The Raspberry Pi is by far the best-known mini-computer, but to get the most out of the device, you need some peripherals. In addition to a keyboard and a display, you can buy extensions, housings and kits for the Raspberry Pi 4. In this article we show you the best products.
Pimoroni Explorer HAT Pro
price: € 22.64 plus shipping costs
www.pimoroni.com
A Raspberry Pi only gets really nice with a HAT (Hardware Attached on Top). The HAT Pro from Pimoroni is one of the most versatile. You can make all kinds of electronic projects with this HAT, partly because it has many inputs and outputs. For example, you will find four touchpads and connections for alligator clips on the top. You can even build robots with it, as the HAT Pro has two motor controllers.
Raspberry Pi Sense HAT
Price: € 31.99
www.raspberrypi.org
A good alternative is the Sense HAT from Raspberry Pi itself. This HAT provides a lot of sensors for small projects and experiments. You will find an air pressure sensor, a gyroscope, a magnetometer and a thermometer on the Sense HAT. The Sense is the only HAT that can be found in space: the ISS has one that students can run their code on.
Pimoroni Picade X HAT
Price: € 17.65 plus shipping
www.pimoroni.com
Another nice HAT is the Picade X HAT. This extension is very suitable if you want to turn your Raspberry Pi into a retro game console. You can connect a joystick and up to twelve buttons to the X HAT. The newer version of the X HAT has a USB-C connection, the older version is equipped with a standard USB port.
Adafruit 16-Channel PWM / Servo HAT
Price: $ 17.50 plus shipping
www.adafruit.com
Do you like motors and do you want to make robots or other moving creations with your Raspberry Pi, then the HAT from Adafruit is a lot of fun. This can control several servo motors at the same time. The Servo HAT does not only work with a Raspberry Pi 4, older models can also control the HAT.
Pimoroni Automation HAT
Price: € 33.30 plus shipping
www.pimoroni.com
The Automation HAT from Pimoroni is intended for home automation. You can connect all kinds of devices that can be controlled with a low voltage (under 24 volts) to the Automation HAT. Think of fish feeders, sprinklers and other home, garden and kitchen applications. Each channel has an LED light so you can see if a particular device is receiving a signal from the Raspberry Pi.
Raspberry Pi 4 Case
Price: € 6.95
www.raspberrypi.org
The standard Raspberry Pi housing itself consists of two plastic parts: top white and bottom red. All ports are of course easily accessible, including the two micro HDMI outputs, the USB-C power connection and all USB and Ethernet connectors on the front. The official Raspberry Pi case is sturdy, weighs next to nothing and looks attractive.
Kexo 19 inch rack mount 1U
Price: € 69.00
www.amazon.nl
What’s more fun than one Raspberry Pi? Right, four! If you have a server rack, you may find it helpful to build your Raspberry Pi into the rack. That is no problem at all with this 19-inch housing from Kexo. The devices sit securely in the housing and there is room for two connections next to each Raspberry Pi. For this, optional connectors are available that you click in the front. You can choose from HDMI, USB 3.0, USB-C, LAN and audio.
Argon One for Raspberry Pi 4
Price: € 29.99
www.argon40.com
The Raspberry Pi can get hot, which is why a case with good cooling is a smart idea. The Argon One looks fantastic and offers very good passive cooling. The GPIO pins are still easily accessible so you don’t have to take your Raspberry Pi out of the case all the time. By the way, this is not the case with HATs, for this you have to remove the cover from the Pi. The Argon One weighs only 113 grams and has a magnetic lid.
Miuzei Raspberry Pi 4 Case
Price: € 20.99
www.miuzeipro.com
If you want to be able to see what your Raspberry Pi looks like, this transparent case from Miuzei is a nice option. The case has a fan to cool the CPU, but also offers passive cooling by means of heat sinks. Another advantage is that you simply have access to all ports, you do not have to open a cover or take the case apart.
iUniker Raspberry Pi 4 Cluster Case
Price: € 19.99
www.iunikerpi.com
If you want to put multiple Raspberry Pi’s in one housing, the iUniker Cluster Case is a good idea. From a technical point of view, this is of course not a housing because the sides are just open. But this is good for the air flow, the CPUs do not get very hot when you install them in this case. Four small fans are also included, the price is very soft considering that you can put four Raspberry Pi’s in it.
