summary
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Pi-Dock-Wifi: A Frankenstein-style Pi 5 router with dual Wi-Fi, Pi-hole, web UI, and diagnostics.
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Hardware: Pi 5 8GB, PCIe swap HAT, two MT7915E cards, USB NVMe, HAT hub, P01 power, 3D mounts.
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Completely DIY – PCIe switched Wi-Fi, Pi‑hole ready, documentation and GitHub included. “Why not?” Builds.
It’s not often that I cover a Raspberry Pi project on XDA that looks like something straight out of Frankenstein’s lab, but when it happens, I’m always happy. Take, for example, the homemade Raspberry Pi 5 router. It has two Wi-Fi cards, comes with a Pi-hole, and appears to be powered by sparks of electricity emitted by a Van de Graaff generator.
Pi-Dock-Wifi doesn’t ask “Why?” He asks “Why not?”
Some things have to be made for science
Over at the Raspberry Pi subreddit, user Glittering_Pound1931 showed off his latest invention, the Pi-Dock-Wifi. The goal was to create a router where you could control everything, with the Pi-hole and ttyd set up and ready to start from scratch. The creator even added diagnostic tools like health checks and logging in case something goes wrong.
So, let’s address the elephant in the room; What exactly are we looking at in the picture above? Glittering_Pound1931 breaks down the bill of materials for hardware like this:
– Raspberry Pi 5 with 8 GB RAM.
– 52Pi B14 PCIe switch cap and two Waveshare MiniPCIe adapters.
– Two MediaTek MT7915E.Glittering_Pound1931 Wi-Fi cards
-USB NVMe storage because PCIE 32bit DMA to drive WiFi cards,
– USB hub cap
– Power board 52Pi P01
– Custom 3D printed mounting plates and antenna brackets.
PCIe cards share the Pi’s single PCIe connection through the adapter.
The best part is that if you feel like making your own at home, you can check out both github and Readme file For this amazing project.
