These on the lookout for a solution to broaden their Raspberry Pi 5’s connectivity whereas additionally powering it in a less-accessible location have a brand new choice in n-fuse’s Energy-over-Ethernet (PoE) HAT add-on — which additionally delivers a selection of mini PCI Categorical (mPCIe) or M.2 enlargement slot varieties.
“[This is] a PoE HAT for the Raspberry Pi 5 single board pc with mini-PCIe slot and M.2 slot choices,” n-fuse’s Thomas Hoppe explains of the corporate’s board design. “The machine can be utilized to reliably energy the Raspberry Pi by means of PoE whereas internet hosting varied mini PCIe or M.2 add-in playing cards. That is perfect for utilizing the RPi as a PoE powered file server with quick NVMe SSD storage, as a excessive efficiency Wi-Fi router or for AI [Artificial Intelligence] inference with an accelerator card.”
A brand new Raspberry Pi 5 HAT from n-fuse delivers PoE assist and mPCIe or M.2 enlargement in a single board. (📷: n-fuse)
The n-fuse design successfully mirrors that of two official Raspberry Pi {Hardware} Connected on Prime (HAT) add-on boards for the Raspberry Pi 5 — however whereas including each an M.2 slot and Energy-over-Ethernet requires two official boards, the n-fuse strategy, delivered to our consideration by CNX Software program, achieves it in a single.
As a Energy-over-Ethernet (PoE) HAT, the n-fuse board is IEEE 802.3af/at/bt compliant and might ship as much as 25W of energy to each the Raspberry Pi and to exterior units by means of a 5V output pin. For enlargement, the client has a option to make from the 4 out there variants: one with an mPCIe slot, one with an M.2 M-key slot, one with M.2 E-key, and one with M.2 B-key — the latter of which additionally features a nano-SIM slot to be used with mobile modems.
The board is bundled with mounting {hardware} and cabling — however USB connectivity means kissing your Raspberry Pi guarantee goodbye. (📷: n-fuse)
These trying to reap the benefits of the connectivity choices on provide will, nevertheless, must take care: whereas varied slot keyings can be found, all variants are restricted to PCI Categorical connectivity — which means SATA units aren’t appropriate. For these trying so as to add an M.2 card that requires USB connectivity, Hoppe writes of a manner so as to add assist — however warns that the modification, which requires soldering wires to 2 check factors on the rear of the Raspberry Pi 5, will end in a voided guarantee.
The corporate is accepting orders for all variants of the brand new PoE HAT on the n-fuse web site, priced at €48 (round $52) excluding taxes and supply.