VGE Raspberry Pi Wall Mount Metal Case
Price: $ 14.99 plus shipping
www.amazon.com
If you want to wall mount your Raspberry Pi, you also have a lot of options. This VGE housing is sturdy and has a fresh green color. The case is made entirely of metal and has been designed for applications that don’t require frequent access to the Raspberry Pi’s headers, as the housing is securely closed with screws. With the Wall Mount Metal Case, your Raspberry Pi hangs on the wall within a few minutes.
Jun-Electron Raspberry Pi 4 Touchscreen Case
Price: € 28.88
www.amazon.nl
With this housing you no longer need a screen. That is, if you are satisfied with a display of 320 by 480 pixels. In the case you will also find a fan that keeps the CPU of the Raspberry Pi cool. This is also necessary, because the addition of a screen naturally makes the housing extra warm. You operate the screen with a pin.
Raspberry Pi High Quality Camera
Price: € 59.95
www.raspberrypi.org
You can connect a camera to the Raspberry Pi 4, you need this module for that. You still have to buy a lens, which you put on the camera module. The module has a 12.3 megapixel Sony IMX477 sensor of 7.9 millimeters. You connect lenses of type CS or C to it, a C-CS adapter is included. The Raspberry Pi website clearly describes how to mount the lens on the camera.
Acyoung mini microphone
Price: € 9.68
www.amazon.nl
The Raspberry Pi 4 doesn’t have a microphone on board, but this of course doesn’t mean you can’t speak to the device. All you need is a microphone. This microphone is as small as a fingertip and can be plugged into one of the USB connections. Despite its size, the microphone even offers noise cancellation, which is very cool for such a small device.
Cloverclover 2.4 Ghz Mini Wireless Remote Keyboard
Price: € 5.99 plus shipping
www.amazon.nl
The Raspberry Pi does not have a keyboard, of course, which is why you need a separate keyboard. Why not immediately one that can connect wirelessly to the Raspberry Pi? This keyboard not only has small keys on board, but also has a small trackpad. Due to the small size, we do not recommend the product to type in pieces of text.
Raspberry Pi Touch Display
Price: € 77.90
www.raspberrypi.org
With this touch display you can transform your Raspberry Pi into a tablet. The display is 7 inches in size, has a resolution of 800 by 480 pixels and is therefore perfectly suitable for infotainment systems and other projects where a good screen is important. Power takes the screen from the Raspberry Pi via the GPIO port, via a ribbon cable you connect the display to the DSI port of the Raspberry Pi.
Raspberry Pi 400 Computer Kit
Price: € 119.95
www.raspberrypi.org
If you don’t want to buy a separate keyboard, the Raspberry Pi 400 kit is a smart idea. This is a keyboard that already has a Raspberry Pi 4 integrated. All connections are at the back and in the box you will also find a mouse, an HDMI cable to connect a display, an SD card with Raspberry OS and a power adapter. Nice is that the keyboard also has an on / off button to turn on the Raspberry Pi.
Raspberry Pi Starter Kit 2020
Price: € 49.95
www.bol.com
If you want to do DIY projects, you need electronic components such as resistors, LED lights and a breadboard. If you don’t have any of this at home yet, a kit is a good choice. In addition to the standard electronic components, this starter kit also contains displays, sensors, motors and a remote control. The price of fifty euros is therefore fine.
SunFounder Modules Sensor Kit V2.0
Price: € 115.99
www.sunfounder.com
If you want to do fun experiments, sensors are handy to have. In this kit you will find no less than 37! Each module does something different: the kit contains a sound sensor, a barometer, an infrared receiver, a flame sensor, a laser pointer and many other sensors and gadgets. It is also nice that the box also includes a display and an idea book with 35 experiments. This way you can get started with the sensors right away.
Compute Module 4
Price: From € 29.99
www.raspberrypi.org
It’s not so much a kit as the Compute Module 4 is a Raspberry Pi 4 in a different form. This is namely aimed at embedded use. The Compute has a quad-core ARM Cortex-A72 processor, two video outputs and a lot of other interfaces. You can put together your Compute Module 4 yourself. There are models with and without WiFi and you have a lot of choice in terms of ram or flash options.
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