3. knowledge sharing on GPIO pins
MagicMirror² v2.4.1 is available! For more information about this release, check out this topic.
Please read the release notes carefully since this update requires adjustments to your Raspberry Pi configuration!

knowledge sharing on GPIO pins

  • B

    Hello! this post is not directly related to MM but can help to understand how to use the gpio pins on a RPI3. I have been playing around with MM since few months now and wanted to use the gpio pins a bit more for instance to integrate sensors etc. But my problem is the understanding of the gpio pins before plugging anything in a wrong way. If anybody want to share knowledge about how the pins works, things to consider, best practice etc, you are more then welcome 🙂
    For a start I was asking myself why there are 2x (pin 2 and 4) 5V output when the Pi is only powered by 1x 5V? I assume both pins can be used independently? thx for any info 🙂

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    F
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  • F

    @bibi there’s a lot of info webwise on the raspberry GPIO pins - I’d search on the web rather than here, but it’s true that you can use the two 5V pins - but be aware that the GPIO pins are at 3.3v - so you do need to step the voltage down on a lot of things that you would connect to. There are quite a few though that do work around 3.3v - like the PIR and sonic sensors for example.

    Here is the page where I learnt all I needed to know about GPIO which could be a good start:

    https://www.modmypi.com/blog/raspberry-pi-gpio-sensing-motion-detection
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    B
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  • B

    @frog thx a lot for your input and for the link! 🙂 I agree there are lot of stuff available on the net that i have found but it’s not always clear for me as i don’t have any electronic background… and people here are very very helpful to explain and share info 🙂 things like “can i use the 2x 5v pins at the same time?” or “how many things i can connect to the 1x 5v at same time?” those kind of question i didn’t find answers on the net… and i still don’t have lol so i thought i would ask here as it’s also a good playground

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  • F

    Hi,

    I understand what you say, but the gpio pins really aren’t heavily used in the MagicMirror - really so far for buttons and pir. I suggest this following forum as a better place to look as you’ll get many more people who are using the general features of the raspberry.

    https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/
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    B
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  • B

    hi @frog, good reference forum in my favorite already 🙂 thx 🙂 well my questions came cuz of course i want to use sensor, buttons etc with my MM… but i guess you understod this 🙂 i agree they are more chance to find general info on that forum.

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  • C

    Maybe u can look on this page, there’s a complete documentation on the RPi pinout.
    http://pinout.xyz/

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