Hi. I am looking at using a cm4 and Waveshare mini io board. For a project I am setting up on my small narrowboat.
As the tiny antique single cylinder diesel engine. Means the boat suffers from a fair bit of vibration. And this will be the first time I have used a CM4.
I was hoping some folks could share there experiance/advice on using CM4 boards in similar rough environments.
I am planning to build a system mounted to din rails with rubber pads to absorb some of the vibration. But any other experience other have can only help.
If you dont have a harddisk, its probably gonna be fine.
Might be worth soldering power and io connections to avoid them vibrating lose?
Protection against water (salt water?) would be wise as well.
I’ll be using an nvme.
Soldering connector on a boat is not advised. As the stranded wire can wick the solder. Making it more prown to breaking with engine vibration.
Where possible ill be using crimped ferrule and terminall connectors.
Thank you for the advice,
Fair enough on the soldering. But some kind of permanent/strongly attached connector is probably a good idea.
How close to the engine is it and how much vibration? Are we talking phone buzzer vibration or jackhammer?
Between to 2 :) its a 12hp single cylinder diesel engine. So likely a bit more then inside a generator frame.
It will be about 2 metres. But the issue is the steel frame of narrowboats carry vibration.
Part of the reason I am using 35mm din rails. Is so the can be mounted to the electrical board/cupboard on rubber shock absorbers. Mounting very thick wire the rail. 2x 50mm2 positive + negative. The abserde thickness is more about reducing voltage loss. As some wires not connected to the pie. Will run 14m and use high current. 20a
But the connection to the pie will link from that bus.
I may solder directly to pads on the board for power. Then ferrule and terminal grip to a voltagecstabaliser on the din rail. But I’ll likely need to get a friend with more experience them me. To ensure less wicking of the solder at the io board end.
I think, and i am basing this on no real world experience, but if the vibration is bad enough to crack the soldered wires, its gonna vibrate the chips off the board as well. Given your isolating it with rubber, I think you should be more than fine?
Surely the whole boat isnt going to vibrate like the inside of a generator, wouldnt that be super uncomfortable?
PS yep when the engine is running the whole boat vibrates. The upholstery and layout helps with comfort. So sitting or laying you don’t feel it. But if (as now) I need the engine to charge batts. Things are noisy. And you can notice it touching the walls.
But annoying is more accurate then uncomfortable. Kettle on stove rattles etc.
Unfortunately the solder thing is part of the BSc for all boats in the UK and EU
The safty rules state no solid wires. All must be stranded to pass the test.
While solder is allowed. Its is strongly discouraged. And the inspecters are expected to ensure no wicking into the stranded wire. As it is a 1970s boat that I am completely rewiring and upgrading.
My hesitation is more about not giving any reason to question. Then the actual risk.
Atm Iafter your advice. I am wondering about replacing gpio pins 1,2,4 and 6 with ones that extend both sides of the board. So I can mount soldered connectors that the crimp to stranded wire. As well done crimps are generally recommended for all 12v wiring.
I’ll also add the reason we are doing this makes a difference. The boat is owned by my brother and I.
While we both have some vision. We are legally blind. The pie is designed to manage electrics in a way our vision cannot. Our vision changes often. And numbers are the hardest thing to read when it is bad. So this system is to manage the solar dump and hot water temps. Warning us if its been stored unsafe for to long. Also a few other ideas that came up. Because its there :)
The vision makes me soldering harder. Hence the comment about asking someone to ensure no wicking happens.
This is the io base board I plan to use.
https://www.waveshare.com/wiki/CM4-IO-BASE-B
Removing the GPIO pins will be non-trivial. You have to use a screwdriver/pliers to pull the plastic bit off first, and then desolder each pin. Ive done it, but its very fiddly, and if your not careful, you can cook the board and lift pads. Go slow and careful.
What is your plan for software?
I’m a retired software engineer so plan to write python scripts. running on rasbian.
As I say. I think I’ll get a friend to do the soldering. Smt is a little hard vision wise.
Sounds like a cool project, good luck! Are you going to be publishing updates somewhere as you go? I would be very interested in following along.