Server for a boat

Good day, friends. Since catching the self-hosting bug, I've set up a couple of Proxmox home servers with a bunch of services I enjoy.

Now I'd like to set up a server and local network on my sailboat so I can self-host servarr, pihole, and other services while traveling. The tricky part is that everything on the boat is 12V and I would rather not use an inverter, if possible. Also, it needs to be ultra-low power so I can leave it on at all times and not to deplete my batteries too much.

Criteria:

  • ultra-low power
  • Small form factor
  • runs on 12V
  • 10 TB of storage plus ability to make full local backup
  • Capable of hosting servarr, audiobookshelf, freshrss, etc. via docker
  • HDMI output
  • Full local mirror/backup of the entire file system, including the media library.
  • We will have two laptops and two Android phones to access the server, so the server doesn't need to run a desktop environment.

I'll have a mobile wifi router and a cellular signal booster (or maybe Starlink eventually) for internet access. Since internet bandwidth will be limited and expensive while traveling, I don't want to have to re-download a massive media llibrary if the storage media fail. Thus, I want the media library to be mirrored or fully backed up or synced locally.

What hardware and Linux distro would you use in this situation?

scholar ,

This sounds like a job for a raspberry pi 5 with an m.2 hat for storage, software is a less important choice here, so ubuntu's raspberry pi flavour would be my choice. Just make sure you give it power in a form it likes.

FigMcLargeHuge ,

I just got an email about a new power supply board for the rpi5 - PD Power Extension Board for Raspberry Pi 5. It's on their pihut website and is $20. Has multiple input types.

Eheran ,

What hardware does not run on 12 V?

Define ultra low power. Given the 10 TB + mirror (why?) I assume at least 2 HDDs have to spin. So at least 20 W total? I mean they can spin down, but leaving the system on 24/7 seems a bit far fetched, even if it only consumes 1 watt (0.1 A load, 2.4 Ah per day).

sailingbythelee OP ,

Yeah, good point. Now that you mention it, there is no real reason to run the server 24/7 on the boat. Also, HDDs would not be happy with the amount of bouncing that small sailboats undergo while at sea.

Shadow ,
@Shadow@lemmy.ca avatar

I'd recommend avoiding spinning disks and going all ssd if possible.

You can get 12v in atx power supplies.

You may want to consider something like a Lenovo tiny with a few large ssds.

poVoq ,
@poVoq@slrpnk.net avatar

Get a PicoPSU for automotive use (there are two varieties, one that needs stable 12v and another that can run directly off a battery with varying voltage).

sailingbythelee OP ,

I think you've hit on the key difference between home and boat use: the variable voltage. My battery varies between about 13.3V and about 11.2V depending on its charge state. I'll look into these.

poVoq , (edited )
@poVoq@slrpnk.net avatar

When you are actively charging the batteries off a solar panel for example, it will be even higher, up to 17V 14.5V or so I think. The automotive PicoPSUs only cost a little more and will smooth it out up to 24V I think... there are even some models that go up to 48V.

Edit: why the down-votes? Is this incorrect?

jake_jake_jake_ ,

i didn't downvote but 17v on a 12v battery maybe seems a bit high. I'm more used to about 7-14% over (maybe up to 14v on a 12v batt) when charged/floating but i don't use solar anywhere currently, and i usually work on 48v systems. i normally expect to see about 54v on a fully charged battery string (13.5v per battery x4) with the rectifiers running.

i also second the opinion of running an automotive PSU for this situation.

edit: i looked it up since i was curious, some "12v" solar panels can output between 16-20v, but it's recommended that you would use a charge controller, especially if you have lead-acid batteries

helenslunch ,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

Yes that's incorrect. Open circuit voltage for solar panels can be in the hundreds of volts, but you're never gonna put that into your battery. You're gonna run it through a charge controller that will bring it down to a normal voltage. For a lead acid that will be somewhere around 13.6V and 14.4V for LFP.

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