the two provided brackets.
Once done, you can secure two acrylic plates (one with the display, one with the power button) to the metal chassis, install the camera mount and 5MP camera (Raspberry Pi Camera Module v1.3). The angle of the camera can easily be adjusted as needed.
The final step is to insert the USB microphone, and we are done.
Pironman 5 Pro Max configuration and system info
We are now ready to start our computer. But first, we need to select an operating system. In the aforelinked documentation, SunFounder lists support for Raspberry Pi Desktop/Full/Lite, Ubuntu Desktop/Server 25.05/25.10, Kali Linux, Home Assistant, Homebridge, and Umbrel OS 1.5.
I just inserted a microSD card preloaded with Raspberry Pi OS Trixie Desktop, and connected an Ethernet cable and an official 27W Raspberry Pi USB-C power supply to get started.
I hadn’t changed anything in the OS configuration so far, and the display worked out of the box with touchscreen function.
Here’s some system information from inxi:
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pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo inxi -Fc0 System: Host: raspberrypi Kernel: 6.12.62+rpt-rpi-2712 arch: aarch64 bits: 64 Console: pty pts/1 Distro: Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie) Machine: Type: ARM System: Raspberry Pi 5 Model B Rev 1.0 details: N/A rev: b04170 serial: 696387f5901070da CPU: Info: quad core model: N/A variant: cortex-a76 bits: 64 type: MCP cache: L2: 2 MiB Speed (MHz): avg: 2400 min/max: 1500/2400 cores: 1: 2400 2: 2400 3: 2400 4: 2400 Graphics: Device-1: bcm2712-hdmi0 driver: vc4_hdmi v: N/A Device-2: bcm2712-hdmi1 driver: vc4_hdmi v: N/A Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.16 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.6 compositor: LabWC driver: gpu: drm-rp1-dsi,vc4-drm,vc4_crtc,vc4_dpi,vc4_dsi,vc4_firmware_kms,vc4_hdmi,vc4_hvs,vc4_txp,vc4_v3d,vc4_vec tty: 80x24 resolution: 1: 1920x1080 API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: swrast,v3d platforms: gbm,surfaceless,device API: OpenGL v: 4.5 compat-v: 3.1 vendor: mesa v: 25.0.7-2+rpt4 note: console (EGL sourced) renderer: V3D 7.1.10.2, llvmpipe (LLVM 19.1.7 128 bits) API: Vulkan v: 1.4.309 drivers: v3dv,llvmpipe surfaces: N/A Info: Tools: api: eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo wl: kanshi,wlr-randr x11: xdriinfo, xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr Audio: Device-1: bcm2712-hdmi0 driver: vc4_hdmi Device-2: bcm2712-hdmi1 driver: vc4_hdmi Device-3: Texas Instruments PCM2902 Audio Codec driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid type: USB API: ALSA v: k6.12.62+rpt-rpi-2712 status: kernel-api Network: Device-1: Raspberry Pi RP1 PCIe 2.0 South Bridge driver: rp1 IF: wlan0 state: down mac: 2c:cf:67:83:d7:8f IF-ID-1: docker0 state: down mac: 86:77:f2:53:8f:49 IF-ID-2: eth0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: 2c:cf:67:83:d7:8e Bluetooth: Device-1: bcm7271-uart driver: bcm7271_uart Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 state: up address: 2C:CF:67:83:D7:90 bt-v: 5.0 Device-2: bcm7271-uart driver: ctrl Drives: Local Storage: total: 506.48 GiB used: 22.1 GiB (4.4%) ID-1: /dev/mmcblk0 model: USD00 size: 29.54 GiB type: Removable ID-2: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Intel model: SSDPEKNU512GZ size: 476.94 GiB Partition: ID-1: / size: 28.5 GiB used: 22.02 GiB (77.3%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/mmcblk0p2 Swap: ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 1.96 GiB used: 325.1 MiB (16.2%) dev: /dev/zram0 Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 68.3 C mobo: N/A Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A Info: Memory: total: 2 GiB available: 1.96 GiB used: 1017 MiB (50.7%) igpu: 8 MiB Processes: 221 Uptime: 13m Init: systemd Shell: Sudo inxi: 3.3.38 |
Everything is detected, including a Texas Instruments PCM2902 audio codec and the 500GB NVMe SSD I had installed inside. We can find the Hailo-8 card with lspci:
