While hanging around on Bluesky yesterday, I came across this post from Nidouille:
He’s showcasing a power solution designed for the mini PCs that are massively used in homelabs, which is exactly my case. The idea immediately spoke to me because it’s precisely the kind of problem I’m going to run into when I rebuild my homelab: a jungle of power bricks taking up space, making a mess in the rack, and multiplying points of failure.
So what is Shrike Lab?#
The project is called Shrike Lab HomeLab PDU V1. Everything is documented and open source on the GitHub repo: schematics, PCB, BOM (shopping list), assembly instructions. A YouTube channel accompanies the project with very polished videos explaining the initial need, the approach, the technical choices and the build. And for those who, like me, would rather not dive into making their own PCB, a dedicated site shrikelab.co offers the full kit directly, PCB assembled, components soldered, everything you need to plug in and use.
Pre-orders close on 23rd April#
That’s partly the reason I’m writing this article now rather than later. From the site:
This pre-order will close on 23rd April 2026. Lead time on dispatch after pre-order closes will be 4-6 weeks to allow time for component manufacturing, kit assembly and distribution.
In short: pre-orders close on 23rd April 2026, which is two days from now as I’m writing this. The announced dispatch lead time is 4 to 6 weeks after closing, giving enough time for everything to be manufactured, assembled into kits and distributed. If you’re working on a homelab project and this interests you, now’s the time to order, otherwise you’ll have to sort out the PCBs yourself (but everything’s available on the GitHub repo).
What I ordered#
I went for the full kit. I’ve got soldering gear at home, but it’s been way too long since I last practised seriously to feel comfortable with a PCB this dense. Might as well start with a kit that just works and focus on the rest.
That said, now that I’ve got a desk dedicated to this kind of electronic tinkering, I fully intend to get back into soldering over the coming months. Not on this PDU then, but on more modest projects to get my hand back in.
What’s next?#
The parcel is going to take several weeks to arrive, so don’t expect to see the build details any time soon. But when it’s here, there will be at least:
- An article on the extra hardware to buy on top of the kit, in particular the switched-mode power supply that will feed the PDU, the cables, the connectors.
- An article on the 3D-printed parts to cleanly mount the PDU in a 10" rack. The files are provided by Shrike Lab but there are a few variants to choose from.
- An article on the assembly and installation in the final homelab, once it’s been rebuilt (which is the big project of the ongoing series “My homelab from scratch”).
In the meantime, if the project interests you, go dig through the YouTube channel and the GitHub, there’s already plenty to read and watch.
