UUGear PiGear Nano User manual

Copyright © 2022 Dun Cat B.V. & THLAB, All rights reserved.
UUGear is a trade name of Dun Cat B.V.
PiGear Nano:
Nano-ITX Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 Carrier Board
User Manual (revision 1.04)

Copyright © 2022 Dun Cat B.V. & THLAB, All rights reserved.
UUGear is a trade name of Dun Cat B.V.
Table of Contents
1. Product Overview ...............................................................................................................1
2. Specification / Technical Details..........................................................................................3
3. Package Content................................................................................................................4
4. Connect Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 to the Board......................................................5
5. Installing Operating System................................................................................................7
5.1 For Raspberry Pi CM4 with eMMC...........................................................................7
5.2 For Raspberry Pi CM4 Lite (without eMMC).............................................................8
6. Powering PiGear Nano.......................................................................................................9
7. Software Installation / Update.............................................................................................9
8. Jumper Settings................................................................................................................11
9. Software Usage................................................................................................................14
9.1 Realtime Clock.......................................................................................................15
9.2 Analog Inputs (ADC)..............................................................................................16
9.3 Digital Inputs..........................................................................................................17
9.4 Digital Outputs .......................................................................................................18
9.5 Configurable Digital Inputs/Output..........................................................................19
9.6 Programmable LED Test........................................................................................19
9.7 Buzzer Test............................................................................................................19
9.8 UWI Usage ............................................................................................................20
10. 2x16 Quick Cable Connector.........................................................................................21
10.1 Serial Port..............................................................................................................22
10.2 Controller Area Network (CAN) Bus.......................................................................24
10.3 1-Wire Interface .....................................................................................................25
10.4 Analog Inputs (A/D Converter) ...............................................................................26
10.5 Digital Inputs..........................................................................................................30

Copyright © 2022 Dun Cat B.V. & THLAB, All rights reserved.
UUGear is a trade name of Dun Cat B.V.
10.6 Digital Outputs .......................................................................................................31
10.7 Configurable Digital Inputs/Outputs........................................................................32
11. PCIE .............................................................................................................................35
11.1 NVME SSD............................................................................................................36
11.2 4G LTE Module......................................................................................................36
11.3 USB3.0 ..................................................................................................................38
12. Realtime Clock (RTC) ...................................................................................................39
13. DSI and CSI..................................................................................................................40
14. SD Card Slot.................................................................................................................41
15. LED Indicators ..............................................................................................................41
16. Buzzer...........................................................................................................................41
17. Fan Connector ..............................................................................................................42
18. Power and Reset Button Connectors ............................................................................42
19. Case Kit for PiGear Nano..............................................................................................42
20. Revision History............................................................................................................43

1
1. Product Overview
PiGear Nano is a high performance Nano-ITX (12x12cm) carrier board for Raspberry Pi Compute
Module 4. PiGear Nano is mainly designed for industrial applications, but you can also use it as office
computer, family media center, gaming console etc.
PiGear Nano offers a wide range of resources and interfaces. Please see below the diagram for
details:
There are also an NVME SSD M.2 connector and a SIM card slot underneath the board.
You can place PiGear Nano into a Nano-ITX computer case. Below is a mechanical drawing of the board.

2

3
2. Specification / Technical Details
Network
Gigabit-Ethernet RJ45 socket x 1
MINI PCIE LTE/4G/GPRS interface x 1
On-board SIM card slot x 1
USB
USB 3.0 Type-A connector x 8
USB 2.0 Type-C connector x 1 (for flashing CM4, or powering the board with light load)
Analog & Digital I/O
18-bit ADC input x 4
Digital input x 4
Digital output x 4
Configurable digital I/O x 4
Signal Interface
RS232 x 2
RS485 x 2
CAN x 1
Wire interface x 1
Storage
NVME SSD M.2 interface x 1
Micro SD card slot x 1 (for Compute Module 4 Lite only)
Display
HDMI Type-A connector x 1
MIPI DSI interface x 1
Camera
MIPI CSI interface x 1
Other
Real-time clock x 1 (with supper capacitor for off-power time keeping)
Buzzer x 1
Power Indicator x 1
Programmable LED indicator x 1
5V fan interface (PH2.0 connector)
Power button x 1 (with extension connector)
Reset button x 1 (with extension connector)
Power Supply
DC 7V~30V (with reverse polarity protection)
or DC 5V (via USB Type-C connector)
Quiescent Current
~1mA

