Using the Pololu Pushbutton Power Switch

Step 3 And then magic happens...

At this point the switch will function as a push on/ push off switch for the Arduino. With a little code, the Arduino can switch itself off at an appropriate time! All that is required is setting pin 7 (in this example) to HIGH and the Pololu switch powers the Arduino down.

Here is some example arduino code:

int offPin = 7;           // Pololu connected to digital pin 7

void setup()
{
  pinMode(offPin, OUTPUT);  // sets the digital pin as output
}
void loop()
{
  delay(30000);            // wait for 30 seconds
  digitalWrite(offPin, HIGH);   // Sets the pin to HIGH and shuts down the Arduino
}

I hope you have found this useful. Please post in the comments if you use one of these in a project.

Comments

[gfxprotege]

Hello. I have yet to purchase the pololu switch. I've been doing my research before going ahead with my project idea. I understand how this turns off the arduino. How would one go about turning it back on? 

Say you have a push button that you want to use to Turn on the arduino, and then let it time out after a little bit. Would you simply write in a method that reads if a button is pushed, to switch pin 7 to low?