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pi@raspberrypi:~ $ lspci 0001:00:00.0 PCI bridge: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM2712 PCIe Bridge (rev 30) 0001:01:00.0 PCI bridge: ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM1182e 2-Port PCIe x1 Gen2 Packet Switch 0001:02:03.0 PCI bridge: ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM1182e 2-Port PCIe x1 Gen2 Packet Switch 0001:02:07.0 PCI bridge: ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM1182e 2-Port PCIe x1 Gen2 Packet Switch 0001:03:00.0 Co-processor: Hailo Technologies Ltd. Hailo-8 AI Processor (rev 01) 0001:04:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller: Intel Corporation SSD 670p Series [Keystone Harbor] (rev 03) 0002:00:00.0 PCI bridge: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM2712 PCIe Bridge (rev 30) 0002:01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Raspberry Pi Ltd RP1 PCIe 2.0 South Bridge |
We are not done with the configuration since the OLED, RGB LEDs, and fans are not working.
The first step is to start raspi-config in a terminal:
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<span class="n">sudo</span> <span class="n">raspi</span><span class="o">-</span><span class="n">config</span> |
Now go to Advanced Options → A12 Shutdown Behaviour, and select the Full power off option. This will make sure the OLED, fans, and RGB LEDs are turned off when the Raspberry Pi 5 is turned off.
After a reboot, we can download and install the pironman5 module/daemon that controls the fans, OLED…:
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pi@raspberrypi:~ $ git clone -b pro-max https://github.com/sunfounder/pironman5.git --depth 1 pi@raspberrypi:~ $ cd pironman5/ pi@raspberrypi:~/pironman5 $ sudo python3 install.py |
After a reboot, the OLED display, the fans, and the RGB LEDs will all be active.
Pironman 5 Pro Max features testing
I’ll mostly focus on the new features in that section. I’ve already tested the touchscreen display with the terminal and Firefox using the software keyboard.
Time for a camera test with an rpicam sample:
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rpicam-hello -t 60s |
All good. The camera inclination can be adjusted on one axis, so it’s quite convenient to use, a bit like a webcam on a laptop.
The new Pironman 5 Pro Max case also adds two internal speakers and a 3.5mm audio jack. I tested both with a YouTube video.
If I connect my USB-powered speakers to the audio jack, we can hear the audio through the external speakers. If I disconnect the cable from the audio jack, the system will switch to the internal speakers.
Another new feature is the USB microphone that ships as part of the kit. We could just do a recording and play it back, but SunFounder provides something more fun to play with in the “Think · Talk · Drive — AI-Powered with Multi-LLMs” section of the documentation. So we can run text-to-speech, speech-to-text, chat with local or online LLMs, or even implement a full voice assistant. Let’s install the necessary tools and libraries:
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sudo apt install espeak libttspico-utils sox portaudio19-dev git clone https://github.com/sunfounder/sunfounder-voice-assistant.git sudo pip install ./sunfounder-voice-assistant --break |
All demos are very similar to the ones we used in the Fusion HAT review. So I’ll go straight to the full voice assistant demo using Piper text-to-speech, Vosk speech-to-text engine, and Google Gemini LLM. We’ll first need to go to the example directory
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cd sunfounder-voice-assistant/examples/ |
Create a secret.py file with the GEMINI_API_KEY (refer to the SunFounder documentation or the Fusion HAT review to find out how to get a key)
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GEMINI_API_KEY="AIxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" |
And edit voice_assistant.py to enable Google Gemini 2.5 Flash:
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from sunfounder_voice_assistant.voice_assistant import VoiceAssistant from sunfounder_voice_assistant.llm import Gemini as LLM from secret import GEMINI_API_KEY as API_KEY llm = LLM( api_key=API_KEY, model="gemini-2.5-flash", ) # Robot name NAME = "Buddy" # Enable image, need to set up a multimodal language model WITH_IMAGE = True # Set models and languages LLM_MODEL = "gemini-2.5-flash" TTS_MODEL = "en_US-ryan-low" STT_LANGUAGE = "en-us" |
