I’ve just received a review sample of Chipsee PPC-CM5-156 15.6-inch industrial panel PC that was recently added to the Raspberry Pi CM5-based Chipsee panel PCs family we covered in February with 7-inch and 10-inch models.
I’ll do a two-part review starting by listing the specifications, doing an unboxing and a teardown, and booting the system in the first part, before doing further testing with Raspberry Pi OS and most interfaces and features in the second part.
Chipsee PPC-CM5-156 specifications
- SoM – Raspberry Pi CM5 or CM5 Lite with Broadcom BCM2712 quad-core Cortex-A76 SoC, 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB RAM, optional 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB eMMC flash
- Storage
- MicroSD card slot
- M.2 M-Key 2230/2242/2260/2280 (PCIe Gen2 x1) socket for NVMe SSD
- Display – 15.6-inch IPS display with 1920×1080 resolution, 10-point capacitive touchscreen with 1mm armored glass, 400 cd/m2 brightness
- Video Output – HDMI 2.0 port up to 4Kp60
- Audio
- 3.5mm audio out jack
- Internal 2W Speaker
- On-board buzzer
- Networking
- Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port
- Optional WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.2 (on Raspberry Pi CM5)
- Optional 4G LTE mini PCIe module + SIM card slot
- External WiFi and 4G antennas
- USB – 2x USB 3.0 host ports, 1x USB-C OTG port
- Serial via terminal block
- 2x RS232 by default, up to 4 x RS232
- 2x RS485 by default, can be configured as RS232
- CAN FD Bus up to 8 Mbps data rate
- Expansion
- 4x GP Input, 4x GP Output via GPIO terminal block with
- M.2 Key M socket for SSD or AI accelerator
- mini PCIe socket for cellular connectivity
- Misc – RTC with farad capacitor good for one week after power off, or lithium coin battery working up to 3 years after power off
- Power Input – 15 to 30V DC via 3-pin terminal block
- Power Consumption – 21 Watts max, 19.5 Watts typ.
- Dimensions – 400 × 256 × 52.5mm
- Weight – 4.5 kg
- Temperature Range – -20°C to +85°C
Chipsee PPC-CM5-156 (CS19108RA5156) unboxing
I received the panel PC in a cardboard package reading “Touch Panel PC/PM” and “Industrial Computer Industrial Monitor”.
The sticker on the package shows the product number (CS19108RA5156) and the specific Raspberry Pi CM5 module used: CM5104032 with wireless, 4GB RAM, and 32GB eMMC flash. As a side note, the company had initially planned to send the panel PC with the Raspberry Pi CM5108032 (Wireless/8GB RAM/32GB eMMC flash), but switched to CM5104032 due to a “global shortage” for the former.
The package comes with a panel PC, a 24V power supply, a power cord, a UK plug adapter, two antennas for WiFi/Bluetooth and 4G LTE, a few screws for munting, a pinout diagram sheet and a safety precautions leaflet.
The 24V power adapter outputs up to 2.5A (60W) and features a 3-pin screwable connector.
The pinout diagram sheet lists the ports and the pinout of the 24-pin terminal block with RS232, RS485, CAN Bus, DI, and DO interfaces. You’ll also find this type of information on the documentation page.
The bottom side of the display is entirely made of metal, which explains why it’s so heavy at around 4 kg. This compares to the 850 grams from the official (consumer-grade) 15.6-inch Raspberry Pi monitor.
All ports can be found under the main block behind the monitor. From left to right, we have a ground screw, the 4G LTE antenna connector, the 24-pin terminal block, HDMI video outut, two USB 3.2 pors, a USB-C port, microSD card and SIM card slots, a gigabit Ethernet port, a 3-pin terminal block for power, and the WiFi/Bluetooth antenna connector.
I had somehow expected a stand to come with the panel PC. but considering it’s an industrial device it makes sense it does not come with one, and instead two other mounting methods are offers: VESA mount with four screws (75x75mm) or panel mounting with install the device in an opening in a chassis or mounting wall. You can also notice a rubber joint around the display for the IP65 rating of the solution (not mentioned in specs, only in the documentation).
I don’t have a VESA mounting arm or similar, and panel mounting is not an option, so I used a laptop stand to mount the display with two VESA screws in the very first image of this article. This laptop stand is OK for a demo, but not ideal for a heavy panel PC.
15.6-inch Raspberry Pi CM5 panel PC teardown
Let’s no loosen of four screws holding the top cover to reveal the board and cooling design.
There’s just one copper column for cooling. It’s attached to the metal cover and gets into contact with the Broadcom BCM2712 on the CM5 module via a thermal pad. We’re still warned that the cover is a hot surface. I’ll try that in the second part of the review…
The carrier board is fitted with a Raspberry Pi CM5 with WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.2, 4GB RAM, and a 32GB eMMC flash as expected. Two optional components are also installed in my sample: a 250GB SanDisk Ultra M.2 NVMe SSD (MCBSM9), and a Quectel EC25-EUX mini PCIe module with 4G LTE Cat 4 connectivity “optimized for the European market and Thailand”, according to Brave Search AI-generated answer. Since I’m based in Thailand, that’s all good.
Other components include a 30FB-22NL gigabit Ethernet transformer, a Link-PP LPA1034ANL chip not listed anywhere on the web, but which looks like it could be a PoE transformer, although PoE support is not mentioned anywhere. Finally, a speaker (large cylinder), a buzzer (small cylinder), and a supercapacitor for the RTC can be found on the top right corner.
The supercapacitor is named VINA Tech HyCap NEO and is rated 3.0V/3.3F.
Let’s remove a few more screws to check the bottom side of the carrier board. There, we’ll find a SIM card slot and wires for the display and touch panel. The bottom right corner has a footprint for a coin-cell battery for customers who are not using a supercapacitor.
Boot to Raspberry Pi OS
Let’s accessible everything into place, assemble the (large) cellular and (small) wifi antennas, and connect to power to the Raspberry Pi CM5 panel PC.
There’s no power button, so the system will automatically boot to Raspberry Pi OS, and after a few seconds.
I’m taking photos outdoors, and a 400cd/m2 brightness is clearly better for indoor environments.
I could connect to WiFi easily after entering the password with the software keyboard that works out of the box. I’ll now upgrade the package to prepare the system for the second part of the review.
I’d like to thank Chipsee for sending the PPC-CM5-156 industrial panel PC for review with a Raspberry Pi CM5 module with 4GB RAM, 32GB eMMC flash, and a wireless module. The company offers models from 5-inch to 23.6-inch with different options. The 15.6-inch model reviewed here starts at $558, and the price with the options I had (250GB SSD and 4G LTE Cat 4 module) totals $682 plus shipping. While browsing their website, I can see they also have similar variants with other processors such as Rockchip RK3568 (PPC-A55-156) with Android, NXP i.MX 8MP (PPC-A53-156) with Android, and Intel Celeron J6412 (PPC-J6412-156-C) with Windows or Linux.
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.
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