Pi Hub Setup

Running Scout on a Raspberry Pi gives you 24/7 local control without tying up a laptop. It's also the only way to use RS485 Modbus sensors (DFRobot SEN0601) since they require a serial USB adapter. A Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 is recommended.

TentPilot Hub — coming soon

We're building a pre-configured Pi that ships with Scout pre-installed. Plug in power and Ethernet, open the dashboard, auto-pairs. Join the waitlist for updates. This guide is for DIY Pi setup in the meantime.

What you need

Raspberry Pi 4 (2GB+ RAM) or Raspberry Pi 5
MicroSD card (16GB+) with Raspberry Pi OS Lite (64-bit)
Power supply and Ethernet cable (recommended over Wi-Fi for reliability)
For RS485: USB-RS485 adapter (CH340 or FTDI based)

Setup

Flash Raspberry Pi OS Lite

Use Raspberry Pi Imager. Select Raspberry Pi OS Lite (64-bit). In the advanced options, set hostname, enable SSH, and configure Wi-Fi if not using Ethernet.

Install Python and Scout

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install python3 python3-pip python3-venv -y
pip3 install tentpilot-scout

Configure Scout as a systemd service

Create the service file:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/tentpilot-scout.service

[Unit]
Description=TentPilot Scout
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=pi
ExecStart=/home/pi/.local/bin/tentpilot-scout --token YOUR_TOKEN
Restart=always
RestartSec=10

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

sudo systemctl enable tentpilot-scout
sudo systemctl start tentpilot-scout
sudo systemctl status tentpilot-scout

RS485 Modbus sensor setup

Connect USB-RS485 adapter

Plug in your USB-RS485 adapter. Identify the device path:

ls /dev/ttyUSB*   # or /dev/ttyACM*

It will appear as /dev/ttyUSB0 or similar. Give the pi user serial access:

sudo usermod -a -G dialout pi

Wire sensors to the bus

Each DFRobot SEN0601 has a 3-wire connection: A+, B-, and GND. Wire multiple sensors in parallel on the same A/B bus. Each sensor needs a unique Modbus address (1–247). Default address is 1 — change it before wiring multiple sensors.

Set addresses before wiring

Configure each sensor's Modbus address individually before connecting them all to the bus. Once on a shared bus, address collisions will cause communication failures.

Configure in TentPilot

In Settings → Scout → RS485, enter the serial port path (/dev/ttyUSB0) and the Modbus addresses of your sensors. Scout will discover and poll them automatically.