I selected Google Gemini because it’s one of the rare online LLMs that still offers a free tier without having to enter credit card information, just for testing a few requests. We can start the voice assistant as follows:
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python3 voice_assistant.py |
To try the voice assistant, simply say “Hey! Buddy”, get acknowledged, and ask a question. It will be processed on Google servers, and the text-to-speech function will start once the full answer is received, so you typically have to wait for a few seconds before the audio answer starts:
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pi@raspberrypi:~/sunfounder-voice-assistant/examples $ python3 voice_assistant.py 2026-04-18 12:07:18.450110034 [W:onnxruntime:Default, device_discovery.cc:164 DiscoverDevicesForPlatform] GPU device discovery failed: device_discovery.cc:89 ReadFileContents Failed to open file: "/sys/class/drm/card1/device/vendor" Failed to cache model list: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/opt/vosk_models/model-list.json' [1:10:06.815927173] [43860] INFO Camera camera_manager.cpp:340 libcamera v0.7.0+rpt20260205 [1:10:06.828200070] [44452] INFO RPI pisp.cpp:720 libpisp version v1.4.0 23-03-2026 (13:29:05) [1:10:06.901125515] [44452] INFO IPAProxy ipa_proxy.cpp:180 Using tuning file /usr/share/libcamera/ipa/rpi/pisp/ov5647.json [1:10:06.908768597] [44452] INFO Camera camera_manager.cpp:223 Adding camera '/base/axi/pcie@1000120000/rp1/i2c@88000/ov5647@36' for pipeline handler rpi/pisp [1:10:06.908815935] [44452] INFO RPI pisp.cpp:1181 Registered camera /base/axi/pcie@1000120000/rp1/i2c@88000/ov5647@36 to CFE device /dev/media2 and ISP device /dev/media0 using PiSP variant BCM2712_D0 [1:10:06.911997310] [43860] INFO Camera camera.cpp:1215 configuring streams: (0) 640x480-XBGR8888/sRGB (1) 640x480-GBRG_PISP_COMP1/RAW [1:10:06.912138842] [44452] INFO RPI pisp.cpp:1485 Sensor: /base/axi/pcie@1000120000/rp1/i2c@88000/ov5647@36 - Selected sensor format: 640x480-SGBRG10_1X10/RAW - Selected CFE format: 640x480-PC1g/RAW >>> heard: hey buddy Waked, Listening ... heard: why is a sky blue That's a great question! The sky is blue due to a phenomenon called **Rayleigh scattering**. Here's a simple breakdown: 1. **Sunlight is White Light:** Sunlight actually contains all the colors of the rainbow, which combine to look white to us. 2. **Earth's Atmosphere:** Our atmosphere is made up of tiny gas molecules, primarily nitrogen and oxygen. 3. **Scattering:** When sunlight enters the atmosphere, these tiny molecules scatter the light in different directions. 4. **Blue Light Scatters More:** These gas molecules are much smaller than the wavelengths of visible light, and they scatter shorter wavelengths (like blue and violet) much more effectively than longer wavelengths (like red, orange, and yellow). 5. **Blue Sky:** Because blue light is scattered in all directions across the sky, no matter where you look, you see this scattered blue light, making the sky appear blue. 6. **Red Sunsets:** At sunrise or sunset, the sunlight has to travel through much more of the atmosphere to reach our eyes. Most of the blue light has been scattered away, leaving the longer-wavelength red and orange light to pass directly through, which is why we often see beautiful red and orange hues at those times. |
Google Gemini is quite verbose; you may want to change the instructions to make the AI assistant provide more concise answers:
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# Set instructions INSTRUCTIONS = f""" You are a helpful assistant, named {NAME}. """ |
The answer has many asterisks, and the text-to-speech will also repeat “asterisk” each time it meets one. Here’s a “short” demo where I ask what a Raspberry Pi single board computer is. I cut the video at around two minutes, but because it was not finished just yet :).
