Must fight temptation to buy an overpriced raspberry pi
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You'll have no end of problems and won't know whether it's a hardware or software problem.
Damn straight. Another reason not to buy a pi.
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Battery charging circuits don't operate continuously when the device is charged. Pi also still needs a PSU, typically a phone charger, and for a server application would need an SSD or HDD in most cases. SD cards have lower performance, write endurance, and capacity after all. A single raspberry pi couldn't match even a somewhat old laptop in performance. In terms of actual efficiency (performance per watt) Pis don't do that well as they are using cheap processors made using old core designs and even older process nodes. Even the latest Pi 5 uses a 16nm process node with a core design from 2018. A 10 year old laptop might have 14nm process node which would be better. This means that a laptop would have more performance, so even if it had more power consumption at peak it could still end up with significantly better performance per watt, and that extra performance allows it to idle more often as it spends less time processing requests.
Of course the ultimate in performance per watt is always going to be a modern high power server or an Apple Silicon device. Mini PCs can also do well for home use, and are much lower power so better suited to less demanding usage, and have the best performance per watt for consumer devices. The M4 Mac Mini for example is pretty much best in class in performance per watt, and low power consumption at the same time.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Battery circuits come on enough to be a load that needs to be considered and will show up if you measure load on the device vs load consumed by the components connected to the power supply. In terms of low power devices, it is significant, though not the primary concern. But compared to the pi PSU, the charger not to mention the battery and internal PSU of a laptop, consume way more power and produce way more heat.
All of the rest assumes needing always on, heavy load processing which isn't what the post I replied to was talking about. I was specifically replying to idle power load. And in my case, even with a bunch of self hosted applications, most of the time my servers are idling. If I was running a virtualization farm or something that was always under heavy load, then yes, as I mentioned, a single board server isn't ideal.
As for disks, I don't use SSDs on my pis except one that actually does a lot of local data processing. Everything else runs in memory and stores persistent data on my NAS, including logging. Virtual memory/swap is disabled on all and things that need temporary storage/cache of small amounts of data is cached on RAM disks where applications can't be configured to not use disk caching. The only need for the SD card is for boot and some minimal IO needed for local OS operation. I have a Raspberry Pi 3 B i got about 8 or 9 years or so ago with the same SD card in it.
They aren't what I use as a database server, obviously, but they are extremely low power compared to what an old laptop would need and work great for things like pihole, and other network applications as well as being a part if my home kubernetes cluster and run the majority of the cluster's processes on demand.
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As a Pi Hole, the Pi 5 doesn't require active cooling.
Now, I am running a separate Pi 5 with a HAILO 8 for Frigate monitoring of a bunch of video streams, and it does need a little air movement, so I built a box with a 200mm fan pulling through a filter and I just threw all my Pis in there along with the Frigate rig so they stay nice and cool... I'm thinking that I should probably switch Frigate over to a Pi 4 for the h.264 hardware decoder, but the 5 is working fine for my needs and endless tweaking gets boring...
You are probably right for something like a Pihole, which can easily run on a RPi 3 as well (I think I'm running it on a 3... maybe even a 2.) My fear is something like Jellyfin (which it is not suited for anyway, I know), combined with the fact that my stack of Pis is in my meter cabinet, so a fairly confined space with very little air movement, also passive. Running Jellyfin without transcoding has my Pi 5 running at just under 50 °C.
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original post: https://mk.moth.zone/notes/a8zer7ypj6uv02ka
Alternative. Cheap android box and coreelec.
You can have them for about 20 bucks. Have minimal power consumption. And small power factor. They also have ARM architecture.
They are good for low power applications.
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Wanna get something like this and a large SSD going forward. Make a silent NAS out of it, and have it in my bedroom without issues.
I have a Wyse 5010. Be careful with your SSD plans. Mine had an mSATA SSD. Luckily, after removing the chassis of a SATA SSD, and only keeping the board, it could fit in there.
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These things are removable with a screwdriver in most cases. If the battery isn't completely dead it's actually useful for backup power.
I had read about it on another thread, which was about using old smartphones as servers (they used Termux).
Those old lithium batteries, although sometimes seemingly healthy, can catch fire any time. Having them connected to the charger 24/7 is only making matters worse.
I wouldn't trust the battery of old devices. I would probably buy a used UPS (without battery) and slap a new battery to it. This would cost more, but it would allow me to also connect other important devices to it - like the router and some lights.
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Yeah... no. Old laptops idle at around 50 °C.
wrote last edited by [email protected]my 20 year old pc runs at ~5°C above room temp under load
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I have a Wyse 5010. Be careful with your SSD plans. Mine had an mSATA SSD. Luckily, after removing the chassis of a SATA SSD, and only keeping the board, it could fit in there.
Appreciate the warning!
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ODroids don't meet European legal hazard levels on poisonous fumes. I bought one back in the day and they explained they won't apply for the test because of "the cost"... not that it uses cheap solder that don't meet lead limits.
I didn't know this.
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Any photos of the boat and setup?
ATM the boat is being rebuilt inside. Replacing everything.
So the system is in bits. Hidden in the engine bay.
I have old pics of the boat before we regilt all the electrics etc. if it's the shape etc your interested in.
If your a Brit who knows the canals. Think small sprinter but with a flat hull. It's not actually a springer but same steel standards etc.
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Like: using the pi to manage your HVAC more efficiently.
Why use a pi instead of a microcontroller?
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You are probably right for something like a Pihole, which can easily run on a RPi 3 as well (I think I'm running it on a 3... maybe even a 2.) My fear is something like Jellyfin (which it is not suited for anyway, I know), combined with the fact that my stack of Pis is in my meter cabinet, so a fairly confined space with very little air movement, also passive. Running Jellyfin without transcoding has my Pi 5 running at just under 50 °C.
It's impressive what a gentle breeze will do - if you can get a fan on your cabinet it will help a lot.
I filter my air and positive pressure the cabinet so the dust doesn't build up (as fast).
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Why use a pi instead of a microcontroller?
At the HVAC control level it would be a Pico - for the development / maintenance time efficiency: I know how the tools work, I know the community support is there, the hardware is easy to find and available relatively reliably, although ESPHome on the ESP micro-controllers is pretty good too.
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my 20 year old pc runs at ~5°C above room temp under load
You really shouldn't be spending your days in a room at 45 °C.
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You really shouldn't be spending your days in a room at 45 °C.
you are joking, but my room actually feels like that.
