Hi Guys I am completely new to this field and I was wondering if I could damage my Mac if I caused a short circuit on my Arduino board by mistake? If. yes, can I put a protection between my mac and my Arduino board. - Thank you.
Yes it is possible that you could.
Yes you could but it is costly, use an optically isolated USB cable.
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You can use a microcontroller with wireless connections and programming - for example via WiFi or bluetooth.
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What would be the rules to prevent that from happening?
Sorry I don't understand those words as a question. What do you mean?
Sorry for the delay. With my friend Google Translate, I rephrase my question. The question is vague, but what shouldn't I do so that I don't damage my iMac considering that my knowledge of electronics is practically nil? Will your recommendation of the optically isolated USB cable be ideal to protect my computer 100%? - Thanks.
The only thing that can damage your iMac is to short out or feed nasty signals into the USB input. Of course the iMac contains some sort of protection against that, but it can only go so far.
So you have to isolate the iMac's USB socket as best as possible. Isolation by using RF communication is possible but in my opinion this makes for a more expensive solution and is not so easy to achieve or use.
Where as an optically isolated USB lead will be easer to use and allow all sorts of hardware to be used. However you can't use the USB for providing power, your Arduino kit will have to be powered by an external power supply.
Thank you very much for the various solutions. One last question. What would you recommend as an optically isolated USB and if possible a link?
I have no recommendation, I have only used on once on a big installation and it was a fit and forget job. I don't have a link to it now. From what I can remember it was from Germany and cost about £80.
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I found the Data sheet for the one I used:-
Prospekt-ISOUSB-Cable-B-en.pdf (223.8 KB)
It was an art installation for a University Art building. To give you an idea of scale those are people sitting at desks in the lower right hand corner.
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