OAK-D-LITE and Raspberry 5

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Pito Salas

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Jan 25, 2026, 8:54:38 PM (8 days ago) Jan 25
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I know this has been discussed but I can’t find the thread…

Using the Oak-d-lite camera with raspberry Pi is problematic because of the power requirements. There’s a y-connector recommended to supplement the USB-A on the Pi with additional current. If I read the specs it seems like it’s close but not enough.

My question for those of you who are using or have used the oak-d-lite with a raspberry pi: Did you use a second power source in addition to the Usb A on the pi? Wither with a y connector or some more tricky wiring?

Best,

Pito

Boston Robot Hackers &&
Comp. Sci Faculty, Brandeis University (Emeritus)

Nathan Lewis

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Jan 26, 2026, 12:31:35 AM (7 days ago) Jan 26
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On my robot I am using a secondary power adapter to drive the OAK-D. I made a power distribution board for the robot - https://github.com/teknoman117/kybernetes-logic-pd

- Nathan
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Ross Lunan

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Jan 26, 2026, 3:50:22 PM (7 days ago) Jan 26
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Pito and Serei, Here's my current experience on my "MockBOT TurtleTron" variant (Create 1 Base/RPLidar/OAK-D-LITE). Robot is a Raspberry Pi5/4G powered with a PlusRoc 12-24v DC-DC USBC PD Compliant module driven with a 3S LiPo. RPLIdar, Base, Logitech Dongle connected to a unpowered hub. Camera is plugged directly into the a USBC Connecter and system boots, all Robot movement packages without launching the camera, seems to launch & function OK, except for one issue I'm chasing. I use a camera launch with the depthai script "camera_as_part_of_a_robot.launch.py" from  depth_ros_driver/launch that launches a stack camera rgb & imu . While I can't figure out which depthai executable used, though I chose this because it successfully launches both RGB &  IMU data and NOT /due parameter "i_publish_tf_from_diagnostics: false" which otherwise would prevent the usual /odom>map>baselink tf to work properly. Everything works fine if this is the only package running....However this launch appears to overload load the network causing "everything to freeze" . I suspect due to , at least, the too unnecessarily large parameters , i_fps:10, i_height:480, i_width:640, that do not need to be this resolution level. Another parameter is: i_usb_speed:SUPER. Fortuitously, I just discovered Sergei's interesting and very relevant repo "depthai_rospi" that launches a custom stack with parameters set i_fpsDivider:10 enabling FPS=3. I don't need spatial stereo feature (yet) so I'll investigate  maybe applying this parameter to the launch I'm using, or simply use this repo and disable camera /tf or make it compatible with the other /tfs. Appreciate any ideas. Regards Ross
TurtleTronPowerAssemblylr.jpg

Pito Salas

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Jan 26, 2026, 5:02:36 PM (7 days ago) Jan 26
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Thanks all!

Ross, can you explain this more slowly, I lost the thread a little. I just want to understand what is connected to what to compare it with my situation.

"Robot is a Raspberry Pi5/4G powered with a PlusRoc 12-24v DC-DC USBC PD Compliant module driven with a 3S LiPo. RPLIdar, Base, Logitech Dongle connected to a unpowered hub. Camera is plugged directly into the a USBC Connecter and system boots,”


Best,

Pito

Boston Robot Hackers &&
Comp. Sci Faculty, Brandeis University (Emeritus)


> To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/hbrobotics/39a573a4-ee4d-47ee-a14a-770338dfbba2n%40googlegroups.com.
> <TurtleTronPowerAssemblylr.jpg>

Ross Lunan

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Jan 26, 2026, 8:07:45 PM (7 days ago) Jan 26
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Pito, TurtleTron System Schematic

Robot Controller a Raspberry Pi5/4G powered with a PlusRoc 12-24v DC-DC USBC PD Compliant module driven with a 3S LiPo Battery, A USB-A hub and Roomba/Create1Base Serial USB-A cable connect to the 2 Raspberry Pi USB A connectors. A Logitech F710 Joystick Dongle and OAK-D-LITE connect to the 2 USB-C Connectors. RPLidar and 2 Logitech Keyboard and Mouse connect to the 3 connectors on the hub.   

