Ultimate RaspberryPi Rackmount from UCTRONICS

I wanted to find a way to mount a handful of raspberry pis to my desk area with easy access for experimentation. Ideally I'd be able to quickly swap SD cards while testing things out, and I want several raspberry pis so I could have some designated for experimentation or certain apps and still have another one for testing or demos on camera.
In this video I assemble the UCTronics Ultimate Raspberry Pi Rackmount U6145. This 1u bracket holds four raspberry pi 4 boards, along with supplied PoE hats, HDMI relocation boards, power buttons and even an OLed status display!
Companion Blog Post:
www.benstechlab.com/uctronics...
👍 Thanks for watching! If you enjoyed this video please give it a like, leave a comment & consider subscribing.
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FEATURED Ultimate Raspberry Pi Rackmount (w/ PoE) ► geni.us/8Bm4QKe
4gb Raspberry Pi 4 ► geni.us/P1k1RQR (Amazon)
8gb Raspberry Pi 4 ► geni.us/VA7bp (Amazon)
4u Desktop Rack ► geni.us/a9Mnq (Amazon)
8u Desktop Rack ► geni.us/081x4 (Amazon)
12u Desktop Rack ► geni.us/DfH5BQF (Amazon)
Short Left-Angled HDMI Cable ► geni.us/bQnp (Amazon)
Long Left-Angled HDMI Cable ► geni.us/CwUdRUw (Amazon)
DISCLOSURE: This description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you which helps support the channel.
Other Raspberry Pi Rackmounts
► 52pi Rackmount Review: • RaspberryPi Rackmount ...
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00:00 - Welcome and Sponsor Appreciation
00:34 - Unboxing UCTronics Ultimate Rackmount
02:46 - Assembling First Rackmount Raspberry Pi
04:20 - Installing Raspberry Pi PoE Hats
06:29 - SD Card Relocation Cable
07:37 - HDMI Relocation Board is Optional
08:45 - Mounting it in the Equipment Rack
09:53 - Patch Cable Compatibility
10:33 - 4 Raspberry Pi's All Setup!
10:42 - Note About PoE Hat Fans
11:10 - Summary and Conclusion
11:35 - Next Time: OLed Display
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#benstechlab #uctronics #raspberrypi

[@BensTechLab]

NEW! 👉 I _just_ released a 52pi rackmount review video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZmOTnYpuhJKigZY

[@Timi7007]

For a rookie KZbinr the production value here is through the roof. Light, sound mix and 4 camera angles. Stunning!

[@BensTechLab]

Thanks for the compliment! 👍 I do enjoy technical excellence.

[@UCTRONICS]

The rackmount looks great in your workspace! We are open to community feedback about our product, anyone can leave a comment below if you have some ideas to improve our products!

[@BensTechLab]

Thanks! I'm loving the front mounted SD card on this which will be great for quickly testing different raspberry pi images and apps. I'm excited to do more raspberry pi stuff on this channel!

[@webfreezy]

Well, I threw out all non-CAT7 network cables a couple of years ago so that the PoE hats are not usable with my CAT7 cables is a no-go for me, sorry.

[@joegroom3195]

@@webfreezy Use one of the slots for a 5v power supply and wire them to the pins on the Pis. You could get fancy and still wire up power buttons for each Pi.

[@sukusu913]

Hello, If you can still see this please consider going all out INDUSTRIAL or Pro and make a deeper rack tray and include the option using SSD/HDD (2.5")...Something similar to this board : www.amazon.co.uk/GeeekPi-Storage-Expansion-Board-Raspberry/dp/B073J97ZVC/ref=sr_1_18?crid=1RPU90C68P7MQ&dchild=1&keywords=2.5+inch+sata+hdd%2Fssd+nas+storage+kit+for+raspberry+pi+4+model+b&qid=1628691584&sprefix=Raspberry+pi+SSD%2FHDD+%2Caps%2C209&sr=8-18 I even considered using that but would mean to create a new face plate...and that connecting USB wouldn't fit... Any chance? There are a lot of us who use the good-old Raspberry PI for Home Automation but the SD cards and USB thumb drives are prone to failures. Be the first!...I have looked everywhere and can't find a rack mount option. There are case versions like this one : www.amazon.co.uk/Geekworm-NASPi-Storage-Raspberry-Model/dp/B095WD7BTW/ref=psdc_949408031_t4_B073J97ZVC But we need the rack version...

