Octoprint connection to Prusa I3 MK3 using header vs. USB

Hi All,

So I am totaly new to 3d Printing and my first printer, a Prusa I3 MK3 is now on my way :smiley:.
I have seen that a upgrate can be made with a raspberry PI Zero W connected to a header on the EINSY board.
But i have also seen that this is not the best option with a webcam : https://github.com/guysoft/OctoPi/issues/318
So most likely I will use a Raspberry Pi 3 for my Octoprint.

But my question is there a advantage to connect the Raspberry Pi to the header on the EINSY board instead of the USB?

Thanks in advance for answering!

I think the biggest benefit of the integrated one connected on the EINSY board is it can be tucked away in the main case, you don't have to worry about supplying power as it pulls it off the board via pins and no USB connection between the two. That is actually probably the reason the recommendations of using a full pi 3 with a webcam, as there may not be enough power supplied to the board to be able to supply it to the USB bus for the camera.

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@Xenomania, I've been using a pi zero connected to my MK3 via the GPIO pins, along with a pi camera (connected via the ribbon cable, not usb) for the last month. I've made over 50 prints in that time, all with timelapse recording turned on (initially using the standard timelapse, and more recently with the all-new octolapse recorder). I always have one window on my work computer showing a stream from the camera. Other than a consistent latency of about 15 seconds on the video, everything runs fine. None of the prints I've made have had any issues with either the pi zero or the camera. Everything has been rock solid. So I don't know if the early issues were overcome by the time I installed my system, or something else is in play here, but I've been very happy with the setup.

@Peel Thanks for the info, good to hear the pi zero is Working oke with the Pi Camera. I will see if that is a option for me.

After some more investigation into the Einsy board I see that the USB and Header are basicly communicating bouth serial. And they bouth have a connection to the Atmega reset line. So there is no advantage difference between the two.

That's a good point, the pi camera vs a usb webcam would definitely be a different scenario than what I was mentioning in regards to supplying power. Good to know that it has been working for you. I may have to consider setting up my CR-10 that way since I upgraded to the EINSY board.

Do you have the Pi Zero mounted as per Prusa instructions or some other way? Do you have any photos of how the camera is mounted?

It's mounted as per the Prusa instructions, though I printed out a new einsy housing from Thingiverse so I could easily access the Pi Zero if needed.

Hi. I am just building my MK3 and was wondering what length of camera ribbon cable you would suggest. I have a couple of lengths and am not sire which I should use.
Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

@Denis_Dion I am using 75cm long ribbon cable for quite some time and never had issues. Anything shorter will definitely work too.

Anyone had luck with Raspberry PI cam with night vision? I am having problems as soon as I turn off lights, the video feed goes flickery white.

Are you referring to the Pi NoIR? It's listed as infrared-sensitive and this particular model comes with two filters (one red as stuck onto the front and one blue square/loose filter to be used in combination).

If you wish to use this for night-vision 3D printing (definitively sounds like something a commando would do), this should work with one caveat: you need to "paint" what the camera is seeing with an infrared light source.

Interesting side note: There are times when my girlfriend is doing astrophotography and I might be tasked as the one who "paints" the trees with a red-filtered flashlight during a long-exposure shot.