I’m looking into purchasing a couple RasPi 4s and monitors to use as timers for my fields. Has anybody used the RasPis successfully via Wifi with Tournament Manager? I’m looking to run 3-4 fields for our VEX IQ tournaments.
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I use the Raspberry Pis all the time and they work well. I usually run the “critical” displays (field monitors, skills field) as hard-wired, and then run the ancillary displays (pit display, queuing display, audience display, etc.) wirelessly, especially because they are often located in a more remote location from my competition area. This is a bigger deal to me for VRC than IQ, though, because the RPi actually controls the matches for VRC. You should be fine running field monitors via wifi for IQ.
I actually use RPi 3B+, I haven’t used the RPi 4 (at least not for TM). The nice thing about the 3B+ is that it has a full-size HDMI port. It looks like it will more come down to what you can find in stock, though.
I would say the biggest issue I have run into with the Rasberry Pis in general is making sure the power supply is delivering enough power. There are a lot of cheap power supplies that claim to have enough power but they often underperform. This year I added POE hats to several units and they have been working very well. If you have a POE switch you just need a single ethernet cable and don’t have to worry about the power supply. That obviously won’t work with running them wirelessly, though.
To run an RPi wirelessly you will need to be plugged into network at first so you can get to the wifi configuration. If you have access to the network that you will be using at the event, you can set them all up ahead of time and enter in the network info and then you just need to pull them out and plug them in for the event.
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Awesome. Thank you for the info!
We do the same, also with 3b+. I hope someone can weigh in on using the 4
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Another 3B+ user checking in, the full size HDMI port for the win. I have 14 of them, most events I use one on each field (4) and then 4 large monitors (48"). The rest of the Pi’s are spare. Power supplies are a big deal, spend some extra on a good one, and I like ones with the inline switches.
Pre set up and test, sometimes getting all the Pis to check in is a pain. Remember you can use your browser to get to the TM running on the Pi – use the IP address.
Good luck trying to find Pi boards, they sell out quickly. Most places only have them in bundles.
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Worth noting this post about newer Pi 4 units. VEX Tournament Manager Install on Raspberry Pi 4 - #5 by Daniel_Wood
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I use 3B+, 28 of them on an average match day (yes we have displays everywhere). I don’t know that the 4 is fully supported by TM yet. I have trouble using them over wifi in my building, so everything is hard wired. All of my fields are setup POE. I also highly recommend these monitors running POE as well: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07774L6TT/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_SEK7B08QB43R2FDNV2JB
This is the exact monitor used at worlds 2018 and 2019.
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This is great info! I will look into getting the Pi 3B+. I really appreciate it!
The Pi4 is fully supported, modulo the other issue mentioned that we just found out about where there’s apparently a newer bootloader in the wild that does not work with our existing image that we’ll hopefully resolve soon.
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