Everything you need to know about Raspberry Pi HATs & pHATs
In this blog you’ll discover:
- What is a HAT?
- What can you create with HATs and pHATs?
- What to look for when buying HATs and pHATs?
If you love nothing more than tinkering away at project after project, it’s likely that along your travels you’ll have come across HATs and pHATs. If you haven’t and you’re wondering what is a pHAT and a HAT and where can they be used, our complete guide will tell you everything you need to know.
Depending on the project at hand or the application, you’ll need one or the other, so understanding what each of them do is crucial.
What is a HAT?
So, what does HAT stand for in Raspberry Pi terms?
Simply put, HAT stands for ‘hardware attached on top’ and is specially designed for the Raspberry Pi Model B+ computers. There are a number of advantages that come with HATs and using them in your project, especially as they’re pretty much plug and play!
With the Raspberry Pi HATs, you’re able to simply plug it into your Pi computer and not have to worry about soldering it on. This is particularly ideal if you’re new to building projects and don’t have a soldering station at home.
Although they might be small, HATs are also pretty robust in their design. With four mounting holes for the connection between your Raspberry Pi and HAT, it’s going to be pretty secure.
What is a pHAT?
Essentially, a pHAT is exactly the same as a HAT but is only compatible with the Raspberry Pi Zero. All you need to do is stack them on top of your Raspberry Pi and away you go! With so many different pHATs available in the collection at OKdo, building your project or application is easier than you’d think.
Explorer PHAT Prototype Board For Pi
£10.
75 including VAT
Thanks to the Raspberry Pi’s general purpose input outputs (GPIOs), it can talk effortlessly with other electronic devices and hardware (such as HATs and pHATs) through programmed code.
What can you create with HATs and pHATs?
Once you’ve found the Pi HAT or pHAT that’s suited to the needs of your project, then the fun can begin. Each individual HAT or pHAT is designed for a specific purpose, from measuring pressure with sensors to receiving power over ethernet. All you need to do is work out which one you need for your application.
Sense HAT – want to measure pressure, velocity, humidity, temperature, orientation and more? Then a sense HAT is exactly what you’re looking for. Whether you’re wanting to build a home device that can tell you the temperature of a room or something a little more experimental, adding a sense HAT to your Pi opens up a world of possibilities.
TV HAT – does what it says on the tin.
Your TV HAT has the capabilities of expanding your Pi board to receive digital terrestrial TV. Easy to slot into your overall design without needing loads of space, this nifty little HAT will help to take your TV or media project to the next level.
Automation HAT – everyone dreams of transforming their home into a smart home, but not everyone wants to invest in Alexa or Google Home. If you’re interested in building your own home automation system, this HAT is perfect. Monitor and control the world around you with this innovative Pi add-on. Introduce smart sprinklers to your garden, be reminded when to feed your fish or control your lights with the Automation HAT.
Raspberry Pi Sense HAT
£35.06 including VAT
Raspberry Pi Tv HAT
£25.75 including VAT
Automation HAT Motor Control For Pi
£30.00 including VAT
What to look for when buying HATs and pHATs?
Once you’ve decided what your next project is, it’s time to look at the HATs and pHATs you might need.
When you’re ready to make your purchase, ask yourself these questions:
What is the HAT or pHAT for?
If it’s for something in particular, will it do what you need it to? For instance, if you’re introducing your child to the world of coding and HATs, does it come with enough features to grow with them as they do?
Does the HAT or pHAT work for your Raspberry Pi?
Remember, HATs only work with the Raspberry Pi B+ features and pHATS with the Pi Zero. Make sure it’s compatible with the model you’re working with.
How can the HAT or pHAT be programmed?
Is it user friendly? Can you programme it into another language, maybe the one you prefer? Are there guides, videos and tutorials out there to get you to where you want to be?
Does the HAT or pHAT use all your pins?
Most Pi HATs cover all 40 of your general purpose input outputs, although many of them allow pass-through, meaning you can still use those pins to stack your HATs on top of each other.
Ready to get started with a project using a HAT? Here are some of our most popular HATs and pHATs:
Raspberry Pi POE + Hat
The Raspberry Pi PoE+ HAT is an add-on board with PoE pins designed to be used with Raspberry Pi computers including Raspberry Pi 3B+ and Raspberry Pi 4. It is used to power a Raspberry Pi board via an Ethernet cable, provided that power-sourcing equipment is installed on the Ethernet network. The Raspberry Pi PoE+ HAT also includes a small fan for cooling the Raspberry Pi processor in use.