The audio quality of the built-in speakers is quite decent for this type of application, and the microphone can pick up the “Hey! Buddy” wake words quite far away. I tested it successfully about 10 meters away. It didn’t quite get my follow-up question at that distance, however.
I won’t do detailed tests of the NVMe SSD and Hailo-8 AI accelerator, RGB LED configuration, OLED display, and more since I already did this in the earlier Pironman 5 Max review. You can still monitor the system and/or configure various parameters with the web-based dashboard at http://raspberrypi.local:34001
Advanced users may prefer the pironman5 command-line utility to automate some of the tasks or configure the system remotely:
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pi@raspberrypi:~ $ pironman5 usage: pironman5 [-h] [-v] [-c] [-drd [DATABASE_RETENTION_DAYS]] [-dl [{DEBUG,INFO,WARNING,ERROR,CRITICAL,debug,info,warning,error,critical}]] [-rd] [-cp [CONFIG_PATH]] [-eh [ENABLE_HISTORY]] [-re [RGB_ENABLE]] [-rs [RGB_STYLE]] [-rc [RGB_COLOR]] [-rb [RGB_BRIGHTNESS]] [-rp [RGB_SPEED]] [-rl [RGB_LED_COUNT]] [-u [{C,F}]] [-oe [OLED_ENABLE]] [-or [{0,180}]] [-op [OLED_PAGES]] [-os [OLED_SLEEP_TIMEOUT]] {start,stop,launch-browser} ... Pironman 5 Pro Max command line interface options: -h, --help show this help message and exit -v, --version Show version -c, --config Show config -drd, --database-retention-days [DATABASE_RETENTION_DAYS] Database retention days -dl, --debug-level [{DEBUG,INFO,WARNING,ERROR,CRITICAL,debug,info,warning,error,critical}] Debug level -rd, --remove-dashboard Remove dashboard -cp, --config-path [CONFIG_PATH] Config path -eh, --enable-history [ENABLE_HISTORY] Enable history, True/true/on/On/1 or False/false/off/Off/0 -re, --rgb-enable [RGB_ENABLE] RGB enable True/False -rs, --rgb-style [RGB_STYLE] RGB style: ['solid', 'breathing', 'flow', 'flow_reverse', 'rainbow', 'rainbow_reverse', 'hue_cycle'] -rc, --rgb-color [RGB_COLOR] RGB color in hex format without # (e.g. 00aabb) -rb, --rgb-brightness [RGB_BRIGHTNESS] RGB brightness 0-100 -rp, --rgb-speed [RGB_SPEED] RGB speed 0-100 -rl, --rgb-led-count [RGB_LED_COUNT] RGB LED count int -u, --temperature-unit [{C,F}] Temperature unit -oe, --oled-enable [OLED_ENABLE] OLED enable True/true/on/On/1 or False/false/off/Off/0 -or, --oled-rotation [{0,180}] Set to rotate OLED display, 0, 180 -op, --oled-pages [OLED_PAGES] OLED pages, split by ',': mix,performance,ips,disk -os, --oled-sleep-timeout [OLED_SLEEP_TIMEOUT] OLED sleep timeout in seconds Subcommands: {start,stop,launch-browser} start Start Pironman5 stop Stop Pironman5 launch-browser Launch browser |
I don’t see any new commands related to the touchscreen display, speakers, or microphone here, so it’s about the same as for earlier cases.
People who care about low-power consumption will probably not consider this case, but for reference, the idle power consumption is 10.5W with the touchscreen display and Ethernet.
I did a quick stress test to measure CPU and GPU temperature under heavy loads:
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pi@raspberrypi:~ $ stress-ng -c 4 stress-ng: info: [134619] defaulting to a 1 day run per stressor stress-ng: info: [134619] dispatching hogs: 4 cpu |
After a couple of minutes, the CPU temperature was stable at about 65-66°C in an air-conditioned room at an ambient temperature of 31°C. All Pironman 5 enclosures are over-engineered when it comes to cooling with an ICE cooler and two enclosure fans, so cooling should never be an issue, even when overclocking.
