Today I reconnected the PiCamera to my BrickPi, which required disconnecting the BrickPi in order to connect the camera to the raspberry pi.
I’ve tested the camera with the raspberry alone (BrickPi disconnected) and with power via the mini usb (using an official Raspberry Pi Universal Power Supply) and it worked well.
after shutting down the raspberry, i reconnected the BrickPi and reassembled the cover.
now when i use the BrickPi power socket no light comes, and when I’m using the USB a red light shows.
I know that red light on a raspberry means I’ll have to wait 25 hours and retry or just format the SD card, but I’m more intrigued about why no power comes from the BrickPi to the raspberry pi when using the BrickPi’s power socket.
also, any idea how to fix the card without a card reader (using a cellphone with a microSD slot for example) would be appreciated.
Ensure that the BrickPi is connected properly to the RPi GPIO header pins. It needs to be connected to pins 1-26, and needs to be seated adequately.
Make sure you are using an 8-12v power supply capable of sourcing at least 1 amp (2-4 amps is best if you’re running motors). If using batteries, make sure the 8x AA cells aren’t dead.
If it’s specifically a BrickPi3, make sure the power switch is in the “ON” position.
If your SD card is corrupted and needs to be re-imaged, you will need a card reader. I don’t know of any way to use a cell phone SD card slot for flashing an OS image.
Cinch and Raspbian for Robots are basically the same thing, except when it comes to connecting to your robot.
Raspbian for Robots depends on your surrounding WiFi. You will first need to connect with an ethernet cable, and enter your wifi information on the robot.
Cinch emits its own wifi signal, so you connect directly to it, not caring about your surrounding wifi at all. Great for school environment, or for beginners who would find the above step difficult to do. Downside of Cinch is that your controlling computer/laptop does not have Internet access while connected to the robot. And the robot itself will never have internet access. If you want your robot to tweet, for example, you will need Raspbian for Robots.