4
Board Size and Weight
NANO-ITX 12 x 12 cm, 150g
Operating Environment
Temperature -30°C~80°C (-22°F~176°F)
Humidity 0~80%RH, no condensing
No corrosive gas
3. Package Content
Each package of PiGear Nano contains:
PiGear Nano board x 1
6x6x5 heat sink x 1 (for VL805 chip on the back of the board)
M3x8 metal standoff x 4
M3 screws x 4
M2 screws x 3
2.54-2P jumper cap x 5

5
4. Connect Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 to the Board
Before starting, it is recommended to install four metal standoffs underneath so the board can lay flat
on the desk. You can find four metal standoffs and four screws in the package. Just place the
standoff under the mounting hole and use a screw to secure it.
Connect Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 to the board by simply aligning it with the two connectors
on board (or alternatively you can align the CE marks on CM4 and the board), and then give it a good
squeeze. It will crunch into place (and you can hear it).

6
If you will use the device in a vibrating environment, you may want to secure your Raspberry Pi
Compute Module 4 on the board with four M2.5 screws (not included in the package).
It is also recommended to put the small heatsink (included in the package) on the VL805 chip on the
back of the board. Because this chip could get rather hot if the board is processing many USB data
translation.
You can peel off the paper on the heatsink and directly stick it on the chip VL805, as shown below:

7
5. Installing Operating System
5.1 For Raspberry Pi CM4 with eMMC
If your Raspberry Pi Compute Module has eMMC, you can flash the OS into its eMMC. If you want,
you can have this done with the official I/O board. However using the official I/O board is not
necessary because you can get this done on PiGear Nano board directly.
Before proceeding, please make sure to short the "bypass power switch" jumper. This is to bypass
the e-latch power switch, so your PiGear Nano board will be powered even without the operating
system. The "bypass switch" jumper is on the left of Raspberry Pi CM4 (above the "Default On"
jumper), as shown in picture below:
You will also need to short the "Disable eMMC Boot" jumper, so the eMMC on your Raspberry Pi
CM4 will boot in USB mass storage mode, and you can flash the disk image into it.
Now connect a USB Type-C cable to PiGear Nano, and connect the other end of the cable to your
computer. This USB cable will power your PiGear Nano during the installation process, and there is
no need to connect any other power supply.

8
You will need the "usbboot" tool to turn the Raspberry Pi device into a USB Mass Storage Device. If
your computer is running Windows, you can download and run the "rpiboot_setup.exe" in the "win32"
directory to install the usbboot tool. If you are using Mac OS X or Linux, please follow the instructions
in README.md file to build the tool and then run it.
You will then see a drive with label "boot" appear in your computer. The next step is to flash the OS
disk image into this drive. You can achieve this with different kinds of tools. For example, you can use
Win32DiskImager under Windows, or use "dd" command under Mac OS X or Linux. You can also
use Raspberry Pi Imager for any operating system.
After flashing the OS disk image into the "boot" drive, please don't forget to remove the jumper cap
from the "Disable eMMC Boot" jumper, so that your PiGear Nano now works as a standalone
computer system.
5.2 For Raspberry Pi CM4 Lite (without eMMC)
If you are using Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 Lite, which does not come with eMMC, you can
flash the OS image into an SD card. This procedure has no difference than installing the OS into SD
card for other models of Raspberry Pi. If it is something new to you, you can read this detailed tutorial
from the Raspberry Pi documentation.

