Computer Project

[Ianab]

Going to be a wood project eventually. Going to build a little " Pirate Chest" sort of box to hold it. This is just the proof of concept stage.



 

So, top left, old laptop power supply, puts out 19V. That feeds through a 12V lead acid charge controller into the 12V battery. I have a small solar panel that will charge it, but it's only about 1/2 amp max output, so wont run the unit. Takes several sunny days to charge the  battery. From the battery there are 3 more buck converters (lower left) that put out 5V USB up to 3 amps.

Those power the Raspberry Pi 4 computer on the top right. If you have never played with these, they are a smartphone level processor (4 core CPU / 4 gb Ram / SD card for storage), and have HDMI video, USB 3 ports, ethernet, wifi, bluetooth etc all on that card. Runs an up to date ARM version of Linux.

That then feeds to a 7" touchscreen monitor (still have to get the drivers installed for that). There is a bluetooth folding mini keyboard and a regular USB wireless mouse attached.

So right now, it's in the first prototype stage, and the case is only an idea in my head.  Obvious improvements would be a Lithium battery, a USB SSD disk for more storage, and it needs a bigger solar panel. But it all works and nothing has caught fire in spite of the spaghetti wiring.  :D

Quick test, it can bring up the Forum.  ;D



 

Anyway, that was my afternoon of tinkering. I already had the Pi computer, the battery is from an old UPS, and the power supply from a scrapped laptop. The rest owes me a bit over $100, mostly for the new touchscreen, but that and the keyboard are standard units, and will work with anything else.  AliExpress  ;)  

Oh, and there is a bluetooth speaker module to add in as well.

[RetiredTech]

  That's great! I love Pi projects. One thing to watch out for is heat. I discovered you can take a thin 5" 12 volt cooling fan and run it on 5 volts from the Pi header. It spins slower and is very quiet while still supplying the air cooling you need. Plus they seem to last forever. The small fans running full blast never lasted for me.  
  I have multiple Pi 2 and 3's but I never was able to get my hands on a Pi 4. I used to run Kodi on the old Pi 2 and 3s, it worked very well, but My wife didn't understand how to use it. I have a Pi 3 on my 3d printer running Octoprint. I also have some of the competitor boards. Namely LaPotatoe and Rock64. They all run Linux and/or Android at their core. I tend to use Linux myself. My favorite Pi application is Open Media Vault. I have 2 running now with another on standby in case it's needed.
  Keep us posted. I can't wait to see the finished product.