[@UCTRONICS]

@@sukusu913 We have SSD Mounting Plate for this Rack: www.amazon.com/dp/B093GRD7SJ

[@jonathanzj620]

"These tiny little nuts are hard to get on" may be one of the best 'thats what she said' moments in YT history

[@BensTechLab]

😅

[@BensTechLab]

❓ 👉 *What are you using raspberry pis for?* I'd love to hear what people are doing with a handful of rpi4s at a time! P.S. Will do a video on the OLED display setup next, it was going to be a bit more technical and I didn't want this video to get too long!

[@Lars-ju9pw]

I have an 8 node K3s cluster. With PiHole running in two pods. And a custom container that plots temperature and Humidity from an attached DHT22 to influxdb and displayed by grafana running in 6 pods (one for each of 6 rooms in the house.)

[@BensTechLab]

Nice! You've got some valuable skills right there. Raspberry pis are so great for learning/practicing kubernetes stuff. 👍

[@sustainablewww6715]

I have a raspberry pi 4 8gb running a home web development server (mongodb and such) and it is also running pivpn and hosting a small website.

[@BensTechLab]

@@sustainablewww6715 Wow, 8 node is a substantial setup! 👍 Excellent to have those K3s skills these days!

[@mikey38632]

Hi Ben, I can't seem to find a follow-up video on the tiny OLED screens. Is there any update on this? I'm very interested; I have already even purchased screens to do a similar project (Before seeing this video)!

[@M4XD4B0ZZ]

Beautiful product and great production quality. Keep it coming

[@yky2410]

Very useful video! I was looking for a little project to do with a Pi, and seeing as I was looking into building a home server, this will fit the bill nicely.

[@toolbelt]

Fantastic video. This looks like a really fun way to rack up the pi’s.

[@BensTechLab]

Thanks for the nice comment! I really like the rack mounted pis.

[@ciopodcast6300]

Love it... and nice idea for the PI running companion. We're building our rig and expect to use a couple of PIs for video input and now a controller as well.

[@BensTechLab]

Sounds like you are on the same page! FYI, I just received a bunch of parts to improve the cooling on these rack mounted pis. So new video next week hopefully! I want quiet but also maybe try overclocking for vdo.ninjo 1080p30. Full coverage heatsinks may do it.

[@DouglasHendriksen]

Great quality video, subbed!

[@BensTechLab]

👍 Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for the compliment!

[@CoffeeTalkandTechJohnRyan]

Hey Ben Being a tech channel too I really enjoy your content and love that little rack setup too. I connected with you through the mighty network community.

[@BensTechLab]

Hey, thanks for stopping by! Appreciate it. 🙏

[@graemehay2607]

Great video! I have a 3D printed rackmount for 4 pi’s but I really need the front mount video and power. Thanks for telling us about it

[@BensTechLab]

👍 I hear ya! The rerouting of HDMI ports and SD card is quite handy! And I like the cleanliness PoE provides in reducing cable count.

[@squigly80]

congrats on the sponsorship mate, hard work does pay off.

[@BensTechLab]

Thanks! I appreciate the nice comment. I've got some raspberry pi projects in the works this year...

[@joegroom3195]

Cool rack! It would be good for a pi-hole, home assistant and some other headless pi servers.

[@BensTechLab]

Ooooh, home assistant. I need to do this and automate my office lights! (I currently have Samsung SmartThings, but kind want to try something else).