9
6. Powering PiGear Nano
If you have installed the OS into your CM4's eMMC, or you have inserted an SD card with OS
installed, you can power the board and boot the system.
You can power PiGear Nano with DC 7~30V via the universal 2-pin power connector, or you can
power it with DC 5V via the USB Type-C connector.
When powering via the universal 2-pin power connector, the input voltage will go through a DC/DC
convertor (SY8204) and output 5V for powering the system. Please make sure the input voltage is no
higher than 30V. You can also bypath the DC/DC convertor and power the board directly with DC 5V
via the USB Type-C connector. Either way you can optionally enable the e-latch power switch, which
allows you to turn on/off the system with a single tape on the button.
Our software installation script will enable the e-latch power switch support for you, however you will
still need to set the jumper correctly to make it work.
Note: when e-latch power switch is in used, after the power is fully cut, please wait a few seconds
before trying to boot your PiGear Nano again, because the internal RC circuit needs some time to
discharge the capacitor and restore to the standby status.
Note: if you are going to connect some high-current devices to PiGear Nano, it is recommended to
power the board with higher voltage via the universal 2-pin power connector. In such case the
internal DC/DC converter will output 5V up to 4A.
7. Software Installation / Update
After you boot the system up for the first time, please run our software installation script. The script
will do these tasks for you:
Create a backup of the current config.txt and cmdline.txt files.
Modify your config.txt and cmdline.txt for correctly supporting the hardware.
Install the daemon script to initialize the hardware and support e-latch power switch.
Install the PiGearNano.sh application.
DC 7~30V DC/DC
Converter
5V E-Latch
Power Switch
System
5V
5V via USB Type-C
Jumper

10
Install UUGear Web Interface (UWI).
It is recommended to download and run the installation script in home directory. You can run this
command to download the installation script:
Then you can run the script with sudo:
After installation, you can reboot the system.
By default, the UWI server binds to “raspberrypi”host name, and you can access UWI via
http://raspberrypi:8000/. However sometimes this host name cannot be resolved in your network
environment, and in such case you will need to modify the UWI configuration file “uwi.conf”in “uwi”
directory:
You will see host='raspberrypi'; and you need to replace the „raspberrypi‟with the actual IP address
or accessible host name. After rebooting the system, you can access UWI via http://[Your IP address
or host name]:8000/.
In the future if there is a newer version of software available, you can rename or remove your
“pgnano”directory and install the software again. UWI will be upgraded automatically and the old
“uwi”directory will be renamed automatically.
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ wget https://www.uugear.com/repo/PiGearNano/installPiGearNano.sh
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo sh ./installPiGearNano.sh
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ nano uwi/uwi.conf

11
8. Jumper Settings
After installing the software, you may need to do some jumper settings to make the board fully
functional.
If you are using Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 with eMMC, you need to remove the jumper cap
from the "Disable eMMC Boot" jumper after installing the operating system into eMMC. This jumper
is part of the multifunctional 2x7 pin jumper, which will be introduced later.
With the software installed, the e-latching power switch is supported on software level. However, you
still need to remove the "bypass power switch" jumper cap, otherwise PiGear Nano cannot fully cut
the power after system shutdown. If you do not want to use the e-latch power switch, you can keep
this jumper cap in place.

12
In addition, you will need to put a jumper cap on the "Default ON" jumper. This is to let you choose
whether your PiGear Nano will automatically boot up when the power supply is connected. If you put
the jumper cap on pin 3-2, it will not boot up until you tap the power button.
Default ON: Boot up when powered Default OFF: Tap the button to boot up
There is a "reset" jumper near the green 2x16 quick cable connector, and it is to define the behavior
of the reset button. If you short pin 1-2, the reset button will pull down the GLOBAL_EN when you tap
it. If you short pin 2-3, the reset button will pull down the RUN_PG when you tap it. Either way you
can tap the reset button to restart your Raspberry Pi.
Reset button will pull down GLOBAL_EN Reset button will pull down RUN_PG

13
There is also a 3-pin "wireless" jumper above the DISP0 connector, which is for disabling WiFi or
Bluetooth.
Shorting pin 1-2 to disable WiFi Shorting pin 2-3 to disable Bluetooth
There is also a multifunctional 2x7 pin jumper between the "reset" jumper and the "wireless" jumper.
It is actually the same as the J2 header on Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 official I/O board. Please
see below the descriptions.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
1 and 2: force USB booting if shorted
3 and 4: write protect the EEPROM if shorted
5: MXL7704 analog input AIN0
6: MXL7704 analog input AIN1
7: GND for AIN0 and AIN1
8 and 9: SYNC_IN and SYNC_OUT for time
synchronization with Precision Time Protocol
10: GND
11: TV output
12: GND
13 and 14: Connect a button between them, can be
used to wake up compute module from power down.
Has no effect when Raspberry Pi CM4 is on.

