Thank you, that's exactly what I wanted to know  ;D

Hi all,

I am going to be purchasing an Arduino USB board, but I have a quick question first. The Firmata project really interests me; it looks like the perfect way to directly interface my PC to the controller. However, I have seen it described as a "replacement firmware." Before I buy my Arduino, I'd like to know if I need one of those special serialport/parallelport/icsp header dongle thingys to upload Firmata to my board, or if I can just use USB to load it like any other program.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Dylan

Just ordered from Sparkfun- one 5V/1A wall wart and one female barrel jack, for soldering to.

Thanks guys! I expect this to work out fine, as long as the Arduino will function correctly powered by 5v at its Vcc.

That's the odd thing: with the 9v/1A supply, I powered both the Arduino and the Fonera for about ten seconds. Then, when I realized that the Fonera wasn't going to boot, I disconnected it and left the Arduino on its own for another five minutes or so. That's when I realized how hot it had gotten, and how it had taken on that dangerous hot electronics smell.

But the good news is that it doesn't matter that much now...

@BroHogan

It's not really networked per se, but I can stick the Arduino + Fonera anywhere, connect it to a wifi network, and read and write to/from a TCP port that forwards to and from the Arduino's serial/softwareserial port. In effect, it's a tcp-ip to serial two-way bridge.

I'd be happy to give you more details if you want, just let me know. When I am finished with this project I plan to properly write it up.

Wow, you guys are quick  

I'm not sure about that 9v/1A adapter, but it's a moot point now that I'm going to order the 5v/1A and split it, per your suggestion.

 :-/ Wow, I really need to pay attention in the electricity unit of my physics class next year. I thought that 1A meant it was putting that out all the time...

Stupid question: do you have any specifics as to how I should go about splitting it, or is it pretty hard to screw up?

Oh, I remember why the Fonera draws less current at 3.3v versus 5v:

For whatever (stupid) reason, the Fonera's official DC input jack requires 5v. It comes with a 5v, 2A wall wart. As soon as the voltage comes through the jack, it is immediately run through a 3.3v voltage regulator, which (presumably) sucks up more current and (undeniably) gives off heat waves of hellish proportions. None of the Fonera's components ever receive 5v, and the actual wi-fi block's power is dropped down to 2.8v or something.

Weird.

@bens: Er, for the record, I already tried running the router from the Arduino  :-/  I hope nothing is broken...

@BroHogan: I know that SparkFun sells a 5v, 1A wall wart for ~$6: http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8269

Should I plug it into the Arduino and then connect the Fonera to the Arduino's 5v and gnd pins? Or should I split the adapter's output and power the Fonera and Arduino separately (I think this is the better way)?

I once powered my Arduino using a 1A power supply (but 9v not 5v), and the voltage regulator on the Arduino board got dreadfully hot and began to smell like it would combust any second.

As for the Fonera power consumption figures, they are from two separate forum threads. Take them with a grain of salt.

Hi, and thank you both for the quick responses.

I was hoping I could drive the Arduino from the Fonera or vice-versa, but these solutions seem too complicated for me to pull off-- I'm no electrical engineer  :'(

I know I can't power the Fonera from the Arduino's 3.3v because that is regulated by the FTDI USB-serial converter and only provides 50mA. The 5v output is not enough current either. Similarly, the Fonera cannot provide a high enough voltage  to run the Arduino.

Thank you both for your help, even though it looks like I'll have to make do with two wall warts.

In return, I'd be happy to tell you about how I can control my Arduino over the internet, if either of you are interested. It's not completely finished, and I'm planning on writing it up for the Arduino and Fonera forums later, but I have the proof-of-concept-- this power issue is the final hurdle...

Hello,

I am creating a device that uses both an Arduino Diecimila and a La Fonera (a type of wireless router). I have connected them via serial and can control the Arduino over the internet via wi-fi. It's pretty cool  ;D

Now I am trying to find the best way to power both of the devices from a single wall wart. I don't want to have two power adapters for a single project box!

Can anyone direct me to the best approach? Here are the details:

• The Arduino requires a 9-12v, 250mA+ adapter.
• The Fonera can be provided power through a 5v input or a 3.3v input. I have already tested and found that the Arduino's 5v and 3.3v outputs cannot support the Fonera's power requirements. According to other Fonera users, the router requires up to 800ma at the 5v input or ~700 ma at the 3.3v input.
• My wall wart provides 650mA at 9v.

Thanks in advance, hope this is understandable!

OK, just received my wall wart, hooked it up to a multimeter, and I'm getting a steady 5.20 volts. Is that enough to damage the Arduino? Do I need to run the power through a 5v regulator before connecting it to the Arduino?

Great, thanks! I will hopefully receive the wall wart today, and I will let you guys know how everything works out.

My wall wart is from SparkFun Electronics, and information can be found here: http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8269

They state that the adapter is switching-style and regulated to 5v. I have had good experiences buying from Sparkfun so I do not doubt the quality of their products. I will measure it w/ a multimeter just in case, however. Grumpy_Mike, are you saying that more than 5v on the 5v pin will kill it?

There is no pin labeled 'Vcc'.

Can I connect the wall wart to the '5v' pin? The Diecimila specs (http://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardDiecimila) are kind of ambiguous regarding this:

The power pins are as follows:

    * VIN. The input voltage to the Arduino board when it's using an external power source (as opposed to 5 volts from the USB connection or other regulated power source). You can supply voltage through this pin, or, if supplying voltage via the power jack, access it through this pin.

    * 5V. The regulated power supply used to power the microcontroller and other components on the board. This can come either from VIN via an on-board regulator, or be supplied by USB or another regulated 5V supply.

It sounds like I can, but what do you think? Thanks again!

Unfortunately, I have a 5v supply that I need to power two devices with, the Arduino being one of them. Ben this relates to my dual-supply question from earlier. In that thread (http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1213057755/all-0), user BroHogan told me that he runs an Arduino from 5v all the time without issues. I guess my real questions are, 1. Will the Arduino be damaged at all if it is powered by 5v? and 2. Will it work correctly?

Thanks, and hope I am making at least a little sense