[@AndreasKoepkeAU]

That looks like a very nice bit of kit. Just subscribed to your channel.

[@BensTechLab]

Thanks for the sub. 👍 Glad you enjoyed it!

[@leiliamyr]

I've got one of these kits. It's a solid product. I had one PoE hat fail immediately, but support was great - they got me a replacement quickly. Two of them are piholes, and the other two are docker hosts. I'm considering buying another one to start playing with microk8s, maybe with an eye to absorbing the two docker pi's if it works out well.

[@BensTechLab]

Sounds like you have some great projects going! It's amazing how accessible tech is these days with relatively cheap single board computers like the raspberry pi.

[@JohnKlosner]

HOMEEE ASISTANTTTT

[@BensTechLab]

@@JohnKlosner 🤣 someone watching Paul Hibbert?? I do like this idea!! Planning to at least test home assistant.

[@mikemcdonald5147]

sweet ive been looking for something like this to rackmount my pis. I use them for ham radio stuff.

[@BensTechLab]

Cool! What apps are you running? I am also a licensed amateur radio operator! Not a lot of space where I live for HF antennas... but good repeater coverage for VHF/UHF.

[@mikemcdonald5147]

@@BensTechLab oh cool. Im a member of AmRRON and we use it to do alot of digital formats using fldigi, for hf and i also have one running a packet station for VHF. Our local ham club has multiple users who run packet stations and several at local area hospitals for ARES. I also just found your channel and subscribed as well.

[@primeral]

New subscriber here, great video.

[@BensTechLab]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it! 👍

[@charliebrown1947]

that metal shielding on the side of the rj45 connector means its a STP cable. shielded twisted pair. it can be bought for cat5, cat5e, cat6, cat6a etc. but yes, cat7 and 8 cables are shielded by specification.

[@BensTechLab]

Thanks for the tips! So all CAT7 is STP, but not all STP is CAT7.

[@alericjohansen6775]

i think the only thing i don't like about that item, is that they didn't design it to be modular. what i mean is, each time you want to add or remove a pi, the WHOLE shelf needs to be removed. uctronics does have another version, though with a few less features, where each pi is on its own insert, and thus each pi can be removed on its own. beyond that, that looks really cool. I love your desktop rack. though personally i have a 42u rack. To each his own there for each situation ;) i do wish these things were cheaper, as i REALLY want to get a Pi 4B, but i have other priorities that i need to spend money on :(

[@BensTechLab]

There are some new ones that are more modular that also have all the extra features! Maybe I'll review that as an upgrade some day!

[@Gainz717]

I found this video hoping to find some help on setting up the LED. Being new to RPI in general I got pretty lost with this. At first I was not able to save the rc.local file because I wasnt on root. I did figure this out but after saving the file I still cannot get the LED screen to show anything. Im trying to figure out what I am missing with this. I did note that the first line saying to change directories to /home/pi/U6143_ssd1306/C I dont have that directory on my PI....

[@alexscarbro796]

Could we have a little more detail on why the shielded cables cannot be used? I wonder if this creates an alternative common mode noise path - I’ve had experience with PoE PD controllers failing to negotiate due to increased noise in the past.

[@BensTechLab]

Hi Alex! I emailed UCTRONICS and they gave me a pretty good explanation, but much too detailed for comments on KZbin. Bottom line is the additional ground between two network devices can cause some kind of differential voltage in a specific PoE mode. Good news is they will have a new revision of this PoE hat soon that has an isolation transformer and capacitor added to the PoE circuitry which resolves this issue! So if you require Cat7 cables, stay tuned for a review on the new board revision soon! (They will be sending me the revised parts for review).

[@shortchange21]

I appreciated your review and ordered the product. I'm using Rpis for a variety of headless roles in my home network and this lets me put them in the rack with the router/firewall/switch gear and keep things straight. I have one small concern, which is what happens when a poe adaptor gets fried, I'm hopeful I can still get repl parts at that time.