14
9. Software Usage
The software will be installed in a directory named "pgnano", while the UUGear Web Interface will be
installed in a directory named “uwi”. You can run the software by running the PiGearNano.sh script:
You will see the software interface like this:
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ cd pgnano
pi@raspberrypi:~/pgnano $ ./PiGearNano.sh
================================================================================
| |
| PiGear Nano - Nano-ITX Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 Carrier Board |
| |
| < Version 1.00 > by Dun Cat B.V. |
| |
================================================================================
1. Realtime Clock [Tue 28 Dec 2021 17:18:45 CET]
2. Analog Inputs (ADC)
3. Digital Inputs
4. Digital Outputs
5. Configurable Digital Inputs/Outputs
6. Programmable LED Test
7. Buzzer Test
8. Exit
Please choose 1~8:

15
9.1 Realtime Clock
Here you can see the system time and the time in the real-time clock (RTC). You can write the
system time into real-time clock or the other way around. You can also use Internet time to
synchronize the system time and RTC time. You can press ENTER to refresh the time display.
The real-time clock has one alarm and you can configure it to do different things. If you set the alarm
time to a moment in the future (using option 4), the system will reboot when the alarm is triggered. If
you do not use the e-latch power switch, which means your board will not be fully power off after
shutdown, this alarm can also be used to wake up your Raspberry Pi.
Alternatively, you can also use this alarm as a watchdog (using option 5). When watchdog is turned
on, the watchdog.sh process will run in the background and it keeps postponing the alarm. If the
system is crashed and this process is halted, the alarm cannot be postponed and eventually gets
triggered, which will force the system to reboot. This functionality has no confliction with the e-latch
power switch.
============================================================
| |
| Realtime Clock |
| |
============================================================
>>> Your system time is: Wed 29 Dec 2021 18:03:31 CET
>>> Your RTC time is: Wed 29 Dec 2021 18:03:30 CET
1. Write system time to RTC
2. Write RTC time to system
3. Synchronize with network time
4. Configure alarm [28 17:14:42]
5. Configure watchdog [off]
6. Return
Please choose 1~6:

16
9.2 Analog Inputs (ADC)
Here you can configure the ADC‟s sampling rate (SPS) and Programmable Gain Amplifier (PGA).
The current code value and actual voltage on each analog input is also listed here. You can press
ENTER to refresh the view.
You can find more information about the analog inputs here.
============================================================
| |
| Analog Inputs (ADC) |
| |
============================================================
+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
| | ADC-1 | ADC-2 | ADC-3 | ADC-4 |
+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
| Scale |0.001000|0.001000|0.001000|0.001000|
+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
| Code | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
| Volt |0.005684|0.005684|0.005684|0.005684|
+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
1. Set data rate to 240 SPS [✓]
2. Set data rate to 60 SPS
3. Set data rate to 15 SPS
4. Set data rate to 3 SPS
5. Set scale to 0.001000000 (PGA=1) [✓]
6. Set scale to 0.000500000 (PGA=2)
7. Set scale to 0.000250000 (PGA=4)
8. Set scale to 0.000125000 (PGA=8)
9. Return
Please choose 1~9:

17
9.3 Digital Inputs
The current values of digital inputs are listed here. You can press ENTER to refresh the view.
You can find more information about the digital inputs here.
============================================================
| |
| Digital Inputs |
| |
============================================================
+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|DI-1 |DI-2 |DI-3 |DI-4 |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+
1. Refresh
2. Return
Please choose 1~2: