Waveshare CM5 to Pi 5 Adapter Board Adds USB Audio and PCIe Support

CM5 to Pi 5 Adapter Board from Waveshare

Waveshare has recently introduced the CM5 to Pi 5 Adapter Board, a compact carrier board that turns a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 into a near drop-in alternative for the Raspberry Pi 5. On top of that, it also adds features like USB audio decoder, PoE, RTC headers, and IO voltage level selection that are not present in the original Pi 5, making it suitable for embedded system developers, prototypers, and industrial applications.

The board also includes features like dual HDMI outputs (up to 4K), four USB ports (2x USB 3.2 Gen1, 2x USB 2.0), Gigabit Ethernet, dual MIPI connectors, and a 40-pin GPIO header. Additionally, it adds an onboard USB audio decoder with a microphone-capable audio header, a microSD card slot for CM5 Lite, PCIe Gen2/3 x1 via a 16-pin connector, fan and PoE headers, RTC battery interface, and IO-VREF selection (1.8V/3.3V). Power input is via a 5V/5A DC jack. The adapter provides full compatibility with all CM5 variants and supports advanced Raspberry Pi peripherals, including DSI/CSI displays and PCIe storage or expansion modules.

CM5 to Pi 5 Adapter Board from Waveshare

Waveshare CM5 to Pi 5 Adapter Board Specifications:

• SoM Compatibility: Supports all variants of Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 (CM5)
• Storage: SD card slot for CM5 Lite variants (non-eMMC)
• Networking: Gigabit Ethernet (RJ45), 10/100/1000 Mbps with optional PoE
• Video Output:
  • 2x Micro HDMI ports
  • 1x MIPI DSI port
  • Dual 4K output support
• Camera: 1x MIPI CSI for camera
• Audio:
  • Onboard USB audio decoder chip
  • Audio header with 3.5mm headphone/microphone adapter
• USB:
  • 2x USB 3.2 Gen1 ports (up to 5Gbps)
  • 2x USB 2.0 ports (shared 480Mbps bandwidth)
  • Type-C port for image flashing (USB slave)
• Expansion:
  • 1x PCIe Gen2/3 x1 via 16-pin header
  • 2x MIPI interfaces (4-lane, 22-pin 0.5mm FPC)
  • 1x Raspberry Pi 40-pin GPIO header
• Misc
  • RTC Header
  • 1x PoE 4-pin header
  • 1x RTC battery header
  • BOOT button for flashing mode
  • PSW power button (short press: on/off; long press: force off)
  • STAT dual-color status LED
  • IO-VREF jumper selectable: 3.3V (default) or 1.8V
  • Supports RTC timekeeping and automated GPIO wake-up
  • Dual-display & dual-camera configuration via config.txt overlays
• Power:
  • 5V / 5A DC input via Type-C
  • 4-pin JST-SH fan header (PWM, 5V)
• Dimensions: 85 × 56 mm (same as Raspberry Pi 5)

The CM5 to Pi 5 Adapter Board requires Raspberry Pi OS Bookworm (2024-11-19 or newer) for full functionality, including PCIe, dual MIPI (DSI/CSI), USB audio, and NVMe boot support. PCIe Gen2 is enabled by default, with optional Gen3 via config.txt. Dual display and camera overlays can be configured using dtoverlay parameters. USB device flashing is supported via the onboard BOOT button and Type-C port. Fan behavior, RTC, and GPIO wakeup can be customized through kernel parameters and EEPROM configuration. For more information, please refer to the wiki page.

CM5 to Pi 5 Adapter Board Pinout Layout from Waveshare

Previously, we have written about other carrier boards for the CM5, including the CM5-NANO-B CM5 carrier board, the Pineboards CM4/CM5 carrier board, and the SaraKIT is an open-source Raspberry Pi CM4 expansion board. You can check those and other carrier boards on our website.

The Waveshare CM5 to Pi 5 Adapter Board is available on the Waveshare official store for $23.99. It’s also available on AliExpress for $47.88.

Images used courtesy of waveshare.com