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Review on Geekworm Raspberry Embedded Compatible Expansion by David Bar

Revainrating 3 out of 5

P165-B works but needs some work

I have used the P165-B with both the official RPi PoE hat and the Waveshare PoE hat. A 4-pin power connector will not fit unless you shave off the connector housing or drill a hole for the heatsink. Two mounting holes were drilled/screwed in incorrectly. And one or more holes weren't perfectly centered, the spacers have a visible angle and offset, so the boards are probably under mechanical stress. The kit includes a thermal tape suitable for the processor and RAM. Next time I will use thermal paste for even better contact. I also added thick thermal tape for the Ethernet and USB chips. It would be helpful if they brought metal pads for the two, although this is most likely unnecessary. With the P165-B and the RPi PoE fan with PWM control and core support, I was able to set the fan settings so that it turns off at room temperature and only turns on under heavy load. But my application is still in a weatherproof sealed case. Running the cpuburn-a53 stress test for 24 hours showed that the CPU temperature in this case never exceeded 56°C, which was warm to the touch (roughly 110°F). The labor required to install was probably 4 times the cost of the kit. If it came together perfectly in a minute, any price increase would still be value for money. The manufacturer should include a 4-pin connector that fits correctly into the hole and a 40-pin connector and the correct gaskets for a perfect fit with the PoE hat and to fix any manufacturing defects.

Pros
  • Computer components
Cons
  • Newer model could have been chosen