Smart Home Safety First: Olimex Drops the Pico-EVB Automation Board

The Raspberry Pi Pico and RP2040/RP2350 microcontrollers are brilliant for motor control, custom displays, and low-voltage logic. But the second you try to step out of the breadboard sandbox to control a 220V appliance, a mains-powered heater, or an industrial motor, things get dangerous—fast.

Exposed relay modules, flimsy jumper cables, and lack of isolation are a recipe for short circuits or fried microcontrollers.

Enter Olimex with their newly released Pico-EVB. Designed specifically as a rugged evaluation and automation baseboard for the Raspberry Pi Pico header footprint, this board acts as a safe, permanent bridge between delicate 3.3V logic and heavy-duty high-voltage hardware.

Heavy-Duty Relays for Real-World Loads

The star feature of the Pico-EVB is its safe, industrial-grade power handling. Instead of forcing you to wire up loose external relay modules, everything is integrated directly onto the PCB with proper high-voltage isolation traces:

• Onboard Power Relays: Outfitted with robust mechanical relays capable of switching high-voltage AC/DC loads (up to 250V AC / 10A).
• Screw Terminal Blocks: Uses heavy-duty, barrier-style screw terminals to tightly secure thick mains wiring without relying on fragile breadboard pins.
• Status LEDs: Features dedicated LED indicators for every relay channel, giving you instant visual feedback on which circuit is energized.

Optocoupled Inputs for Total Isolation

High-voltage spike feedback from industrial motors or external switches can instantly destroy a bare microcontroller GPIO pin. Olimex protected against this by adding fully isolated inputs:

• Optocoupler Protection: The digital inputs route through optoisolators, physically separating the high-voltage sensing circuits from the RP2040/RP2350 chip using light signals.
• Wide Voltage Range: Easily senses inputs from external industrial sensors, door switches, or PLC logic lines without threatening your board.

Flexible Power & Pi Pico Compatibility

You don't need a clunky USB cable dangling out of an electrical cabinet to keep the system powered:

• Wide DC Input: Features an onboard DC-DC step-down converter that accepts a wide power input range (typically 8V to 30V DC), making it easy to run off standard 12V or 24V industrial rails.
• Universal Pico Footprint: Designed with standard female header sockets that accept the original Raspberry Pi Pico, the Pico W (Wi-Fi), and the newer Raspberry Pi Pico 2.
• Open Source Hardware: True to Olimex's core philosophy, the schematic and board designs are completely open source, making it simple for engineers to adapt the design into custom commercial production runs.

The Verdict: Safe Automation Made Simple

Whether you are building a custom smart irrigation controller, automating HVAC equipment in a workshop, or deploying remote industrial telemetry, the Olimex Pico-EVB eliminates the mess and danger of loose high-voltage wiring. It takes the simplicity of the Raspberry Pi Pico ecosystem and dresses it in industrial-grade armor.