£22.14 including VAT
OSA DACBerry 400S Audio Card for Raspberry Pi 400
The DACBerry 400 S is the first add-on board available for the Raspberry Pi 400 that allows you to add high-quality audio output to your device, as well as other SBCs via the GPIO header. The sound quality is fantastic, no cables or soldering required. Just plug it in and enjoy the music.
£12.71 including VAT
Raspberry Pi Build Hat
The Raspberry Pi Build HAT is the first add-on board from Raspberry Pi designed in collaboration with LEGO® Education to offer you an exciting and fun coding experience.
The Raspberry Pi Build HAT features Raspberry Pi’s own RP2040 microcontroller and can be simply attached to your Raspberry Pi for extra functionality and to be able to build creative computing projects with LEGO® Education products.
£26.22 including VAT
At OKdo, we have a wide range of HATs and pHATs available, from battery boards and touchscreen modules to ethernet add-ons and automation controls. For even more projects or to explore our free resources, head to our Projects Hub.
Introducing Raspberry Pi HATs — Raspberry Pi
Just over two weeks ago, we announced the new Raspberry Pi B+ with immediate availability. We’ve been very pleased at the response from the community and press about the B+, and most people seem to appreciate why we decided to evolve the Model B in the way we did – lots of you have been in touch to tell us how much you’re enjoying your new B+.
There are many great new features built into the B+, but today we want to talk about one new feature we are particularly excited about.
One of the brilliant things about the Raspberry Pi has always been the ability to attach physical hardware to the Raspberry Pi’s GPIO (General Purpose Input/Output) connector. There are so many third party add-on boards that attach to the Raspberry Pi and extend its functionality: motor controllers, LEDs, buttons, sensors, microcontrollers, LCDs, ADCs and DACs; you name it, someone has almost certainly created an add-on board that makes it usable with the Raspberry Pi.
Model B’s 26W vs Model B+’s 40W GPIO connectors
On the Raspberry Pi models A and B, the GPIO connector has 26 pins. Users attaching an add-board to the model A or B Pi usually have to work out which drivers are required for their specific board, and then edit the relevant Linux files to make them load at boot time before the board is usable (or load them by hand from the command line). The Raspberry Pi has no knowledge of whether it has a board attached or not, and the various drivers, when loaded, will simply assume that they can make exclusive use of the GPIO interface.
Most of the time this all works OK, but it can be a bit challenging for new users. Linux drivers blindly assuming GPIO pins are available can also occasionally cause confusion.
The Raspberry Pi B+ has been designed specifically with add-on boards in mind and today we are introducing ‘HATs’ (Hardware Attached on Top). A HAT is an add-on board for B+ that conforms to a specific set of rules that will make life easier for users. A significant feature of HATs is the inclusion of a system that allows the B+ to identify a connected HAT and automatically configure the GPIOs and drivers for the board, making life for the end user much easier!
Before we go any further, it is worth noting that there are obviously a lot of add-on boards designed for the original model A and B boards (which interface to the original 26 way GPIO header). The first 26 pins of the B+ GPIO header are identical to those of the original models, so most existing boards will still work.
We are not breaking compatibility for existing boards; we’re creating a specification that B+ add-on board designers can follow (if they so wish), which is designed to make end users’ lives much easier.
So what is a HAT?
B+ sporting a (mechanical sample of a) HAT and showing camera and display connections
In a nutshell a HAT is a rectangular board (65x56mm) that has four mounting holes in the (nicely rounded) corners that align with the mounting holes on the B+, has a 40W GPIO header and supports the special autoconfiguration system that allows automatic GPIO setup and driver setup. The automatic configuration is achieved using 2 dedicated pins (ID_SD and ID_SC) on the 40W B+ GPIO header that are reserved for an I2C EEPROM. The EEPROM holds the board manufacturer information, GPIO setup and a thing called a ‘device tree‘ fragment – basically a description of the attached hardware that allows Linux to automatically load the required drivers.
What we are not doing with HATs is forcing people to adopt our specification.
But you can only call something a HAT if it follows the spec.
So why are we bothering with all this? Basically, we want to ensure consistency and compatibility with future add-on boards, and to allow a much better end-user experience, especially for less technically aware users.
The HAT specification is available on GitHub for those wishing to design add-on boards for the B+. As previously explained, there is no requirement to follow the HAT specification, but we encourage people to think about following it if possible, as it will make the world a better place for end users.
