Hardware Interface

Board Overview

The Cruiser Carrier Board measures 170mm x 120mm and is Mini-ITX compatible with standoff adapters.

Back Panel Connectors

J1 - DC Power Input

48V DC barrel jack (5.5mm outer, 2.1mm inner, center positive).

Voltage requirements by model:

J13, J14 - HDMI Ports

Two full-size HDMI 2.0 ports supporting:

• 4K @ 60Hz (4Kp60)
• Independent dual display
• HDCP 2.2

J10 - USB 2.0 Ports

Stacked dual USB 2.0 Type-A ports.

J12 - USB 3.0 Ports

Stacked dual USB 3.0 Type-A ports (via VL817 hub).

J15 - 2.5GbE WAN Port

RJ45 Ethernet port for network uplink.

LEDs: The two LEDs in the J15 jack indicate WAN link speed and activity (each is solid when linked and flashes on traffic):

So 1 GbE shows both LEDs, 2.5 GbE shows green only, and 10/100 Mbps shows amber only. The green indicator requires the Exaviz software (the exaviz-netplan package); on a stock operating system without it, green stays off and only amber is shown.

J16 - Gigabit Switch Ports

RJ45 ports in a stacked configuration. Port count and PoE support varies by model.

Front Panel Connectors

J8 - Micro SD Card Slot

Standard micro SD card slot for boot/storage (CM5 Lite).

J9 - USB 3.0 Port

Single USB 3.0 Type-A port (via VL817 hub).

J4, J6 - Qwiic Connectors

Two Qwiic/STEMMA QT I2C connectors for expansion modules.

J3 - System Header

8-pin header (2x4, 2.54mm pitch) for front panel connections and serial debug.

Power LED: Connect an LED between pin 1 (anode) and pin 2 (cathode/GND). A current-limiting resistor is already on the board.

Power Button: Directly connected to CM5’s power button input. Directly accessible to software as well.

Serial Console (UART): Directly connected to CM5’s primary UART (GPIO14/15). Use these pins for headless serial console access during development or debugging.

S0 - Power Button

Onboard tactile button for power control (bench/development use).

Internal Connectors

J0 - CM5 Connector

Two 100-pin board-to-board connectors for Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5.

J22 - M.2 NVMe Slot

M.2 Key-M slot for NVMe SSDs.

M.2 Slot Expansion Options:

The M.2 slot accepts more than NVMe SSDs:

J11, J23 - SATA Connectors

Two SATA III (6 Gbps) ports via JMS561 controller.

J2 - Molex HDD Power

4-pin Molex connector for HDD power.

J17 - USB 2.0 Header

Internal USB 2.0 header (standard 9-pin).

J18 - PoE Expansion (FFC)

40-pin FFC connector for Interceptor PoE Board expansion.

See Interceptor PoE Board - Hardware Interface for FFC pinout details.

J19 - CPU Fan Header

4-pin PWM fan header for CPU cooling.

J20, J21 - Case Fan Headers

Two 3-pin fan headers for case cooling.

Buttons and Switches

S0 - Power Button

Onboard tactile button for power on/off. For case builds, use the J3 header to connect an external power button.

S2 - RAID Initialize Button

Press and hold during power-on after changing RAID DIP switch settings to initialize the array in the new mode.

S3 - RAID DIP Switch

2-position DIP switch for hardware RAID mode selection on the JMS561 SATA controller.

To change RAID mode:

1. Delete any existing array first — The DIP switches only configure a new array when no array exists. Use the software tool to delete the current array (see JMicron RAID Manager for installation):

   sudo raidmgr_static
   # At the JMS56X> prompt, type: DR C0 R0
   # Then type: EX
   

2. Power off the board completely
3. Set DIP switches to the desired configuration (see table above)
4. Press and hold the RAID Initialize button (S2)
5. Power on while continuing to hold the button for 5 seconds
6. Release button — the new RAID mode is now active

LEDs

Reading the board LEDs

The indicators light in stages, and the stage that fails tells you where to look. D2 is the only one powered directly from the board’s own 5V rail. Every other indicator depends on the compute module being powered, running, or both.

Three cautions when reading these:

• D4 and D16 prove liveness in one direction only. They are activity indicators, driven by the compute module for storage and Ethernet traffic. If either is lit the module is certainly running, but an idle module with no disk or network traffic can leave both dark. Do not read dark D4 and D16 as proof the module has not started - confirm with the network or a display before concluding that.
• D2 is the highest-brightness-threshold indicator on the board. It dims and then goes out while the 5V rail is still partly up, so a dark D2 means the rail is low, not necessarily absent. A photograph cannot tell those apart. If it matters, measure the rail rather than judging by eye.
• The compute module has its own LED, separate from these. It reports the module only and says nothing about the board’s rails. A lit module LED next to dark board LEDs is a normal-looking combination, not a contradiction.

If you land on D2 only, or on nothing at all, continue with Board won’t power on.

ESP32-C6 Module (U8)

Built-in ESP32-C6 for wireless connectivity.

ESP32 Control GPIOs:

• GPIO16: EN (reset/power cycle)
• GPIO17: BOOT mode (firmware updates)

Other Components

BT0 - RTC Battery

CR2032 battery holder for real-time clock backup.

DNP - Chassis Ground Bridge

0Ω resistor location for chassis-to-digital ground connection.

Mechanical Specifications

*Requires standoff spacers. Mounting holes do not align with standard Mini-ITX pattern.

Board dimensions: 170.0mm × 120.0mm

Note: Bottom left corner matches Mini-ITX standard (4.9mm from edges). Other corners are non-standard. Use board dimensions above to calculate distances from other edges as needed.

Source: CAD design files (source of truth for mechanical specifications).

Last modified October 11, 2026