Ultimate Portable Interne Box-of-Everything

[paws]

Here is what I have been working on for Devember2021.

I planned on making in into a neat little box (see pics) but was sent to hospital for facial reconstructive surgery at the last moment, so wasn’t able to fab up a case. The hardware and software side, the important parts all work though. And I am really happy with the direction the project is heading.

The Ultimate internet box is a multi function box that can be deployed basically anywhere and provide a huge range of service for both temporary and permanant use cases.

The heart of the system is made up of -

Netgear 4G modem
TP-Link 8 port (4 PoE,4 normal) switch
Raspberry pi 4 running home assistant
2.5” HDD (non SSD model was chosen to give extra life if used for CCTV)
zigbee hub(looking at removing zigbee, prone to issues)
cooling fan

From the basic setup a huge range of parts can be added. I have done testing with the following -
Ubiquity UniFi wifi access points
PoE CCTV cameras (RTSP streaming compatible)
SONOFF zigbee hub devices (motion, door, lights switch, temp/humidity etc)

Home assistant can run UniFi server software locally making it easy to intergrate into the system. It also runs NVR software (frigate) making it a great solution for a portable NVR with image/face recognition.

Proposed uses for this build are as follows -

Emergency internet
PLEX media server
Wifi HUB
CCTV HUB
Portable broadcast/live stream station
Security hub/Alarm system
Network Ad Blocker (add-on not working)
EFTPOS backbone network
Door Bell with person/face detection

I have built and tested the system into several cardboard mockup cases to get sizing before I jumped into more ridged materials.

Backstory-
I was lucky enough to be left in charge of the EFTPOS wifi backbone network for a music festival we (some friends and I) ran at the start of December in Willunga, South Australia, see link

Dougstock 2021

I had setup a network that was going to support live streaming (on a budget) for the entire event, but the people doing the camera work fell though and did not attend. It did however put the wheels in motion for this little project. Once I saw how little gear I needed in practice for the events EFTPOS systems which all use square readers and iPads, I thought “What else could I do with this?”
I started looking into what I could get away with to run a half decent live stream. I found that any cheap tablet or phone with internet can stream to OBS using a service such as OBS.ninja.
Then I thought, what if I add the Pi. And off I went, down the rabbit hole.

I plan on explaining this platform and offering support for users who wish to adopt it for any of the above or unmentioned uses. As I think there are countless more use cases that I havn’t thought of yet.

I will upload the photos of the project dev after this post.

My applologies for the poor/rushed description, I am writing this from my hostipal bed having just woken up (yesterday) from a 7 hour surgery fixing fractures in my face and jaw. I have gone without pain meds for the entire day so I could muster the strength to write this. So, I know it is lacking

[paws]

[paws]

[paws]

[Nic_s]

With all that wiring, you can call it Pandora’s Box

Looks cool. Get well soon.

[paws]

I had some issues getting the DNS add blocker to work well, but I think these are issues with the add-on it self. So, ill keep playing with it as this is one of the main ‘basic’ functions I think this box should support.

PLEX works well and I can see this being used to upload home videos to share across a campsite or to use as a repo for training videos at a mining camps etc.

The frigate CCTV add on is really impressing me, having used shiobi in the past with many many fallers including lost video this add on is remarkably stable and useful. Although the RP4 can only support 1 stream of object recognition, it is enough to for a basic system. I hope the RP5 sees new hardware possibilities.

Zigbee is a funny beast, some devices are very stable wile other drop in and out of existence. I will probably make this system use more wifi sensors/switches in the future to combat this, depending on how further testing goes.

CCTV, I have been using hikvision cameras for my personal setups but, a system like this really does open the door to any RTSP compatable camera.

Doorbell. Having a quickly deployable fast access control, getting an alert when a person is in frame is a god send. Having been plagued by false positives for years from dodgy motion sensors, this truly is a game changer for low end security systems.
Being able to train the system with fedex, UPS, DHL etc logos will open up another scope of possibilities.