[@BensTechLab]

You can in fact order the poe hats individually! You can also still power the rpis via USB-C on the backedge of the poe board! So lots of options.

[@BensTechLab]

Here's the POE hats available individually on Amazon: geni.us/infJa (paid link)

[@shortchange21]

@@BensTechLab This is good info. For my application, I really want to use PoE because I have the extra ports, and I am very tired of power wires going to every device. Have you considered a video where you make a dedicated PoE adaptor that can drive something like an ESP8266 w/ a hat? It would make it much more convenient to power them this way and a bonus of the network's UPS protecting them from power bounces as thunderstorms (or whatever) take out the grid power.

[@BensTechLab]

@@shortchange21 it will take me a while to get their with an ESP8266. I did buy an ESP32 recently and have a project in mind for it! But could take a few months... there is only so many hours in each day! 😁 but I love the idea of those inexpensive ESP chips/boards.

[@ishmaelmusgrave]

Hey, nice vid, Here's hoping the YT algo treats you well!

[@BensTechLab]

Thanks! 👍 I appreciate the well wishes!

[@RoelBaardman]

IKEA lack tables are also the right side to mount rack-mount equipment in. So if you want to do things really cheat it might be worth checking that out.

[@BensTechLab]

Excellent tip!

[@Carterthielftw_]

That's really neat

[@chrisbleakley1444]

Nice project, one thing that was bugging me was I wish it came with blank panels.. not a show stopper but it would bug the life out of me everytime I look at it! Guess this is when a 3D printer would come in handy.

[@BensTechLab]

3d printer is awesome if you have one! But I think you can buy blank filler panels from UCTRONICS as well if you need. They also have an SSD holder option.

[@BrianThomas]

Will the Indiedroid Nova fit in this rack mount?

[@thisisreallyme3130]

Nice. I was specifically looking for reviews on Uctronics rackmounts. They have a dizzying array of choices. In my case I don't want POE (it's nice, but I need each board directly interfaced into specific non-POE routers). I suppose I can remove the PoE board... but I really like the I2C display. (Hey @uctronics you listening :-) And yeah, I do not want the fans either. I've invested in "metal heatsinked cases" from GeekWorm and CanaKit... I really don't want to be forced into the POE board just to use the external power and I2C displays.

[@BensTechLab]

Glad you enjoyed this video! UCTronics has actually sent me a bunch of their other products now for further reviews, I just haven't had time yet. However, you can use the PoE version of this kit without the PoE. There is a USB-C connector on the back edge of the board for USB-C power and you can disconnect the fans. I also bought some Geekworm heatsinks and PWM fans to mod this setup!

[@RocktCityTim]

Built mine a while back and offloaded 9 dedicated PC Linux servers!

[@BensTechLab]

Wow, that's awesome! 🙌 The power savings alone probably pays for itself (let alone the space savings).

[@TVJAY]

First time viewer (and fellow KZbinr). Is the room you are in an office or is this a set? A tour of your setup might be a good video idea.

[@BensTechLab]

Oooh you want to see behind the scenes! Yes this is my spare bedroom/play room in my basement. The space you see is about 10ft x 10ft. That desk is 8ft on the long side and about 5ft 6" on the short side.

[@TVJAY]

I work in TV so I always want to see behind the scenes. :)

[@taoli5497]

👍

[@Practical-IT]

So, what's your opinion on this solution versus the blade type of RPi rack solution that uses the CM4 compute modules? The blade solution was recently featured on Jeff Geerlings channel.

[@BensTechLab]

The blade pi is superslick!! But not yet generally available... ie: I doubt it will be available by the thousands worldwide anytime soon. UCTRONICS has an updated version of this rack that fixes the issues mentioned in this video coming very soon (ie: already in manufacturing). If I can get my hands on the blade pi, I would certainly love to play with them and make a video from my perspective.

[@galaxiegalaxie5003]

Thank you for wonderful video, could you do full video on creating home server using home internet that can be access public by web hosting (site) on pie

[@BensTechLab]

That may be a fun project! I will add it to the idea list!

