I find myself using Raspberry Pi devices for more than just custom electronics projects such as:
- Freezer temperature monitor
- Touch-screen clocks for kids (wake up time, exit room time, play soothing music, etc.)
- Digital photo frames
Now I’m looking as uses such as running Home Assistant (HA/Hass.io) on an rPi, have a dedicated development rPi, etc. That leads me to think about placing them in the rack mount. If they are in the rack mount, let’s organize them instead of having them freely shifting about on a rack shelf right?
Some options under consideration: (we may receive an affiliate commission if you purchase from these links)
- UCTRONICS Ultimate Rack with PoE Functionality for Raspberry Pi 4, 19″ 1U Rackmount with PoE HAT, All IO on One Side, OLED Display, Power Switch, and Cooling Fan
- UCTRONICS Upgraded 2U Rackmount for Raspberry Pi 4, 19-inch 2U Server Rack with 12 Pieces of Removable Mounting Plates for Raspberry Pi 4 Model B
Complicating the decision is peripheral devices. For HomeAssistant there should be SSD, Z-Wave stick, and Zigbee stick. It would be nice to power the rPis via PoE but there is ample power at the rack anyway so PoE isn’t key.
Speaking of USB to NVMe for SSD connection, see SSK Aluminum M.2 NVME SSD Enclosure Adapter, USB 3.1/3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) to NVME PCI-E M-Key Solid State Drive External Enclosure Support UASP Trim (Fits only NVMe PCIe 2242/2260/2280) looks like a good target, pretty inexpensive too.
If one doesn’t go the SSD route, leverage zram and log2ram Extend The Lifespan of Your Raspberry Pi’s SD Card with log2ram (ikarus.sg)