Review on C4Labs Cloudlet CASE: Cluster Case For Raspberry Pi And Other Single Board Computers-Mist by Patrick Keita

I needed a cluster chassis for a low power server farm and the C4 Labs Cloudlet chassis was a perfect fit. I am using an enclosure to host my company website with 8 load balanced Raspberry Pi Zero v1.3 and Nginx. The reverse proxy in the DMZ is used for load balancing of the Raspberry Pi cluster hosted here. The load balancer also supports TLS connections with clients. The proxy loads the site from the cluster over http, which is perfect for speed. What I like about Cloudlet CASE: 1) nice aesthetic! Fluorescent green on black is a great combination. 2.) Robust outer chassis. 3.) Extra equipment will be provided in case you lose a bolt or nut. 4.) Comes with two extra fluorescent green acrylic mounting inserts in case two break. Be careful when gluing broken inserts as you can easily leave permanent stains that look unattractive. What I think could be improved: 1.) The fluorescent green acrylic mounting inserts have a slot in the front (just behind where the fans should be). built in), causing the inserts to loosen. An insert has already broken at this weak point. The slot measures 1" x 0.05" and is not suitable for the use case from the customer's point of view. It should be removed in future versions of the product for quality reasons. 2.) The placement of the mounting insert inside the case could be improved. I've attached pictures of the network adapter that I plug into my Raspberry Pi zeros. This is ENC28J60 Geek PI Overlay Hat v1.02. I originally intended to only use one mounting insert on the Pi and all 8 mounting inserts, but I had to make changes to my design because the mounting insert slots in the black case are too close together to accommodate the thickness of adding a network hat on top. Raspberry Pi Zero. So I can't use all 8 inserts and have to mount two Raspberry Pi zeros on one mounting insert and only use four of the 8 mounting inserts. I realize that this design change will require a slightly wider case, but it would be nice to be able to fit the entire line of Raspberry Pi models with a wider range of hats and still have good airflow. 3.) I've attached an image. USB Power Module YwRobot® USB Micro USB Interface 3.3V 5V 1117 chip that is a great addition to the case for an alternative power supply for fans. This is also very cheap and will not add much to the price of the case. I got one from Banggood for only $3. In fact, shipping costs more than this little guy. At the moment I'm using YwRobot to power the fans since all my GPIO pins are used by the ENC28J60 overlay. The manufacturer of the C4 suggests using GPIO to power the pins, but this sacrifices the Pi functionality that system builders might want to use. So Ywrobot is the perfect solution and I think many people will love this addon. 4.) People have complained about the noise from the fans. I find the noise level quite acceptable. An added bonus of the YwRobot (mentioned above) is that it has both a 3.3V and 5V rail. Both rails have 8 pins, making it easy to connect all 4 fans. If you want less noise, connect them all to the 3.3V rail, but I think it's better to run them at 5V since I don't use a heatsink on my pi zeros. 5.) The fluorescent green mounting inserts appear to have enough room for more mounting holes to accommodate all Raspberry Pi models including the Zero, but only two holes on one side of the Pi Zero can be mounted on the insert at a time. There are actually two places on the mounting insert where only two holes on one side of zero pi can be mounted. It would be nice if all 4 holes of the Raspberry Pi Zero could be mounted as the GPIO headers protrude from the bottom of the board and create a side load on the Pi Zero when cables or GPIO hats are connected. With all 4 holes mounted the tension is balanced and you don't have to worry about poor contact or the risk of damaging the board (or mounting inserts) when removing cables or headers. My solution was to use the included small gold colored mounting nuts under each of the 4 Pi Zero mounting holes. Two had to be super glued to zero. Overall a good case and I believe that with these improvements the presentation of the product will appeal to a wider audience. Still, a solid purchase that I'm happy with!