[@michaeldziegiel4954]

Can these be used with SSD drives. NVME M.2 drives? I have several PI's that use anArgon case with and NVME drive and would love to mount rack them.

[@JoeyImageYT]

Subbed!

[@BensTechLab]

👍 Thanks for the support! Hope you enjoy what I'm up to!

[@edbouhl3100]

Looks like the main option for rack mounted hardware that is also low power consumption! Are there any other Single Board Computers other than Raspberry Pi that are being used like this?

[@BensTechLab]

It seems the raspberry pi is the leader of the pack by volume of sales or number of units sold. So it gets the most cases, mounts and accessories designed for it. I would love to see this expand to include Jetson Nano type boards as well as boards with external antenna for bluetooth/wifi!

[@peteberntson2626]

did you have a issue getting the power buttons to work? What is the USB-C connector on the back of the hat for?

[@BensTechLab]

You can optionally power them via USB-C if you dont have a POE network switch or if you dont buy the POE version (which costs a little more). My power buttons work fine, note they are truly a power button on my model, not a software button for graceful shutdown.

[@John.Farrar]

What about adding hard drives?

[@PCHSwS]

Hehe, little random question on the side here: are you using a trackpad for your Windows PC? If so, which model is that? I've wanted one for ages, but those seem nonexistent...

[@BensTechLab]

Yes I am using a (now discontinued) Logitech T650 Trackpad. It's a great product, not sure why it disappeared, they seem to sell used at super inflated prices. I imagine it was a patent war thing with apple magic trackpad or something (the T650 supports full multi-finger gestures and everything). Brand new it was like $65, now they sell for hundreds on ebay.

[@lukaszpiotrluczak]

Do you have a video or blog post about this Rpi which is used to control recording?

[@lukaszpiotrluczak]

Ok. Now I know that that was a stupid question - sorry :) And thanks for great material!

[@BensTechLab]

Ha, ha, no bad questions if you are trying to learn! I hope you found my video about BitFocus Companion here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rpjFnYiorcSSopY

[@gotomt]

Love the video but hated the music, it was very distracting. Subscribed today, like what you are doing! Keep up the good work👍😃

[@BensTechLab]

Thanks for the sub! Maybe I'll try some new music in the next one... but also its really hard to please everyone on the internet. 😎 (Are you one of those people who would prefer zero music?)

[@gotomt]

@@BensTechLab Hey Ben, thanks for the reply. You guess correctly. In technical videos I think there should be no music. I came for the information not to discover a new band or artist😉. The music overlay is just a distraction for me.

[@AnbuSketchYouTubeChannel]

congrats! nice content! :D new friends here "Tbuddy" friend here

[@BensTechLab]

👍 Thanks for stopping by!

[@AnbuSketchYouTubeChannel]

thansk for liking :D

[@taranagnew436]

can you program each pi with different apps/programs and mount them in a rack?

[@BensTechLab]

Yes! If you look closely at this rack each pi has its own SD card just like if it were a separate raspberry pi. It is common to run different apps on each one.

[@taranagnew436]

@@BensTechLab and how do you get the app onto a sd card?

[@BensTechLab]

@@taranagnew436 here is a video where I where I flash the SD card using balena etcher: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rpjFnYiorcSSopY

[@qtran101]

How is fan noise, I returned one kit as fan was too loud

[@BensTechLab]

Fan noise is present for sure. I unplugged my fans as I am in an air conditioned office. I also suggested to UCTRONICS that they add fan speed control to their next gen poe hat. These tiny fans are always loud from any brand, but fan speed control can make sure it only runs when necessary. I think this is the best suggestion. All that said, if you have a rack mount with some other servers or equipment you may have other 1u size fans already?

[@chriskaradimos9394]

whats it used for?

