Anyone found reliable 12v Raspberry Pi power options for boat use?
Way off topic, but if running signalK on a boat, have you found 12V power options that work well with a rpi4?
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Hat Labs
SH-RPi (Sailor Hat for Raspberry Pi)
Introducing the Sailor Hat for Raspberry Pi Version 2, the ultimate power management solution for your single-board computer! With its three 20F super-capacitors, the Sailor Hat ensures that your Raspberry Pi stays safe even when power is turned off or cut unexpectedly. This feature not only prevents hard drive corrupt
I use MacArthur HAT with the option power module
My devices are mounted on a DIM rail system, so I found this DC-DC converter.
MEAN WELL DDR-30G-5 30W DIN Rail DC-DC Converter Input 9-36V DC to 5V DC 6A 30W meanwell Power Supply(12/24Vdc to 5Vdc)
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mMrtrkr
I’m also a happy user of Meanwell dc-dc power supplies mounted on DIN rail
I use a 12v to 5v step-down converter, something like this https://www.amazon.com/PlusRoc-Waterproof-Converter-Compatible-Raspberry/dp/B09DGDQ48H/
We day sail on our J/24 boat and don't have a permanent battery on board. I bought an EcoFLow River 2 which is 256Wh, weights ~4kg and has nice ergonomics to carry around (I charge it at home). It gives my 12V DC (connected from cigarette lighter) to power RPi, RPi 7in monitor, WiFi router, 7 port powered USB hub (AIS dongle, GPS, IMU, etc). I put a small fuse box just in case in between EcoFLow and my devices. Also, it gives me "instrument panel" (tiny LCD display) where I can see power consumption.
Edit: Answering your initial question - I use 12V powered USB hub which converts 12V-5V for RPi itself.
SH-RPi (Sailor Hat for Raspberry Pi) is the way to go in my opinion. Worry-free operation with buffering for short power outages and auto-shutdown feature.
MacArthur hat is nice - powrer supply and auto shutdown feature and optoisolated NMEA, N2K, CANbus, I2C etc.
How long does the power module for the MacArthur hat supply power to the Pi when the external power is cut? Is it long enough for a real shutdown, which takes several seconds?
You have to supply a switched and fixed 12v. Flick the switch it uses the fixed supply to shutdown. It doesn't have any UPS.
Very happy with the Sailor Hat on our boat. We've been running Signal K with it for almost four years straight now (we have the older model that also could interface with N2K)
Having read this discussion, I ordered an SH-RPi for the system I've just started building. It arrived today, but I'm getting a warning that it cannot supply 5V at 5A and the screen often does not turn on. My stack is (top down):
* SH-RPi v2
* Pi-5
* USB bluetooth with long range antenna
* USB keyboard/mouse dongle
* USB micro speakers
* NVMe base board with 512GB SSD
* 7" Pi Touch Display v2
When powered on the screen often does not power up, but the LEDs on the SH-RPi and Pi-5 all do the right things and it looks like it is running OK.
If I disconnect/reconnect power to the screen it eventually turns on, but there is a warning on the top right of the desktop saying words to the effect of "the power supply cannot provide 5V at 5A, so peripheral usage will be limited"?
I've installed the software and it appears to be working fine (shutting down the Pi when power is removed).
Can this SH-RPi-2 power a Pi-5 with boards/peripherals I have (if not, then it is not really useful)? I have put the jumper in place to allow 2.8A draw.
Note that I have tried powering the display from the 5V at the end of the 40 pin connector (as done without the SH-RPi) and from the 5V supply from the SH-RPi (of course the power cable was not long enough by default!).
Also any idea how when this low power mode is triggered how I can reliably get the display to power up?
Have you contacted @Matti Airas about your issue?
I have raised https://github.com/hatlabs/discussions/discussions/149
I found an entirely separate 5v supply for the screen, and I'm still getting the message? So that is just a pi-5, an NVMe SSD and a keyboard dongle. So the warning cannot be due to power demand, but some aspect of the supply?
Discussions continuing in the issue above
I'm using https://joy-it.net/en/products/rb-strompi3 which can contain an extra battery, and has RTC and interval wakeup capabilities.
@abrax5 so do you get a warning about not being able to supply 5V at 5A? I see the strompi3 is 3A.
Good point, I probably missed that. I should do some high load tests. Edit: Haven't received any warnings.
It might be fine 3A sustained normally means a 5A peak. The SH-RPi doesn't trigger the PD USB switch to make that warning go away, so it shuts down some USB devices. I think the supply is good for it, but I just have to work out how to make the Pi realize that. I'm switching to ubuntu and it gave me the same warnings, but this time with links to documentation I can go read to understand what is the situation.
If you don't get the warning then the strompi3 is probably doing something right to avoid it