Raspberry Pi 4 availability / suggested accessories like case / fan

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timmmay

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#295395 25-Mar-2022 19:22

I'm after a Pi 4 4gb to run Home Assistant, Pi Hole, and anything else I think might be useful at home. I see PBTech says they usually arrive in the warehouse at the start of the month. Does anyone know if I order one now am I likely to actually get one? Or is there a better source?

I might settle for a Pi 3+ if I had to, they're a bit cheaper, but I'd rather go straight to v4 since it's the latest, apparently a lot faster, and not that much more expensive. Pi Hole runs fine on the Pi 2, but Home Assistant recommends Pi 3 or faster.

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MuzaNZ

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#2892235 25-Mar-2022 19:36

Jaycar also seem to have a few locked away behind the counter if you visit in person

MarkM536

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#2892236 25-Mar-2022 19:45

In December last year (2021) I ordered a Pi 4 4GB from Core Electronics in AU.

I cannot remember the exact price, but I remember that if I had chosen standard shipping it would have been cheaper than PB-tech (factoring NZD).

Core Electronics AU have them for $84AUD at the moment.

https://core-electronics.com.au/raspberry-pi-4-model-b-4gb.html

When I paid through them, I got no AU gst.

richms

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#2892241 25-Mar-2022 20:28

tried mindkits?

Richard rich.ms

timmmay

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#2892247 25-Mar-2022 21:53

Thanks all. Mindkits is 1-2 days, Core has stock and price is a fraction less. I'll order from whichever has the accessories I need.

Any suggestions on case / fan? I'm unlikely to drive it hard with Pi Hole or Home Assistant, and it will be in a wardrobe top cupboard I use for this stuff, so ideally a fan that only comes on when required.

Handle9

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#2892260 26-Mar-2022 00:12

timmmay:

Thanks all. Mindkits is 1-2 days, Core has stock and price is a fraction less. I'll order from whichever has the accessories I need.

Any suggestions on case / fan? I'm unlikely to drive it hard with Pi Hole or Home Assistant, and it will be in a wardrobe top cupboard I use for this stuff, so ideally a fan that only comes on when required.

You don't need a fan. My 3+ runs sweet as nut with HA and Pi Hole and passive cooling. If it gets hot you could always add a fan later but you won't need to.

The official cases are nice.

timmmay

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#2892337 26-Mar-2022 08:53

Nice, thanks. I might play with it as desktop first which apparently does benefit with a fan, plus it's a bit of a project so if I can find a temperature controlled fan or case with a temperature controlled fan I might get one of those.

PANiCnz

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#2892339 26-Mar-2022 09:17

If HASS is the aim of the game, have you seen Home Assistant Yellow? The M.2 slot and built in Zigbee chip make it a great package.

richms

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#2892353 26-Mar-2022 11:30

All both of mine have needed to not throttle under normal usage has been an aliexpress heat sink stuck on. Even without it was marginal that it would throttle. Sure, running something stupid to make it hot will still throttle but that's not what I have them for.

Richard rich.ms

JimmyH

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#2892358 26-Mar-2022 11:42

Both of mine (admittedly model 3B, not 4) have done just fine for years with passive cooling. Like Richms, I just went with Aliexpress heatsinks, which seem to work just fine. I would be tempted to just try that before faffng around with a fan.

One runs Retropie. The other will run probably Pihole and/or Homeassistant when I eventually find it (it seems to have been misplaced in a house move). It used to run RasPlex before it was replaced with a Roku Ultra, and subsequently lost.

timmmay

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#2892469 26-Mar-2022 17:36

Ok, passive cooling it is then thanks. If I happen to find a great case with a fan maybe I'll consider that / post here for thoughts. Adding later sounds fine particularly since it will probably sit at about 1% CPU usage most of the time.

PANiCnz:

If HASS is the aim of the game, have you seen Home Assistant Yellow? The M.2 slot and built in Zigbee chip make it a great package.

Interesting idea. I'm not 100% sure on Home Assistant and don't need Zigbee right now, plus I want it in two weeks as I have time then, so I think RP4 is probably better right now.

1101

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#2893022 28-Mar-2022 10:54

timmmay:

Thanks all. Mindkits is 1-2 days, Core has stock and price is a fraction less. I'll order from whichever has the accessories I need.

Did you buy one & did Mindkits actually have stock.
Im trying to find one locally, no one else has stock (it seems)

Cheers

timmmay

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#2893031 28-Mar-2022 11:10

I couldn't find any in stock in NZ so I ordered from Core Electronics in Australia with express shipping who say they have stock.

I ended up with the Argon Neo case, which is passively cooled by effectively attaching the CPU to the aluminium case. That's apparently good for most general use, but supports adding a fan if required.

MarkM536

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#2893186 28-Mar-2022 16:10

timmmay:

I couldn't find any in stock in NZ so I ordered from Core Electronics in Australia with express shipping who say they have stock.

If you're lucky, you'll get a pack of stickers too!

You could stick the "Have you turned it off and on again?" sticker onto the case 😀.

mdf

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#2893225 28-Mar-2022 19:05

Just FYI, I had a couple of bad experiences with HASS chewing up SD cards. No worries at all for testing but if you end up using it in prod I'd highly recommend either (or both) of a high endurance card and backing up snapshots off to a USB or NAS. Both are straightforward.

PS. Zigbee is awesome, I much prefer Zigbee to wifi given the option.

timmmay

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#2893230 28-Mar-2022 19:38

MarkM536:

If you're lucky, you'll get a pack of stickers too!

You could stick the "Have you turned it off and on again?" sticker onto the case 😀.

:) I have an older Pi running Pi Hole that I never reboot, other than when I'm doing rare things like moving them around. It Just Works. Hopefully the new one is similar.

mdf:

Just FYI, I had a couple of bad experiences with HASS chewing up SD cards. No worries at all for testing but if you end up using it in prod I'd highly recommend either (or both) of a high endurance card and backing up snapshots off to a USB or NAS. Both are straightforward.

PS. Zigbee is awesome, I much prefer Zigbee to wifi given the option.

Interesting about cards. I have a new Samsung card which should be fairly reliable, and have Sandisk as well. Do you have an easy way to do a snapshot of the SD card over the network? It will be in a somewhat inaccessible physical location. Looks like image-backup might do the job.

I haven't used Zigbee but I imagine it's more reliable than WiFi. I have no Zigbee devices though.

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