pcf-node

PCF (PiCoolFAN4) dynamic cooling for Raspberry Pi 4. Control fan speed based on CPU core temperature. Based on the documentation in: PICOOLFAN4 DAEMONS, AND PYTHON SCRIPTS

Required hardware

• PiCoolFAN4 for Raspberry Pi (The Pi Hut)
• Raspberry Pi 4

Raspberry configuration

The Docker container runs in privileged mode to access the fan as a I2C device. I2C is disabled by default, so it needs to be enabled on the Raspberry itself:

• Run sudo raspi-config
• Go to the Interface Options menu
• Select I2C and enable the interface

Now, the I2C devices (starting with i2c-) are listed among the other devices:

ls /dev

Docker

Using a Docker image for easy installation as a service and to hide the low level libraries that are required.

cd ~
git clone https://github.com/beinardus/pcf-node.git
cd pcf-node
docker build -t pcf-node .
docker run -d --restart always --privileged --name pcf-daemon -v $PWD/config/default.json:/usr/pcf-node/config/default.json pcf-node

Configuration

Edit the config file ~/pcf-node/config/default.json:

param	description	default
maxTemperature	Upper limit of the temperature	63
interval	Interval in ms to check the temperature	1000
verbose	Verbose logging true or false	false

Restart the Docker container after changes to the config are made:
docker restart pcf-daemon

Watch the output:
docker logs --follow -n50 pcf-daemon