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I have an arduino that is powered by a 9v block battery and enabled by a switch. I want to change the curcuit, so that when the switch is turned off the arduino remains powered until certain actions are finished, and then turn off.

However I dont just want the arduino to sleep, the power should be disconnected. This is important, because I have additional components draining power from the 5v pin (around 300mA) and I want those to shut down too.

My first idea was to use a relay in parallel to the switch. When the switch is turned on, the arduino turns the relay on too. When the switch is turned off, the arduino is still powered via the relay. The arduino detects when the switch is turned off (the switch is double pole, so i can detect its state with a digital input pin) and powers off the relay when the remaining actions are finished.

Is there a better way than using a relay? Can I use a mosfet or something else instead of the relay?

And maybe, in the future, I will need the 9V for additional components, which should turn off too when the arduino decides to shut down. But when the relay/mosfet/..? is placed between battery and arduino VIN I can just connect those between relay/mosfet/..? and the arduino. So this should be simple.

Edit: Based on Passerbys answer I came up with this: enter image description here

The motor is just a placeholder for my additional components that drain power from the battery and should be shut down too.

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    \$\begingroup\$ A circuit schematic with your proposed idea would be helpful. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Oct 31, 2016 at 13:10
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    \$\begingroup\$ related: Microcontroller soft off circuit, Momentary switch power \$\endgroup\$ Commented Nov 9, 2016 at 2:19

2 Answers 2

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A system I commonly use:

schematic

simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab

M1 is normally held OFF by R1. SW1 pull M1 gate LOW when pressed switching M1 on. That then provides power to the Arduino.

The first operation the Arduino performs is to drive the GPIO connected to the gate of M2 (which must be a "logic level" FET with a threshold low enough to drive directly with an Arduino - you could also use an NPN BJT). That then bypasses switch SW1 keeping the system powered up.

The switch can then be released and the power stays on.

The Arduino can then release the GPIO by either driving it LOW or setting it to INPUT (R3 will pull it down in that case) switching off M2 which then allows R1 to pull up the gate of M1 switching it off.

The only down side to this circuit when working with an Arduino is you need to hold the power button in long enough for the bootloader to finish executing (about 2 seconds) before the power will stay on. It can be beneficial to add an LED (and associated current limiting resistor) to the GPIO that drives the gate of M2 so you get a visual feedback of "power on" (or you could use a separate GPIO if you so wished) so you know when you have held the button long enough.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ A similar solution that solves the 'waiting for the bootloader' issue youtube.com/watch?v=9CnTguj_qvY \$\endgroup\$ Commented Oct 31, 2016 at 15:07
  • \$\begingroup\$ @ambitiose_sed_ineptum Not bad - makes it more complex to implement though (more components), and the 2-second thing actually acts as extreme debouncing of the button (the power on becomes a very very definite action that can't be accidental). \$\endgroup\$ Commented Oct 31, 2016 at 15:09
  • \$\begingroup\$ yup, just another suggestion in case the OP wants it. Say, wouldn't a pull up resistor (say 1k) from VIN to the gate of M2 accomplish almost the same thing? \$\endgroup\$ Commented Oct 31, 2016 at 15:15
  • \$\begingroup\$ Possible, though I wouldn't like to be linking VIN to a GPIO even through 1100Ω. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Oct 31, 2016 at 15:17
  • \$\begingroup\$ well, you could then control that signal with a npn bjt instead. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Oct 31, 2016 at 15:19
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A high side pnp transistor or p-channel mosfet with a pull up resistor on its base/gate between the 5V regulator and your accessory circuit. When your arduino goes to sleep, set the control pin high or input mode to turn off the transistor. When you need the power, pull the pin low.

A relay is too big and will drain your 9V battery real quick.

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