PiPower 5 UPS assembly and test
Let’s now play with the PiPower 5 UPS HAT. As shown in the documentation below, it’s mainly designed for the Raspberry Pi Zero or Model B single board computers.
However, I don’t have a spare Raspberry Pi with me right now, and I wanted to use it with the Pironman 5 Pro Max enclosure, so I assembled it in a different way using the provided accessories.
This allowed me to insert the kit into the case, but it’s not ideal, since it’s thicker than needed, and also partially hide the display, depending on the angle…
With hindsight, it would have been better to just stick the battery on top of the case and insert the PiPower 5 HAT+ without using standoffs and the acrylic plate. So for testing, I placed the battery mounted on the acrylic enclosure on top of the case instead.
There’s an opportunity here for a future UPS module for Pironman cases that looks a little neater…
The PiPower 5 HAT also requires its own software, as explained in the documentation. Let’s install it:
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git clone https://github.com/sunfounder/pipower5 cd pipower5 sudo python3 install.py |
Once installed, we have access to additional “Battery” and “Raspberry Pi Power” widgets in the web dashboard (http://raspberrypi.local:34001) that report the voltage, current, power, level, and charging status for the battery, and voltage, current, power, and power source for the Raspberry Pi.
We also have new options in the Settings, such as Shutdown Strategy and Power Failure Simulation.
SunFounder also provided the pipower5 command-line utility to perform battery monitoring, and there’s also an option to send an email.
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pi@raspberrypi:~ $ pipower5 usage: pipower5 [-h] [-v] [-c] [-drd [DATABASE_RETENTION_DAYS]] [-dl [{debug,info,warning,error,critical}]] [-rd] [-cp [CONFIG_PATH]] [-sp [SHUTDOWN_PERCENTAGE]] [-iv] [-ic] [-ov] [-oc] [-bv] [-bc] [-bp] [-bs] [-ii] [-ichg] [-do] [-sr] [-pb] [-cc] [-a] [-fv] [-pfs [POWER_FAILURE_SIMULATION]] [-seo [SEND_EMAIL_ON]] [-set [SEND_EMAIL_TO]] [-ss [SMTP_SERVER]] [-smp [SMTP_PORT]] [-se [SMTP_EMAIL]] [-spw [SMTP_PASSWORD]] [-ssc [SMTP_SECURITY]] [-bzo [BUZZ_ON]] [-bzv [BUZZER_VOLUME]] [-bzt [BUZZER_TEST]] [-u [{C,F}]] [{start,stop}] PiPower 5 positional arguments: {start,stop} Command options: -h, --help show this help message and exit -v, --version Show version -c, --config Show config -drd, --database-retention-days [DATABASE_RETENTION_DAYS] Database retention days -dl, --debug-level [{debug,info,warning,error,critical}] Debug level -rd, --remove-dashboard Remove dashboard -cp, --config-path [CONFIG_PATH] Config path -sp, --shutdown-percentage [SHUTDOWN_PERCENTAGE] Set shutdown percentage, leave empty to read -iv, --input-voltage Read input voltage -ic, --input-current Read input current -ov, --output-voltage Read output voltage -oc, --output-current Read output current -bv, --battery-voltage Read battery voltage -bc, --battery-current Read battery current -bp, --battery-percentage Read battery percentage -bs, --battery-source Read battery source -ii, --is-input-plugged_in Read is input plugged in -ichg, --is-charging Read is charging -do, --default-on Read default on -sr, --shutdown-request Read shutdown request -pb, --power-btn Read power button -cc, --charging-current Max charging current -a, --all Show all status -fv, --firmware PiPower5 firmware version -pfs, --power-failure-simulation [POWER_FAILURE_SIMULATION] Power failure simulation -seo, --send-email-on [SEND_EMAIL_ON] Send email on: ['battery_activated', 'low_battery', 'power_disconnected', 'power_restored', 'power_insufficient', 'battery_critical_shutdown', 'battery_voltage_critical_shutdown'] -set, --send-email-to [SEND_EMAIL_TO] Email address to send email to -ss, --smtp-server [SMTP_SERVER] SMTP server -smp, --smtp-port [SMTP_PORT] SMTP port -se, --smtp-email [SMTP_EMAIL] SMTP email -spw, --smtp-password [SMTP_PASSWORD] SMTP password -ssc, --smtp-security [SMTP_SECURITY] SMTP security, 'none', 'ssl' or 'tls' -bzo, --buzz-on [BUZZ_ON] Buzz on: ['battery_activated', 'low_battery', 'power_disconnected', 'power_restored', 'power_insufficient', 'battery_critical_shutdown', 'battery_voltage_critical_shutdown'] -bzv, --buzzer-volume [BUZZER_VOLUME] Buzz volume -bzt, --buzzer-test [BUZZER_TEST] Test buzzer on selected event. -u, --temperature-unit [{C,F}] Temperature unit |
I did a quick UPS test by removing the USB-C cable from the PiPower 5 UPS HAT and letting the system run on battery. No problem during the switch.
