Raspberry Pi CM4 based 7-inch industrial Panel PC takes IO board with RS232, 12V-24V inputs and outputs

The ComfilePi CPi-C070WR4C is a 7-inch industrial Panel PC powered by a Raspberry Pi CM4 module with GPIO, RS-232, RS-485, and I2C interfaces as well as the ability to add two more RS232 interfaces and several 12V-24V DC inputs and outputs through an I/O board connected to the GPIO port of the panel PC.

The new panel PC is an update to the ComfilePi Industrial Touch Panel PC introduced with a Raspberry Pi CM3 module in 2017. Besides upgrading to a more powerful Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4, COMFILE also makes use of an RS-485 port that utilizes a full UART interface that does not exhibit the limitations of the mini-UART interface, and also added the CP-IO13-4C I/O board for even more expansion capabilities.

ComfilePi CPi-C070WR4C specifications:

SoM – Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 with
- SoC – Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Arm Cortex-A72 processor @ 1.5GHz with VideoCore Vi GPU supporting OpenGLES 3.1, Vulkan 1.x, H.265 (HEVC) (up to 4Kp60 decode), H.264 (up to 1080p60 decode, 1080p30 encode)
- System Memory – 2GB LPDDR4-3200 SDRAM by default, 1GB, 4GB, 8GB optional
- Storage – Optional 8GB/16GB/32GB eMMC flash for system boot
- Optional wireless module (see Networking section)
Storage – MicroSD card slot for booting the system on a Raspberry Pi CM4 Lite module
Display – 7-inch 800×480 pressure-sensitive touchscreen (Resistive Film Type) LCD display with 262K colors, 500:1 contrast ratio, 400cd/m2 or 1000cd/m2 (sunlight readable) brightness
Audio – 3.5mm audio out port
I/Os
- 26-pin header with 20x GPIO with RS232, I2C, 2xSPI, GPIOs…
- 1x RS-232 terminal block, plus 2x additional RS232 port via GPIO header
- 1x RS-485 terminal block
- 1x I2C terminal block, plus 3x extra via the GPIO header
- Optional CP-IO13-4C I/O board with
  - Inputs
    - Voltage Range: 12 ~ 24V
    - Absolute Min/Max Voltage Range: 3.3 ~ 28V
    - Response Time: 5ms
    - Input OFF Level: <1.8VDC
    - Input ON Level: >2.5VDC
    - Indicator LED OFF Level: <4.5V
    - Indicator LED ON Level: >5.0V
  - Outputs
    - DC Output Sink (NPN)
    - Maximum Output Voltage: 30VDC
    - Response Time: 10ms
    - Current: 150mA
USB – 3x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x USB Type-A port for the eMMC flash
Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, optional WiFi via USB dongle
Misc – 1x Piezo buzzer, RTC with battery backup, 41 grams heatsink on SoC
Power Supply – 12~24V DC via 3-pin terminal block
Power consumption
- Default LCD option – 6W at idle, 9W under load
- Sunlight readable LCD – 7.2W at idle, 10.2W under load
Dimensions – 187 x 124 x 51.1 mm
Weight – 610 grams
Temperature range – Operating: 0°C to 60°C; storage – -20°C to 80°C
IP Rating – IP65-rated front panel
Regulatory compliance – CE, KCC. Not yet UL listed (like the previous CM3 models were)

CP-IO13-4C 24V IO RS232 expansion — CP-IO13-4C I/O board fitted to the back of the panel PC

The ComfilePi CPi-C070WR4C panel PC ships with a slightly modified version of the Raspberry Pi OS, or you can reinstall it yourself by following the instructions in the documentation that also includes some hardware details such as the GPIO header pinout and some software tutorials for CODESYS, NODE-RED, and more.

The Raspberry Pi CM4 industrial panel PC is sold for $359 and up on COMFILE Technology’s store, and the CP-IO13-4C I/O board adds $49. It’s not the first such panel PC based on the Raspberry Pi CM4 since we previously covered Chipsee CM4-70 industrial Pi 7-inch Panel PC and WIN Enterprises PL-50300 IP67 Panel PC, but it’s nice to have more choices.

Thanks to Mike for the tip.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.