EDATEC's latest industrial Raspberry Pi 5 cases pack NVMe and super capacitor backed RTC
A few months ago, EDATEC announced the first (to our knowledge) industrial Raspberry Pi 5 product in the form of a 7 / 10 inch based screen enclosure. Fast forward a little and now we have the $238 / $299 ED-HMI3020 and update to the 3010 series that sees the inclusion of NVMe SSD support.
Just like its predecessors, the panels are designed for the Raspberry Pi 5 and come in 7-inch and 10-inch form factors, with the former sporting a 1,024 x 600 resolution, and the latter 1,280 x 800 pixels. Both offer 10-point multi-touch and 16.7 million colors. Moreover, both of the 4K60 micro HDMI ports on the Raspberry Pi are also exposed, which means that a triple-monitor setup is possible, should you require such a build.
Just like the predecessors, there is the option of connecting a front-facing camera. We assume that this is for the official Raspberry Pi Camera. The PDF datasheet doesn't confirm what type of camera can be used.
At the core of the unit is the latest Raspberry Pi flagship, the Raspberry Pi 5. It sits inside the case with breakouts for audio and RS485 / RS232, commonly used in industrial applications. The Pi 5's USB and Ethernet ports are exposed but the GPIO points towards the rear of the LCD panel. Designed for industrial and embedded applications, there isn't a bespoke GPIO access panel, most likely to reduce the changes of particle ingress. There are cooling vents, so perhaps a clever maker could route their projects via these vents? The cooling vents are essential, as the Raspberry Pi 5 can get a little toasty when pushed.
The key improvement over the original units is the inclusion of an M.2 M-key socket for NVMe drives between 2230 and 2260 in size. The previous models lacked this feature, as at the time NVMe and PCIe-based products for the Raspberry Pi were still someway off. In fact, Raspberry Pi has yet to release its own M.2 HAT, but we are expecting that in the very near future.
There are alternative NVMe boards for the Raspberry Pi 5. Pimoroni's NVMe Base and Pineberry Pi HAT Drives are cost-effective and provide fast storage. If you want a nice enclosure then the Argon One V3 M.2 is a great package.
An interesting feature on the datasheet is a built-in RTC (Real Time Clock) which receives power via a CR1220 batter and a "SuperCAP" (Super Capacitor) which can quickly charge, and trickle power to the RTC when the mains power is off.
Configuration Options
HMI3020-070C-04320 (7 inch screen, 4GB RAM, 32GB micro SD) $238
HMI3020-070C-08320 (7 inch screen, 8GB RAM, 32GB micro SD) $280
HMI3020-101C-04320 (10 inch screen, 4GB RAM, 32GB micro SD) $254
HMI3020-101C-08320 (10 inch screen, 8GB RAM, 32GB micro SD) $299
Prices start from $238 for a model with 7-inch screen, 4GB of RAM, and a 32GB micro SD card. For $299 there is a 10-inch model with 8GB of RAM, and a 32GB micro SD card. We explain how to decode the Aliexpress product listing in the previous news post.