I did that five times, and there weren’t any issues. We can also hear beeps when the power circuitry switches between the battery and USB power adapter and vice versa. The dashboard also reflects the status correctly when running on batteries.
For another test, I kept the default 10% battery level threshold in the Shutdown Strategy section, and disconnected the power with a 89% charge. The system cleanly turned off after about one hour. After reconnecting the power supply and restarting the Raspberry Pi 5, I went to check the charge level, and it was 37%, quite a bit higher than the 10% threshold, but at least the system shut down cleanly, protecting your data.
Conclusion
The Pironman 5 Pro Max is another neat little Raspberry Pi 5 tower PC case from SunFounder that builds upon previous models, but is suitable for video and audio applications without external hardware, thanks to a 4.3-inch touchscreen display, a 5MP camera, stereo speakers, and a USB microphone. Besides the hardware, the company provides good documentation, notably for creating your own AI-powered voice assistant/smart speaker.
Like other Pironman 5 cases, the Pro Max is over-engineered, but as we noted in previous reviews, that’s part of the charm, and cooling works great with the large heatsink with built-in fan and two RGB fans. The latter two can actually be turned off most of the time since the heatsink already does a proper job. Pironman 5 Pro Max model retains a downside of the Max due to ASM1182e 2-Port PCIe x1 Gen2 that does not allow for PCIe Gen3 x1, so the SSDs and AI accelerators are limited to 5GT/s speed. The Pironman5 script does increase the CPU load along with the Influx database it relies on when the dashboard is active, but nothing dramatic (under 10%), and you can lower that by completely disabling the web dashboard.
The PiPower 5 HAT kit does its job as a UPS with the provided 2,000 mAh battery, and the software handles graceful shutdown when the battery level gets too low, protecting your data in the process. I tried to simulate multiple power failures, some very short, some longer, and I never had unexpected reboots. It’s better suited for direct use with the Raspberry Pi Zero or Model B boards, as while it’s possible to use it with the Pironman 5 Pro Max enclosure, it looks more like a hack than a nicely packaged solution, since the HAT must be placed on the outside, and the battery on top of the enclosure.
I’d like to thank SunFounder for sending the Pironman 5 Pro Max tower PC enclosure for the Raspberry Pi 5 and the PiPower 5 UPS kit for review. The Pironman 5 Pro Max is sold for $145.99 on Amazon and the SunFounder store before eventual tariffs and VAT. The PiPower 5 is offered for $34.99 on the SunFounder store, $32.99 on AliExpress, and you’ll find it as part of the Pironman 5 Pro Max + PiPower 5 kit for $178.99 on Amazon.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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The PiPower 5 does not work with the Pironman 5 Max case. I discovered this the hard way.
SunFounder sells a bundle with Pironman 5 MAX + PiPower 5 on Amazon, so it must be supported. Your unit may have issues, or something’s wrong with the installation.
The only thing I can think of is that this particular Max was sent to me directly from Sunfounder, specifically with the pins for the vibration sensor cut off due to a bug that I helped them discover. Maybe something else was changed that I am not aware of.