Broadcast station. Add a PC to this setup with a few iPads or other cheap tables is all you need to do a live stream, from anywhere (within 4G range). I tested 3 cameras all over a mix of their own wifi or the systems wifi back to OBS with almost no latency. I was amazed how well this worked and I am looking forward to further testing to see how far I can push this system.

I am expecting a lot of feedback from the community as to what else this system can do, so remember, its made from cheap hardware, open source software. The possibilities are truly endless. . .

[paws]

The original name for this project was Pandora’s box. Good call!
The final stage, building it into a custom frame is to eliminate all the excess wires and make it as neat and tidy as possible.

[Trooper_ish]

Crikey, doing all this, And in pain from Surgery? Dang, you doing great stuff.

Also, I feel less bad about a temporary cardboard set up for my pi’s in the mean time.

Keep us posted!

[daffodil-daydream]

Do you ride and own a Bianchi by any chance? durianrider - YouTube
Wish you a quick and complication free recovery and a happy new year too!

[paws]

No, I was on an hard tail mountain bike. I know durianrider, and I am def not he!

Should be out of hospital on Tuesday, then I can look at making a case. I’ll update my post as soon as I have made something worth looking at.

[daffodil-daydream]

@paws

and I am def not he!

I couldn’t make any sense of that until I looked at your avatar!
I’ve a few dental/face surgeries myself, all bike induced… road and mountain, but I crash on the roads exclusively…

[FurryJackman]

I’m surprised you haven’t seen The IT Crowd meme yet.

“This Jen, is the internet.”

That’s what I would base the casing off of IMO.

[paws]

That isn’t a bad idea… Of course I’ve seen it… Haha

“I have it on good authority that if you type google into Google, you will, break the internet”

A friend of mine saw my project and has offered a selection of equipment cases that he has hoarding, so I might be able to skip the wood work and go to something professional looking. Although, I won’t have it ready in time for then end of comp I don’t think.

Should make bail from this play tomorrow or the next day!

[paws]

I have just setup the voucher login via the Guest network function of unifi wifi controller in this unit. This lets me issue time/data rate/data consumption limited vouchers to access a guest network. Another great feature of this little box. Just 10,000 more to go!!!

[paws]

The build of the box is just about complete, I just need to do some cable management, paint the exterior and fit some latches on the doors.

A big development in the design is the power management. I was originally trying to fit the power supplies for each devices into the bottom of the unit, but after doing some mockups I found it was taking up about half the space required just for the PSUs.
To overcome this hurdle, I have enlisted the help of a couple of adjustable output DC-DC step down converters that I got for a few dollars each from Aliexpress(pics below). The highest voltage device is the 8 port PoE switch. This uses a 48v 60w PSU. I have ordered a 48v 120w PSU to replace this. I have installed 2x step downs, one that takes the 48v to 12v. The 12v can then be used in the modem and the extractor fan. The 2nd step down is set to 5v which can be used to power the Raspberry Pi.

Having installed the 2 step down units I am happy to report it all works really well and the whole unit stays very cool thanks to the slightly over-zealous fan mounted in the back.

[paws]

[paws]

The fit and finish is pretty rough, nothing a bit of black paint wont fix. But the concept is solid!
The fan works incredibly well.
I plan on adding some external ethernet ports so the front door can stay closed while it is use. The front door is also getting some air holes.
Finally ill look at putting a thermostat to control the fan speed, or a simple trim-pot to slow it down.

[Mastic_Warrior]

Wago connectors. Nice. I used them all throughout my house when I rewired and added my IoT Switches and Outlets. These should be standard in all homes.

[Trooper_ish]

This is coming along very nicely.

wow, I really didn’t read the post before…

I wonder if you could get two jacks to drill into the side, one for power and one data, like female-to-female power and rj-45/8p8c so the inside kinda independent to the outside?

Then just unplug one iec & 1 Ethernet, and take the whole box elsewhere without even opening it?

[paws]

I picked up 50x of those connectors from aliexpress when they had a crazy sale, only cost $2 or $3. They are pretty good, especially compared to soldering everything.