Both FTDI and BEC from ESC at the same time

[superagurk]

Hi,

Is it safe to use both FTDI (with 5V) and power to the Multiwii controller at the same time?
This may occour when I power up my quad and connect to MultiwiiConf.

I know I can disable the 5V supply on the FTDI prog card. Just want to know if anyone has tested this.

Multiwii newbie

[matbogdan]

Depends how do you connect it. Be also careful if your arduino board is 3.3V or 5V board.

[Noctaro]

as far as i know its strongly recommended to kill the 5v plug of your ftdi to not overboost your sensors. but as matbogdan mentioned, it may be depending to your hardware.

greetz
noc

[matbogdan]

as far as i know its strongly recommended to kill the 5v plug of your ftdi to not overboost your sensors. but as matbogdan mentioned, it may be depending to your hardware.

greetz
noc

I am using MONGOSE from http://store.ckdevices.com/products/Mongoose-9DoF-IMU-with-Barometric-Pressure-Sensor-.html and on this board I can power FTDI combined with external power because the board and FTDI (they sell) have a 3.3V regulator each and the current running is in one way from 5V to 3.3V.

I strongly recommend to do not dual power your board if you do not know some basic electronics. Ask a friend who know about this.

PS: Other way you will power from FTDI, than close your eyes and power with the external power. At this point there are 2 options: a- With smoke, b- It is working. I do not recommend this way.

[riahut.com]

I think great idea will be to disconnect 5V wire from FTDI permanently and power from BEC always, should be pretty safe.
Board powered from BEC, FTDI powered from USB, 5v disconnected, GND, TX, RX, etc are connected.
Will try it today.
It is really annoying to disconnect all ESC when you connect FTDI, also when you kill 5V wire you can connect your FTDI on long wire with prop mounted to see realtime valuer on liftoff and so on.....

[riahut.com]

I've disconnected 5V wire from the FTDI, and now I can have board powered, receiver powered and all that connected to my PC.