[@BensTechLab]

Raspberry Pis are a small single board computer. Therefor they can do any job a small computer would do! I run an app to control my video studio on one. Software developers often use multiple rpis to setup a hosting environment for a website or app. Creating a cluster of pis for software development and learning about cluster computing is probably the most popular thing people like me do.

[@sukusu913]

I modified mine with these heatsinks : www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B089CK12C6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and quieter fans : www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08FB7Y1L5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (I had to reposition the fans as they a bit large but whisper quite)

[@BensTechLab]

Wow, *_super_* helpful comment!! 👍 I've ordered a few of these to try in a future video.

[@belovedbluestar]

How do you get the display to work?

[@BensTechLab]

You can go through and double check all the connections are fully seated/inserted. I had a similar issue on another kit where a connector was just on backwards: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZmOTnYpuhJKigZY

[@belovedbluestar]

@@BensTechLab I can get it to work manually on Pi Lite but i get Failed to start RC-local.service - /etc/rc.local Compatability. See' systemctl status rc-local.service' for details. on start up. I checked that and it just said it wouldnt start...

[@flhoest]

I doubt about your explanation about Cat7 RJ45 cables and the metallic side. I have such cables with metallic sides and they are at least 10 years old ... For the rest, all good ! ;)

[@BensTechLab]

Shielded twisted pair definitely existed prior to Cat7, but it wasn't *required* for the network speeds at that time. It was optional only when required. For Cat7 shielding is mandatory. You can wikipedia the evolution of network standards if interested! P.S. UCTronics fixed the issue in their next generation PCB.

[@mvl8209]

"a small channel like mine with only a few hundred subs" *looks at the amount of subs: 1.07K and also presses The Red Button* Depends on what "a few" means to you lol

[@BensTechLab]

Glad you liked it! This video is more than a month old. I was in the hundreds in July! 🙂

[@RNG_Anarchist]

If you would have told me 10 years ago I would be hooking up a server debug console to a raspberry pi to debug a server I would have laughed

[@brendancooney9401]

neat but the music?!!!

[@BensTechLab]

The music is part of a sneaky plan to convince the public that _I am as youthful and cool as Harris Heller!_ 😃 . . . (who provided this music _100% free_ so small KZbinrs like me don't get taken down by a copyright strike when they don't have the cash flow to pay for mainstream music licensing).

[@itinsightpath]

Ultimate Price

[@BensTechLab]

You get what you pay for! I do have several more raspberry pi rackmounts in the queue for new videos though! (Sitting in a box next to me right now). The lower cost mounts generally give up the OLED display and PoE to keep costs lower.

[@aespe]

watch it at 12 hundreds 😁, subscribe away...... useful video, thx

[@HeathLedgersChemist]

No SSD or M2 mount? Then it's not the 'ultimate'.

[@BensTechLab]

There is an SSD mount available, but it occupies one of the 4 rpi spaces. I think someone else in the comments suggested they make it deeper with space for SSD behind each pi - what do you think?

[@HeathLedgersChemist]

@@BensTechLab That's the point. There's certainly room for improvement, hence it's not the 'ultimate' solution.

[@jawnlookpickhard]

Ben, this topic is of great interest to me. However your delivery and the way you stare off camera made me extremely uncomfortable. I was reminded of a trip to the Serengeti in my early 20s (this was 1968) where I became stranded. A black mamba approached me in a weakened state with the same look as you. I'll never forget that snake for sparing my life, but I feel like you wouldn't, given the opportunity. As I understand, AI face changing filters have come a long way, maybe something to look into for future videos?

[@BelieveInTheLordJesus777]

Stupid "music"... :(

[@BensTechLab]

Just for you, I tried my latest video with no music. We will see how people like it. kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZmOTnYpuhJKigZY

[@mattakadanja]

Nice video. One critique: no annoying music or MUCH lower volume next time. Good video though.

[@BensTechLab]

Just for you, I tried my latest video with no music. We will see how people like it. kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZmOTnYpuhJKigZY