Raspberry Pi 4 Venus OS

Hi all,
I am going to have my system installed by @JacoDeJongh soon and in preparation I am busy provisioning a raspberry Pi 4 with VenusOS.

I have a few questions regarding this.

I see there is no official build for the Pi 4 only pi 2/3. I have installed 2.70 via https://updates.victronenergy.com/feeds/venus/develop/images/raspberrypi4/venus-image-raspberrypi4-20200911232416-v2.70~2.rootfs.wic.gz

Would this be stable enough to run in “production”? I see using this build I am unable to update packages, can this be fixed?

Then, I have a CAN Hat up and running as per dmesg, is there anything else that I need to do or will it be “plug n play” if I connect the battery via CAN.

Then a more general question.
I had a case with a fan, but after installing the CAN Hat it obviously does not fit in the case anymore. Does anyone have any suggestions for a case or diy solution?

Thanks.

There is a 2.60 build for the Pi4 available. It will be more “stable”, but unless you find issues I would say stick to the 2.70 build that you already have. All the Pi4 builds will at this stage only be upgradable manually (like how you installed it now) until there is an official build with update packages.

If you CAN HAT use FTDI chip it should be fine as is. If not you will have to activate the driver for it. You did not mention which HAT you do have.

I would suggest just doing a makeshift fan. You already have the fan from the case top. Just remove it and fit if manually if you can. The Pi does not have a big airflow design like a PC, so any fan without a case should do.

The 2.60 and 2.70 builds are very very close to each other at the moment. There is almost no differenve at all.

Hi, Thanks for the reply.

The CAN Hat I am using is https://www.robotics.org.za/W14882

Waveshare RS485 HAT For Pi It uses the venerable MCP2515

I have added the overlays to config.txt and confirmed the module is loaded via dmesg. I was wondering if it requires any other setup.

Thanks yes that is what I was thinking. I was just hoping that there was a case that would fit a hat. I don’t feel comfortable just having the bare pi hanging in my garage.

This is the case I have currently https://www.waveshare.com/product/raspberry-pi/accessories/pi-cases/pi4-case-d.htm at least the gpio is exposed so I am thinking of using jumper cables and extending them out and stiking the can Hat on top. The CAN and RS485 uses only 10 pins on the gpio so would not be that bad.

Yes, I have the same problem. I also have that HAT but did not install it because of the case. In my case it ended up not being needed as I don’t have anything at the moment needing CAN.

I do want to add a small screen at some stage. My plan is to make my own case (more like a small DB box) which will house the Pi and all the USB cables I use away from dust and eyes.
If you still have some old 40pin IDE ribbon cables you can use those as well (not the 80 pin Enhanced IDE! )

Once you have the overlays loaded like you do, you also have to map a driver to the device in
/etc/venus/serial-starter.conf
Follow the steps on how to add a driver from here
I suspect the RS485 driver will work for you device, but not sure how the CAN interface will be handled.

I actually have a 40 pin female to female, that I got form an IO extender for the PI. The problem with that is the ends of the cable also don’t fit the enclosure I have.
Otherwise the CAN and RS485 just use 10 pins and they are also exposed as solder points on the hat so I might be able to solder wires to the points and plug in the ends to the GPIO on the pi, using male to female jumpers. I have a project box that fits the PI and the hat so I might be able to use that. And then just drill holes for the IO I would need like usb and power.

Power being another interesting topic. I am thinking of powering the pi via the 5v pins using a DC-DC step down. I will speak to @JacoDeJongh about the practicality of powering the PI, using the usb c PSU and finding a 2 point plug, or using DC. The only hitch I see is that the dc-dc step down has an input rating of 5.5v to 26v and the system is 48V…

Thanks,
last night I also saw this RaspberryPi CAN Interfaces · victronenergy/venus Wiki · GitHub will look into that.

Ah yes. I still have to solve power as well. I currently have it running from an old computer UPS but that battery is all but useless. I have my eye on this UPS HAT but is has been on Arriving Soon for more than a month.
I do have a spare mini Solar board that I think might also work.

I would say about 0.1 difference …

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