Beyond a supply of power, perhaps the next most important thing for electronics is some sort of cooling solution. Heat is your enemy, and even the most simple of designs can generate enough to quite literally fry themselves.
The best solutions combine both, which is why the ClusterCTRL: Stack offers a great option to keep a stack of 5 Raspberry Pi not only powered, but cool as well. Once you power it on, the stack powers on each Raspberry Pi after a 1-second delay.
The GPIO (BCM18) pin is monitored as well from each Pi. Setting it at high allows the corresponding fan to turn on as needed to keep the Pi cool. While you can use any software on the Raspberry Pi nodes, to control them you’ll need to manually install the clusterctrl software.
Enabling the fans to turn on and off automatically requires some simple edits to the /boo/config.txt file on each Raspberry Pi. This also allows you to specify the temperature thresholds for on and off.
The ClusterCTRL Stack comes with everything you need to build it, but you’ll need to supply the power supply, Raspberry Pi stack, and optional add-ons like the fans and USB cable. You can also choose to add a 3D-printed cases when ordering as well. Those who want a simple and effective way to power and monitor a stack of Raspberry Pi should look no further.
