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Review on πŸ”Œ Enhance Your Raspberry Pi Zero/W with the iUniker USB Dongle Expansion Breakout Module Kit: Insert from both Front and Back Sides! by Dale Toth

Revainrating 5 out of 5

The BEST PiZeroW expansion/breakout/dongle kit yet!

*UPDATE* I deleted my original photos showing this key used during the initial setup of my PiZeroW (before I had a wireless keyboard and mouse, AND before I set up VNC and SSH got) and added photos in its current use case. It is connected to my ASUS RT-AC1900P with PiHole (will probably work with HomeBridge soon). As you can see, when plugged into my ASUS 1900P's USB 2.0 port, it certainly draws enough current to run (I mention this because I've heard that some routers limit USB power supply to 500mA ). Another AWESOME feature of this dongle is that it is reversible so you can plug the USB into the port ANY WAY. This helped me in my use case as I also have a USB 3.1 flash drive in an ASUS 1900P USB 3.0 port for personal cloud storage. The PiZeroW can even match the flash drive with the heatsink, however most of the time they are in contact and there is almost no gap between them and this also leads to more heat concentration when the USB dongle breakout kit is in the other direction is rotated, which leads to heat dissipation far better. This ASUS router (and most ASUS routers for that matter) is KNOWN to run WARM, and yet PiZeroW will consistently run below 40 degrees Celsius unless subjected to a very high load, such as a laptop. B. running Rasbian updates. Using a USB port on the router also minimizes the distance Wi-Fi has to travel since everything on the network is filtered through the PiHole (although this didn't make much of a difference compared to its previous location elsewhere in the same room as a router this has brought a slight improvement and increased confidence that it is in a safe place that cannot be touched or the power turned off). Although there are almost no instructions, if you're the kind of person who owns a Raspberry Pi, you shouldn't have any trouble figuring out how to build this kit. It looks great, is easy to assemble (even without instructions), and makes powering up the PiZero 1000x easy. While there weren't any assembly instructions to speak of, the included 'instructions' give you two very important things you need to do in order to set it up to draw power from USB-A and not a MicroUSB port. how to set up SSH if you haven't already, so this is very important. Just plug it into a regular 5V/2.4A USB-A charger and you're good to go. Almost everyone will have a charger that meets these specs, basically if you have a phone or tablet charger that goes over 1A it will probably be 5V at 2.4A. PiZeroW doesn't just make this easy turn it on, but also allows you to easily plug it into almost any USB charger and forget about it. If you need to do something, connect via SSH or set up a VNC server. So no cables required, the device just sits anywhere (currently my device is plugged into my router but originally I plugged it into a 12w iPad charger). in the same room as my router). This kit is great too, because instead of spending money on a 'basic starter kit', 'complete starter kit' or whatever with PiZeroW, you basically just buy a separate board, a microSD card and this kit. It'll cost you around $20-$25 and you'll have everything you need to get the job done and save yourself the hassle of a case, power supply, cables and dongles. Some might prefer not to attach a heatsink to their PiZeroW when using this kit, but I find that this chipset gets quite hot since it's a very small and not an extremely powerful processor, so I attached my own heatsink, to help with cooling. For people who constantly move this Pi it might not be for you, but for someone like me who uses it to run Homebridge and/or PiHole, it will be stationary and cooling is more important than the -3mm height difference . I cannot recommend this kit enough, I know that every PiZeroW I buy in the future will have a separate board and MicroSD card that come with this kit, no questions asked. This design is better than having the case and cables running all over the place. In my opinion there is no point in having a 'computer' in such a small form factor when it has bulky peripherals and cables running everywhere. JUST BUY, YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT!

Pros
  • Perfect for outdoor activities
Cons
  • Lots of stuff