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PiStorms Frame Assembly

PiStorms Frame Assembly

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The PiStorms Frame is designed to house a PiStorms, Rapberry Pi, and battery pack. There are holes on both sides of the PiStorms Frame to allow for easy connection of LEGO MINDSTORMS parts.

IMPORTANT: assemble this frame first and affix your Raspberry Pi in this frame before you attach PiStorms board.

(The devices will be damage if PiStorms is not connected correctly to Pi on GPIO pins,
The frame helps establish correct connection on GPIO pins).

 

Which Frame do you have?

If the frame you have is Black colored, molded frame, follow these steps. If your frame is 3d Printed Lavender/Blue colored, please scroll down to 'Mounting your Raspberry Pi' section.

Frame Pieces

 

 

Assemble the Guide Caps

Attach the Guide Caps on the center piece of the frame as in picture below:

(If your Guide Caps are connected to each other, snip off the connectors and separate the Caps).

Attach PiStorms Guide Caps

 

Mounting your Raspberry Pi

If your frame is 3d Printed, the Guide Caps are already built in, simply mount your Pi in the 3d Printed frame.

Two frame Types

Notice the different Frame designs in picture above. One design has screws to mount the Pi, whereas other design has slots to insert the Pi.

Bottom Screws of Pi

Whichever your design is, the bottom edge of Pi is secured with screws (as in picture above). Be sure to line up the Raspberry Pi and screws correctly with their respective holes before you fasten them. If your design requires 4 screws, be sure to fasten them all correctly.

Mounting Pi on Molded Black Frame

Insert the Pi between the Guide Caps and insert the 1/2" long screws from top.

Insert Pi

 

Insert the 1/2" screws and fasten the screws with a screw-driver:

 

fasten screws

 

Be sure to secure the bottom edge of your Pi with screws.

Your assembled Pi will look like this:

 

assembled Pi

Assemble remaining plastic pieces

The three main frame pieces will connect as follows:

CAD assembly

Note how the pieces will be fitting together. Firmly press the side pieces onto the center piece.

 

Attaching Power for PiStorms

 

If you are using Rechargeable battery pack, follow these instructions

From the back flat side of the back piece, run the wires of the battery pack through the rectangular slot next to the Raspberry Pi GPIO pins.

 

battery box

Slide the battery pack to into place so that it is held by the notches on the left and right piece, as seen in the picture above.

It is recommended that battery box be fitted with batteries facing back (as in picture above).

 

Connect the battery pack wires to the green power connector on the Raspberry Pi. Pay close attention to the polarity. If your battery pack is hooked up incorrectly, there could be permanent damage to the PiStorms and/or Raspberry Pi upon startup.

Note: On this battery Pack, Red wire is connected to +ve terminal, and Black wire is connected to -ve terminal.

 

Top edge of PiStorms
 

Connect your PiStorms to the Raspberry Pi by inserting the GPIO pins into the black connector on the Raspberry Pi. The sensor port connectors should be inside the Guide Caps at the top of the back piece, as seen in the above picture. Ensure the PiStorms and Raspberry Pi are connected correctly. Incorrect connection will cause damage to the PiStorms and/or Raspberry Pi upon startup.

 

Insert 6 AA batteries into the battery pack and press the button to power your Raspberry Pi.

  Have fun creating robots, games, and projects with PiStorms!

 

Comments (5)

Eric P 12.01.2016
Hi, What is the maximum input voltage accepted on the power supply terminal ? For instance is it possible to use the LEGO 10V DC power supply here instead of batteries, at least during tests ? Or will it be too much, since 6 times 1.5V are 9V only. Best regards.
Eric P 12.02.2016
Hello,I found the answer in the detailed documentation (input voltage can go up to 10.6V). LEGO power supply should be OK then (with a home made adapter to connect its cable). Do you confirm ?WRT to the case, I had to hack a bit the side part which comes close to the micro-USB socket. Since the socket extends a bit off the RasPi PCB edge, it comes in contact with the frame, which prevents from fully snap this par it in the main part. If you try to find a position where the socket is not blocked, it makes the PCB holes not align well with the frame ones.Hollowing a bit the plastic with a cutter so that the socket can fit in solves the problem.I'd like to provide pictures to illustrate, but there is no facility here for this.Best regards
Deepak P 12.04.2016
Which LEGO power supply are you considering? Ensure that polarity is not reversed. Also, do not power the Pi through the micro-USB socket (as that power is not enough to run motors).We will correct the side part where the micro-USB Socket touches.
Matha G 12.06.2016
Hello Deepak, will you notify us when the side part is revised? Not a major issue but "newbies" like us need the comfort of a regular power supply to RPi when slinging code without the need to connect the sensors. Thx.
Michael G 12.24.2016
It may be best to keep the voltage down a little lower. I seen the screen do some strange things over 9 V.
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