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Pixy and uController with USB

Pixy Hardware
#1

Hi,

I will be hooking up my piksi to a Teensy3.1 via SPI.

Is it okay to have the piksi plugged into my computer via USB at the same time so I can use pixymon or no?

I see this in the wiki:

Note: you can have both the Arduino cable and the USB cable plugged into Pixy simultaneously without any bad things happening. In fact, this is very useful when you want to do a quick check to see what Pixy sees through PixyMon, while Pixy is connected to your Arduino (in situ, so to speak).

But still have a couple of questions:

If it is plugged into USB should I not connect the 5v power connection to the microcontroller?

What about ground?

Also, the Teensy3.1 provides 3.3v regulated out, (www.pjrc.com) no 5V. Should I power the piksi from a different source?

My Teensy is powered externally via a 3.7V LiPo battery.

Thanks!

#2

Hello GB,
I’d recommend powering Teensy from Pixy. There is some information on this page (below). That is, connect an unregulated source like a battery to the power connector on Pixy and then have Pixy power your Teensy.

http://cmucam.org/projects/cmucam5/wiki/Powering_Pixy

Pixy receives USB power through a diode so it’s always safe to have Pixy plugged into USB regardless of the power source.

Edward