1

I am currently building a drone that I want to be a bit advanced so I am building code on both arduino and raspberry. What I have not figured out yet though is how i can power them both and preferably with one lipo battery to make it weigh as little as possible. And as It is a drone of course i have to be able to power it wirelessly.

Right now I successfully power my arduino pro mini 5v with a lipo 3s battery and a power distribution board as you can see in my image below. I also successfully put motor wires on my pwm pins for each motor so I can control them with my arduino code and it works great.

Now I am not sure what to do with my raspberry pi zero w board (i drew a red rectangle around it). Is there anyway it can share power with the 3s lipo or do I need something externally to power it and if so what should I look for? I have a store pretty close to me where I order from (electrokit) that has a broad range of items. I also look to connect them together so i can talk between the arduino and pi.

enter image description here

This is the power distribution board I use: https://hobbyking.com/en_us/hobby-king-quadcopter-power-distribution-board.html?___store=en_us

4
  • 1
    What is your question? I have a 3.3V Pro Mini, which is easy to power from Pi 3.3V, and easy to interface. You have a choice of SPI, I²C, Serial or direct GPIO communication. You can power the Pi through the 5V pin on the expansion connector.
    – Milliways
    Jun 5, 2017 at 23:10
  • I need to power both the arduino and raspberry wirelessly. i am creating a drone so i have connected a lipo battery to my raw input on the arduino pro mini 5v. can that lipo also power the raspberry pi zero w and if so what connections do I need to make or do I need to power the raspberry pi zero w with something else? Jun 5, 2017 at 23:12
  • 1
    This is rather off topic for the Pi, but WHY burn half your power as heat in the Arduino linear regulator? Use a UBEC like everyone else does for models.
    – Milliways
    Jun 5, 2017 at 23:51
  • power distribution board is a very good solution when i work with 4 motors. so each esc of the motor goes to a pwm pin and i can control all of the 4 different motors nicely with arduino code Jun 5, 2017 at 23:59

1 Answer 1

1

Use a UBEC like everyone else does for models to power BOTH the Pi and Arduino.

2
  • Alright! I will google to research a bit more because i have not heard of it before. I have a power distribution board that I might not use then? I am a bit confused over how a schematic would look like. This is what it looksl ike currently: i.stack.imgur.com/tpb43.png where the 3s lipo battery goes to the power distribution board Jun 13, 2017 at 13:13
  • 1
    DO NOT paste detail into Comments, and DO NO post links; include image in your question. You seem to be fixated on this power distribution board which seems to just be a complicated way of splitting wires into 4. The LAST thing I would put in a model is anything which adds weight and bulk but no functionality, but this is off topic for the Pi site; try a modelling site.
    – Milliways
    Jun 13, 2017 at 23:55

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.