Is it safe to use laptops with Uno Boards (i have a CNC plotter)?

Hello Everyone,

I have a small question. I have built a CNC plotter using cnc shield and uno r3 board. I am having a laptop and using the laptop I do all the drawings and passing all the commands. But one of my friend told me, using laptops is not good to use with arduino boards because it will affect the laptop usb hubs and finally they may not working properly and will affect a permanent damage to the laptop. The reason for that is, the UNO will give a current back to the laptop using the usb cable. (I am powering up this cnc using 12 V power module).

My question is, can a cnc(uno board) harm a laptop? can it pass a current through usb cable to laptop? If I use like this way, will it damage my laptop? if yes, what do you recommend for this? I dont have desktops. Only have this laptop.

thank you

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It should be safe as long as everything is built correctly.

I often have an Arduino hooked-up to a USB port while the Arduino and associated circuitry is running from 12V. I even have some 120V AC controlled lights (optically isolated from the low-voltage circuitry).

If you are "experimenting" there is a small risk of drawing excess current from the USB port, or feeding voltage back-into it.

Usually, excess current will just trigger a temporary shutdown of the port, and it will be OK when you re-start your computer.

If you accidently feed high voltage into the USB port there is a chance of frying the motherboard.

If you are paranoid a USB hub should provide some protection, especially a "powered" bub with it's own power supply. That way if something terrible happens, hopefully just the hub will fry. :wink:

And, the USB port on a desktop computer isn't necessarily more electrically rugged.

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You will be fine. Your friend probably fed a voltage back into the USB, that can damage it.

If you can't use a laptop for that reason, a desktop is just as much at risk. In which case you can never connect a CNC to a computer.

There are risks if you wire it incorrectly (as mentioned before).

Thank you for the reply. In addition to the normal wiring, i have added this circuit to it. Hope this will be okay...
CNC issue

Thank you for your valuable reply. appreciated it. Wiring is okay as far as to my knowledge. The one who told me this has tested it via a multimeter and he noticed that it is getting a power around 1.5V through the usb port. so its directly going to the laptop. thats why he say the laptop is getting slower and slower while using the cnc. So thats a false statement right?

When talking about the wiring , additionally, i have added this circuit to it because CNC shield is not giving enough power supply to the servo motor. So it is powered from external device and ground to ground wire is connected as stated in the below diagram. . Hope this will be okay...
CNC issue

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