Can RaspPi power Arduino? (yes)

Hi,

I am not sure if this is the right place to post this question, pls let me know if there is any other place.

Can RPi USB power Arduino ? That will avoid two power supply's, one for RPi and one for Arduino (atleast for simple projects which don't need much current).

Edit: One of my requirement is to use a Arduino Motor Shield which has a separate power supply. I don't want to use 3 power supply's
1) Power supply for Raspberry PI
2) Power supply for Arduino
3) Power supply for Motor Shield or other shield.

Answer given: Yes you can power Arduino with Raspberry PI USB as long as it is not powering any power consuming Shields or Motors.

Thank you

The short answer: yes, the +5V is enough for a simple Arduino Uno or so.

The longer answer: what do you plan to do with the Arduino? Some shields can require more power than available. So calculate!

Powering via USB - USB also allows you to communicate over serial without the need for level shifters

Powering via USB - USB also allows you to communicate over serial without the need for level shifters

Sure about that?

USB means 5V to the Arduino, so serial will be at 5V TTL level. From Arduino to RPi it would be safer to use a level shifter.

I assume he meant USB-serial rather than TTL-serial

What board are you talking about? You can power it via usb to serial.

I assume he meant USB-serial rather than TTL-serial

In that case indeed no problem!

I assume he meant USB-serial rather than TTL-serial

Indeed, that's what I meant by USB-USB. It also frees the PI serial for other things.

What board are you talking about? You can power it via usb to serial.

If you plug an Uno (or Nano, not got any others) into a Pi via USB (like you would a PC if programming it), not only will it power it, the Uno will appears as a serial device in /dev as it has a serial - USB chip onboard.

What board are you talking about? You can power it via usb to serial.

If you plug an Uno (or Nano, not got any others) into a Pi via USB (like you would a PC if programming it), not only will it power it, the Uno will appears as a serial device in /dev as it has a serial - USB chip onboard.

Yes, Uno and Nano do have usb to serial chip (but arduino mini for example does not have one).
But keep in mind that you can get 500 mA from it (if RPi can provide it).

What board are you talking about? You can power it via usb to serial.

If you plug an Uno (or Nano, not got any others) into a Pi via USB (like you would a PC if programming it), not only will it power it, the Uno will appears as a serial device in /dev as it has a serial - USB chip onboard.

Yes, Uno and Nano do have usb to serial chip (but arduino mini for example does not have one).
But keep in mind that you can get 500 mA from it (if RPi can provide it).

I have no idea what board the OP is using.

The original question was can he power it (and projects with low power requirements) from the Pi using USB, which he can.

I just added that as an added bonus (if his board supports it) he can use the USB serial interface as wel, regretting mentioning it now.

Thank you guys.

I am thinking of using Arduino Uno.

I am thinking of using Arduino Uno.

I found in the past (with a now defunct Raspberry Pi power supply) with my Arduino that it needed a powered hub or it would pull too much current from the RPi and would run right on the limit. (That may be different with a B+).

I am thinking of using Arduino Uno.

I found in the past (with a now defunct Raspberry Pi power supply) with my Arduino that it needed a powered hub or it would pull too much current from the RPi and would run right on the limit. (That may be different with a B+).

I powered my Uno from RPi without any problems (however I had only low power communication module attached to Uno).
What did you connect to your Uno?

I powered my Uno from RPi without any problems (however I had only low power communication module attached to Uno).
What did you connect to your Uno?

Nothing special. Ultimately the power supply (a cheapo crappo one from eBay) gave up the ghost (so I suspect that was the reason for the brownouts). That RPi is now powered by a reasonably good power supply from Farnell's. I've not had my Arduino out of the box for months, I've been too busy playing with my RPis. I've got an Arduino project I'll look at later this month.

Hi,

I am not sure if this is the right place to post this question, pls let me know if there is any other place.

Can RPi USB power Arduino ? That will avoid two power supply's, one for RPi and one for Arduino (atleast for simple projects which don't need much current).

Thank you

I would think it can in many different ways shapes and forms, but also may not work in many other circumstances, it all depends on what your exact requirements are.

I posted a link on another thread (I think something about 'avr atmega16' if you forum search those terms)showing youtube video of a 5volt chinese atmega mini clone being powered and programmed from the rpi gpio pins and running at 3.3v, this would be very bad idea for most applications as it could damage the rpi and I get the feeling brownouts were occuring on the atmega but it allowed programming without voltage levelshifting and seemed fairly reliable as I have not yet had any errors after 30 or more arduino programmings and the rpi still seems to work fine, ymmv.

Hi,

I am not sure if this is the right place to post this question, pls let me know if there is any other place.

Can RPi USB power Arduino ? That will avoid two power supply's, one for RPi and one for Arduino (atleast for simple projects which don't need much current).

Thank you

I would think it can in many different ways shapes and forms, but also may not work in many other circumstances, it all depends on what your exact requirements are.

I posted a link on another thread (I think something about 'avr atmega16' if you forum search those terms)showing youtube video of a 5volt chinese atmega mini clone being powered and programmed from the rpi gpio pins and running at 3.3v, this would be very bad idea for most applications as it could damage the rpi and I get the feeling brownouts were occuring on the atmega but it allowed programming without voltage levelshifting and seemed fairly reliable as I have not yet had any errors after 30 or more arduino programmings and the rpi still seems to work fine, ymmv.

Thanks for your answer, I edited my question to include my requirement which is ...
One of my requirement is to use a Arduino Motor Shield which has a separate power supply. I don't want to use 3 power supply's
1) Power supply for Raspberry PI
2) Power supply for Arduino
3) Power supply for Motor Shield or other shield.

Answer given: Yes you can power Arduino with Raspberry PI USB as long as it is not powering any power consuming Shields or Motors.

[mahjongg]

a B+ can deliver up-to 1.2 Amp to the USB ports, when setting USB current limit "high" using config.txt (see link below) or 0.6 Amp otherwise, should be enough for an Arduino plus most shields.

viewtopic.php?p=593507#p593507

Hello,

I want to do a similar project (raspberry+arduino+motorshield) and I think I found an answer about how to power Arduino+raspberry+motorshield, something like a multi-voltage power bank like this http://www.amazon.ca/20000mAh-Multi-Voltage-Portable-External-Technology/dp/B005NGLTZQ
5v - 2A for the raspberry, 9v for the Arduino and 12v for the motor shield. Of course the 9v and 12v may need modification so that they can be connected to Arduino dc input (since I think the usb would be connected to the pi) and the motor shield. I haven't tried it yet, but theoretically this could work.

I like the 3.3V ProMini. (there are two versions. One runs at 3.3V and 8 MHz, the other at 5V and 16 MHz.) See https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardProMini