Electronics — Preparing the Orange Pi

Preparing the Orange Pi

How-to guide

The WiFi module and the heatsink fan, both fitted while the board is still loose on the bench.

Author barthel

Contributors BrickCycleAlice and Spencer

Parts needed

Computer

Electronics

Tools needed

Small Phillips screwdriver

Everything here is done to the board itself, before it goes anywhere near the machine, and that is the point of the page: the heatsink fan clips through the board and the WiFi module lives on its underside, so both want a board you can pick up and turn over. Once the Pi is in the Orange Pi housing there is a printed floor directly underneath it.

Which board to buy, how much memory and storage it needs, and which WiFi module fits which variant are all on the Orange Pi 5 page. This page assumes you have the parts.

The WiFi module is optional. A machine staying on Ethernet does not need it, and steps 1 to 3 are skipped, leaving only the heatsink fan. The original Orange Pi 5 has no WiFi on the board, so a machine going wireless needs either this M.2 module or a Linux-compatible USB adapter.

Step 1 Check the WiFi module (optional) matches the board

The M.2 formats used across the Orange Pi family are the same size and differ only in where the keying notch is cut into the row of gold contacts, so a module only seats in the slot it is keyed for. Which module goes with which board, and how to tell the two slots apart by eye, is on the Orange Pi 5 page.

The AP6275P M.2 WiFi module seen from above: a small blue card with a shielded can across the middle marked AP6275P, two round antenna sockets at the top corners, and a row of gold contacts along the bottom edge with a keying notch cut into it — The AP6275P, with its keying notch cut into the row of gold contacts along the bottom edge. Supplier listing photo from the parts catalog; who took it isn't recorded.

Hold the module against the slot and check the notches line up before pushing. If it does not want to go in, stop. A module that will not seat is the wrong one for the board, not one that needs more force.

Step 2 Seat the module (optional) in the slot

With the board unplugged, turn it over and find the M.2 slot on the underside.

Slide the module in at a shallow angle, roughly 30°, gold contacts first, until it is fully home. Press the free end down and secure it with the small retention screw.

The washer goes between the board and the module, under the free end, not on top of it. The slot holds the contact end of the module up off the board, so the washer is what keeps the other end at the same height. Without it the screw pulls that end down and the module ends up bent and unevenly tensioned rather than sitting flat.

Both the washer and the screw come in the box with the module, so there is nothing to buy for this and nothing to substitute.

The underside of an Orange Pi 5 held at an angle, with the AP6275P module seated in the black M.2 connector and two antenna leads running off the edge of the board; a circle drawn over that part of the board magnifies it, showing the module's shielded can, the gold antenna socket at its near corner with a lead clipped on, and the row of gold contacts disappearing into the slot — The module home in the slot, on the underside of the board. Its far end, the one the screw goes through, is outside the magnified circle. Manufacturer photo (Orange Pi), not a Basically photo; the magnified circle is theirs.

Step 3 Connect the antennas

The antenna leads end in small round push-fit connectors. Line one up squarely over its socket on the module and press straight down until it clicks. They seat with very little force and the sockets are delicate, so do not rock or lever them on at an angle.

Step 4 Fit the heatsink fan

Its two pins clip underneath the board, so you want to be able to reach both faces.

The official heatsink fan sits on the SoC, the large chip in the middle of the board. Check the revision printed on the board before you start: it fits the Orange Pi 5 v1.3.2 and the 5 Plus, and the mounting holes are not in the same place on earlier revisions.

Peel the film off the thermal pad that comes in the box and lay it on the SoC. Sit the heatsink squarely on top with its two tabs over the holes either side, press both spring pins down until they click, and plug the 2-pin lead into the socket marked FAN, which on a v1.3.2 board is between the CAM1 connector and the USB 2.0 port. The pins hold it on, so there are no screws here and nothing to tighten.

This is the Pi's only cooling. Its housing's roof and floor are vented, and nothing else sits over the board inside it.

The finished result

A board that has been prepared: fan on, module in if you are using one, and ready to go into its housing.

An Orange Pi 5 v1.3.2 seen from above with the heatsink fan already fitted over the SoC in the middle of the board, a white spring pin clipped through the board at opposite corners of the finned block, and the red and black lead running from the fan to a small white 2-pin socket silkscreened FAN, between the CAM1 connector and the USB 2.0 port — The prepared board from above: the heatsink over the SoC, a spring pin through the board at each of two opposite corners, and the fan lead in the socket marked FAN. The module and its antenna leads are on the face you cannot see. Manufacturer photo (Orange Pi), not a Basically photo; the pale highlights are theirs.

Carry on with Orange Pi housing, which closes it into its printed box.