Hardware components are a RPLIdar & OAK-D-LITE Camera mounted on a Roomba/Create 1 Base. A 3S LiPo battery is connected to a PlusRoc DC-DC USB-C that powers the Raspberry Pi USB-c Connector.  Raspberry Pi  boots PK powering up Base, RPLidar, Camera system . Launching the Robot Base, RPLidar, Logitech Joystick, Description Localization (EKF) works. Joystick moves the Base. :Then launching the Camera, the  Joystick drives the Base for a couple seconds  then system freezes .  Not launching the Base, nor RPlidar, just launching the Camera publishes image data visualizing with rqt_image view. So the Camera and the rest of the other hardware seems to behave as you describe with some sort of interaction between with the USB ports that freezes the system OR the Camera configured to 10 fps, 480x640 , publishing overloads the CPU.  

Maybe I need hub with more usb ports (5) to free up the Raspberry Pi USB A ports and only connect the Camera to a Blue USB-3? I do have the Luxonis Power Splitter but with my current arrangement doesn't have a means power the Camera with a separate USB-C . Maybe I need a power  splitter between the PlusRoc DC Converter (which is PD Compliant)  and Raspberry Pi 5 to separately power the camera. However, as the Splitter is not a PD Compliant device that might not work. I'll try make that test. tomorrow.

I discovered this hub with a USB-C Input and 2 Output USB-C Ports, one  being USB-C thus enabling 1 PD passthrough to the Raspberry PI and and a 2nd to power the Camera equipped with a Splitter, The Camera could connect the the Raspberry Pi Blue USB 3.


Before buying this Splitter, I'll install Sergei's depthai-raspi repo on the Raspberry Pi with its reduced fps and see if that lower frame rate works.

Hope this make some sense?

Ross

TurtleTron-Schematic_20260125.jpg

Nathan Lewis

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Jan 26, 2026, 8:59:24 PM (7 days ago) Jan 26
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Be careful with anything labelled "PD passthrough" and the Raspberry Pi 5. As had been said ad nauseam, the 5.1V/5A profile is non-standard. Most of these hub devices are not really passing through USB-PD - they negotiate the upstream profile separately of the downstream profile, meaning that any non-standard upstream profiles will be lost to the downstream device.

There is no way to tell from the listing if this is going to be true or not, you'll only be able to figure it out experimentally. Thus why so many are really annoyed at Raspberry Pi using non-standard profiles versus spending an extra $1 to incorporate a 9V/3A to 5V/5A regulator.

You'd think that'd be cheaper than contracting a company to design a specialized USB-PD wall adapter...

- Nathan

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  • TurtleTron-Schematic_20260125.jpg

Ross Lunan

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Jan 27, 2026, 4:52:12 PM (6 days ago) Jan 27
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Made some progress consistent with the subject earlier discussion about powering the OAK-D-LITE on a RasPi5. I deployed on board a separate modestly rated 5000maH/2.4amp Power Bank only powering the OAK-D-Camera through the Luxonis Splitter with Data connected to a Raspberry Pi5 USB3. I reconfigured the USB Connectors arrangement plugging the Camera (that uses the Data/Power Splitter) into the USB3 and all other USB 2 plugged into a hub connected to the Raspberry Pi USB2. The Base with teleop, rplidar, description, localization packages launch & function. Yeh! Launching a depthai_ros_driver package "ros2 launch depthai_ros_driver camera_as_part_of_a_robot.launch.py camera_model:=OAK-D-Lite displays an image on the Desktop with rqt_image_view and running Navigation while mapping on RVIZ . There is some obvious latency with all this fired up but I'll work on dialing down the fps and resolution recently with Sergei's inspiring post & repo.  The RasPi5 is powered with a LiPo/PlusRoc USBC PD Compliant Buck Convertor. So here are the "TOP" results: Robot Only: .56 .62 .3 - with Camera .97 .69 .35 where Camera Container Package is 40%, next ranked create_base at 4.7% . RaspI5/OAK-D sure is a challenge ! Ross
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