One final bit of good news: we have used a surface mount connector on our internal prototype HAT which works very nicely. As you can see from the pictures it solders to the top of the board and then fits over an extension header (the extension header pins push through the HAT from underneath). As the extension headers push through like this it is possible to either use a short, flush mounting extension or a version with longer pins that poke out above the HAT and allow further access to the GPIO pins for debugging.
HAT using extender with longer pins
For HAT designers wanting to use these connectors, we have secured discounted pricing through Toby Electronics. The connector part numbers are:
- REF-182665-03 = £0.57 each (surface mount connector without locating peg)
- REF-182665-01 = £0.67 each (surface mount connector with locating peg)
- REF-182683-02 = £0.56 each (extension header short pins)
- REF-182684-02 = £0.64 each (extension header long pins)
Toby tell us they are getting stock in now, which should arrive for the 5th August.
Please post technical questions about the specification to the forum.
Raspberry Variety Monomakh’s Cap: photo, reviews, description, characteristics.
Buy seedlings
Many argue that the variety is new, and therefore there is little information about it. But this could be at a time when there was no Internet and all sorts of dacha and gardening forums.
Now, when an interesting repair novelty appears, two, maximum three years is enough for its objective characteristics to be more or less clear. Now 2018 is coming, and in 2011 S.N. Evdokimenko pointed out in the comments to the description of the variety: “Monomakh’s hat is not registered. He became severely affected by the virus, and we stopped breeding it. We think that in 7 years you can completely put together a clear and clear picture about this raspberry. True, there is really little information, it is sometimes contradictory and superficial. But we will try to fully describe and reveal the features of the heroine of our article. We answered one controversial question about removing the variety from registration above with a quote from a person who was directly involved in its creation. For other questions — in our article below.
History of creation
This variety of remontant raspberries was bred by Russian breeders — Academician of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences I.
V. Kazakov and his student, Doctor of Agricultural Sciences S. N. Evdokimenko. Work on the creation was carried out at the Kokinsky stronghold (Bryansk region). Monomakh’s hat is not included in the State Register of Breeding Achievements of the Russian Federation, as it has been found to be highly vulnerable to viral and fungal diseases. The originators stopped its reproduction and distribution. The variety has been withdrawn from registration. For which I would like to separately thank the breeders who did not hush up and hide the serious shortcomings of the variety, which, against the background of the pluses, may not be noticed, in order to profit from the sale. After all, it is not a fact that a plant will definitely fall ill with everyone and pick up all the misfortunes. An example is the popular, well-selling and really good summer raspberry Cascade Delight, which is very vulnerable to the dwarfism virus.
Description
Monomakh’s Hat is a remontant variety of medium late ripening.
In the southern regions, fruiting starts from the beginning of August, in the middle lane — from the middle of the month. The fruiting period is extended. In the northern regions, raspberries do not have time to give even 50% of the fruits, they are well suited for growing in the south, in the middle lane, the yield of the crop is up to 60%.
The bush is low, on average grows up to 1.5 meters, of the standard type. It consists of 3-5 powerful, thick, strongly branched green shoots with slightly drooping tops. With its appearance, the bush sometimes resembles a small tree. The thorns are rare, small, but hard, red-violet in color, located throughout the shoot, but mainly concentrated in its lower part. The leaves are light green, whitish below, medium in size, oval in shape, slightly wrinkled, twisted, slightly serrated along the edges.
Monomakh’s Cap berries are beautiful, smooth, elongated obtuse-conical shape, with slight pubescence, saturated ruby color with brilliance.
Meaty, dense, but juicy. The drupes are small, homogeneous, tightly linked to each other. They break away from the fetus well, but with little effort. At the same time, they do not crumble and do not flow. The berries are really tasty, sweet, with a pleasant raspberry flavor. Well balanced sugar and acid.
The variety compares favorably with really large and very large fruits, sometimes it produces simply gigantic sizes. On average, the weight of raspberries is 6-7 grams, reaching a maximum of 10-15 grams, but there were also record 20 grams. For comparison, according to the results of the season, the average large berry of remontant strawberries, so that you better understand what we are talking about, weighs 20-25 grams. Transportability and keeping quality of fruits are at a good level. Berries are little baked in the scorching summer sun.
The potential productivity of Monomakh’s Cap is very high — on average 4.0-5.5 kg of berries per bush, you can get up to 8 kg, but only in closed ground.
