This Off-Grid Raspberry Pi Entertainment Rig Packs 5TB of Storage, HDTV Reception, and LTE

from hackster.io

Pseudonymous maker "treasurehunter613" is perfectly prepared to stay entertained whatever the weather — thanks to a low-power off-grid TV and media playback system driven by a Raspberry Pi.

"My amazing off-grid LTE internet/OTA HDTV/Raspberry Pi 5TB NAS over Wi-Fi system [is] powered by three USB ports and a 12-volt socket outlet for the HDHomeRun HDTV tuner), and consumes only 5 to 10 watts of power," treasurehunter613 explains of the project. "This system was designed with power efficiency in mind. Everything is accessed with a smartphone/tablet using VLC over Wi-Fi! No TV required!"

The core of the modular system is a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+, which connects to a 5TB USB hard drive and acts as a media server for video and audio files. For live TV, there's a SiliconDust HDHomeRun Extend HDTV tuner, while a D-Link DIR-605L Wireless N Wi-Fi router provide a local Wi-Fi network for smartphones, tablets, and other client devices.

There's one more string to the project's bow, though: A Netgear LM1200 4G LTE modem, providing cellular connectivity when the rig is taken on-the-road in its creators' RV. "I have a Rogers Infinite plan here in Canada that allows you to pay an extra $10 a month to share your smartphone data with a hotspot device," treasurehunter613 explains. "You get two SIM cards, one for your smartphone and one for your hotspot."

Everything is powered, meanwhile, by a Bluetti EB240 2400WH Power Station. "The system as it is runs for 7.5 days before needing to be recharged," its creator explains. "That will change once I start using it to also charge my smartphone/tablet, etc, however I will have 360 watts of solar panels connected so in theory it shouldn't really have time to discharge much at all."

More details on the project are available in treasurehunter613's Reddit thread.