Marine Server Kit

Create a complete marine server kit by picking the desired components!

Instructions

Depending on your particular requirements, many or even most of the kit items might not be required.

Raspberry Pi

If you already have an existing Raspberry Pi or a similar computer, you can omit the CM4 and the base board. However, if you don't have an existing Raspberry Pi, we recommend considering a CM4 and a base board. The price is roughly equivalent to a regular Raspberry Pi 4B (at least when normal availability is restored), and the CM4 has several attractive features for server use:

• Lower power consumption. A CM4 and a base board has over 20% lower power consumption than a regular Pi 4B. This is not significant in mains-powered applications but very much so in marine and mobile systems.
• eMMC mass memory. The CM4 modules include an integrated eMMC mass memory which is both faster and more reliable than MicroSD cards used on regular Pis.
• M.2 card slot. The base board supports M.2 SSD drives for even faster operation and much larger capacities.
• External WiFi antenna connector. An external WiFi antenna can be connected to the CM4 base board, increasing connection range and speed significantly.

Add-on HATs

The SH-RPi doesn't include any marine data interfaces. If you need any, pick either the CAN or the RS485 HAT for NMEA 2000 or NMEA 0183 support, respectively. Or both.

Connectors

If you included a CAN HAT, you should select the NMEA 2000 panel connector as well. NMEA 0183 doesn't have standardized connectors. For bidirectional use, a pair of 3-pin SP3 connectors work well.

When connected to an NMEA 2000 network, the device can be powered through it. Otherwise, a power connector should be added.