The zone of autumn fruiting is 2/3 of the shoot. It is especially good if it is possible to grow raspberries under shelters (in a tunnel, a greenhouse). Then the dates of the beginning of the fruiting of the variety change to earlier ones and the percentage of return of the crop increases significantly. Or you can simply cover the bushes with agrofiber at the time of ripening in the fall. Such a simple technique also allows you to protect plants from a slight (up to -5 ° C) frost and speed up the ripening process. Fruits, when grown in open ground without shelter, withstand slight (-2-3 ° C) frosts.
The Cap of Monomakh cannot be considered a full-fledged «tutimer». Often, some gardeners leave shoots for re-fruiting, which begins in June. But the autumn harvest in this case is several times higher than the summer one, and such a technique can push towards winter the already late ripening dates. Raspberry gives very little root growth, practically without creating problems with cutting it when caring for the plant.
But for reproduction, this is a significant minus. To grow seedlings, it is necessary to harvest the uterine root from autumn, which is stored until February-March, and then in a warm room they begin to germinate it in a peat substrate. The root is pre-soaked for a day in a fungicide solution with a high-quality root stimulator, you can add a fertilizer with a high phosphorus content. Also, for reproduction of the Cap of Monomakh, you can use late autumn digging and dividing the bush into separate shoots with their own root system.
A very annoying and weak point of the variety is a high susceptibility to raspberry diseases: to fungal diseases — septoria, anthracnose; and viral — leaf curl and bushy dwarfism (the so-called loose leaf).
The plant withstands frost down to -25 ° C, but when grown in a two-year-old culture as a tutaymer, in the conditions of the middle lane and more northern regions, it needs to be hunched down and covered for the winter. Monomakh’s cap, among other things, is rather capricious in terms of agricultural technology and demanding on the composition of the soil.
It is very dependent on regular and abundant watering, especially during the hot season. With a lack of moisture, the fruits quickly and significantly shrink. But when the plant is provided with the necessary amount of moisture, the berries regain their excellent size and good taste. I would like to warn against excessive overflow — this will negatively affect the quality of the fruits: they lose sugar a lot and become fresh and watery. The same thing happens during prolonged rains, in addition to everything, the berry can turn sour.
The use of drip irrigation with mulching of the raspberry root zone gives excellent results. Monomakh’s cap is sensitive to the composition and acidity of the soil. Preferably the soil should be nutritious, with a neutral pH.
Weaknesses of the variety
- Frankly, reading how susceptible this variety is to numerous diseases, it becomes simply scary.
And in addition, the fact that the originators themselves stopped reproducing it and removed it from registration only reinforces this fear. Lonely sticking out clumsy, black raspberry stalks, leaves twisted in continuous ulcers and berries rotting on a moldy bush, crumbling before the eyes like raspberry tears … In fact, this is a big minus of the variety, but not the fact that the plant will definitely pick up everything these diseases. If you want to grow the Cap of Monomakh, grow it. Just pay more attention to agricultural technology, especially plant protection and disease prevention. And in case of defeat, for example, by the «loose» virus, be prepared to part with the plant without regret, destroying it, with the subsequent spill of the soil with fungicides. Although chemicals are effective mainly against fungal diseases, this will definitely not be superfluous. Remember that during vegetative reproduction of a plant infected with viral infections, all its offspring will be infected.
It will not work to cure such a raspberry. And the dwarfism virus is generally transmitted with pollen. It will be good after uprooting diseased (pah-pah-pah) plants to sow the beds with mustard, followed by incorporation of its green mass into the soil. This is an excellent fertilizer, besides it repels pests and helps to get rid of pathogens in the soil. - Strong dependence of raspberries on regular watering, temperature changes, berries Monomakh’s Caps can simply become limp in the rain.
- A capricious variety, demanding on soil and agricultural technology, which can’t be called problem-free.
- Medium-late ripening period, extended fruiting period, the ability to get more than 60% of the crop in open ground only in the southern regions. In the northern regions, for example, the Leningrad region, the autumn fruiting of raspberries falls under the rainy season, the berries are sour, of poor quality, and you won’t get a more or less tolerable harvest from the Cap of Monomakh.
- Weak growth force, few replacement shoots.
Strengths of the variety
- Beautiful showy berries of large and sometimes simply huge size that can pleasantly surprise anyone. They fall under the category of «to the envy of neighbors.»
- Abundant fruiting, the bush is literally strewn with berries.
- Slight thorniness, which causes practically no problems when harvesting and caring for raspberries.
- Low, slightly sprawling bush of standard type.
- Delicious, sweet and fragrant, quality berries.
In the end, it’s up to you — being afraid of possible problems and difficulties, choose a more resistant, low-problem variety or, having shown gardening passion, grow your Monomakh’s Hat to everyone’s envy!
Author: Maxim Zarechny.
Raspberry cultivar Monomakh’s Hat — description, planting, care, reviews
0043 3 departure
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Description of raspberry Monomakh cap 9000
Among the repaired varieties of raspberry, a monomach’s hat, the Malina Monomach breeder Kazakov I.
V. Although this variety appeared recently, it has already managed to win many fans.
Outwardly, the raspberry looks more like a tree. Its stems are quite powerful and grow to a height of one and a half meters.
The fruits are purple in color and very large. Usually they weigh 6-7 grams, but with perfect care they can reach 15-20 grams (they are equal in size to a small plum). Usually, 4-5 kilograms of delicious berries are harvested from one bush, but under favorable conditions, the yield increases to 6-8 kilograms.
Berries have an elongated blunt-conical shape and dense pulp. They are easily separated from the stem. Characterized by a sweet taste with a noticeable sourness. Leave a pleasant aftertaste. They have a pronounced raspberry aroma. Due to the elastic texture, the fruits of the Cap of Monomakh are stored longer than other varieties.
The first crop is harvested in July from last year’s shoots, and the second ripens from August to November on young stems, until the first frost.
The autumn harvest is twice the spring and is not affected by pests.
Almost no thorns on shoots. In addition, they are mainly located at the bottom, which makes picking berries convenient.
This variety is fairly hardy. It can withstand 25° frost without any problems. But in those areas where the winter is too severe, it is recommended to bend the shoots to the ground and cover with snow.
Planting
Monomakh’s hat almost does not grow. Therefore, seedlings or cuttings are used for reproduction. Cuttings (their length should be about 15 centimeters) are cut a little below the soil level and rooted in special containers, and a month later they are transplanted into moist soil to a permanent place. You can also prepare cuttings in the fall. In this case, they are placed in boxes and brought into the basement until spring.
For planting, choose a fertile and well-lit area in the southern part of the garden. The soil should be neutral, moist and breathable.
Heavy, acidic and marshy soils are completely unsuitable for this raspberry variety.
Neutralize the soil with lime powder. If the soil is strongly acidic, then 400 grams of flour per square meter are added, and if it is medium acidic, then 200 grams. You can also use wood ash (it will not only reduce the acidity of the soil, but also enrich it with mineral elements) or dolomite flour.
Monomakh’s hat is very fond of organic fertilizers. Therefore, humus or settled manure is introduced into each hole (its depth is 30-35 centimeters). Seedlings are sprinkled with earth, rammed and watered. Then mulch is made from plant residues or humus. When planting, the root neck should be level with the ground. If it is raised too high, then the root is exposed. At a low location, rotting is possible. The distance between the cuttings is 70-80 centimeters.
Seedlings with an open root system are planted in spring or autumn, and with a closed root system — at any time of the year.
It is imperative to loosen the soil in order to saturate it with oxygen. But you need to act carefully so as not to damage the root system located on the surface.
Tapestry is used to ensure uniform illumination of bushes.
Care
In the first year, raspberries do not need fertilizer. Then, every spring, you need to do nitrogen fertilizing (50 grams of fertilizer is diluted in a bucket of water) to activate foliage growth, in the summer — potash and phosphorus (about 50 grams of fertilizer are applied per square meter) to stimulate fruiting. Organic fertilizers are applied 3 times during the growing season. It is best to use an infusion of chicken manure (it is diluted in a ratio of 1:20) or cow dung (1:10).
Feeding is recommended after rain. It is desirable that the weather be warm.
Trimming
Monomakh’s cap needs proper trimming. If the gardener has decided to receive only the autumn harvest, then late in the fall the shoots are cut out at the root.
If he wants to harvest twice, then in spring and autumn they make sanitary pruning, removing diseased, damaged and two-year-old stems. Usually 5-7 shoots are left in the bush.
To prevent the development of diseases, it is necessary to regularly trim the bushes, as well as to carry out preventive treatment with fungicidal preparations in early spring.
Secrets of a high yield
In order to get high yields of raspberries, you need to:
- plant bushes on neutral soil;
- select well-lit areas protected from the wind for planting;
- apply fertilizer in a timely manner;
- regularly loosen the soil;
- do not allow the soil to dry out;
- remove excess ovary;
- trim bushes correctly.
Advantages and disadvantages
Disadvantages of the Cap of Monomakh — increased susceptibility to viral diseases (chlorosis, yellow mosaic, curl) and dependence on climatic conditions.