How to add camera to Thingy91, HELP!!!

[Parishad]

I am doing a project for smart fruit fly trap/ detection with Thingy91 and the camera to take a picture periodically. There are no nrf9160 I/Os left on the Thingy 91 board. Could you please explain me how to add one or is it not possible to do it?

[Achim Kraus]

If you want to keep using the Thingy:91, you must also take care of the IO voltage level. The Thingy:91 may supply 1.8V and 3.3V, but the IOs are 1.8V. 

AFAIK, the camera runs on 3.3V (or 5v), you may connect the camera to the 3.3V supply, but you need to check, if it works with the 1.8V I2C, or if you need a level shifter (e.g.  Adafruit 757, Bidirektionaler Logikpegelkonverter BSS138).

The nRF9160-DK can be switch to 3.3V IO level, and the feather nRF9160 v5 uses already the 3.3 V for IO.

[helsing]

Thank you, Achim, for highlighting this very important detail. Yes, as mentioned in one of the links provided, the IOs voltage for nRF9160 on Thingy:91 is fixed at 1.8V, so a level shifter will be required.

Parishad, which specific camera module are you looking at using? I would recommend checking with the module manufacturer regarding IO voltage. They might have some tip or trick or another module available compatible with IO voltages down to 1.8V.

(By the way, I noticed that the Arducam Mega module might already be available now, as a free sample to students. This module, however, also requires 3.3V IOs)

[Parishad]

Hi Helsing.

I am looking at Arducam 

Camera module 

(OV5642).

Thank you.

[helsing]

Do you have any link to the exact module, or any documentation describing the voltages of the IOs?

Is ArduCAM-Mini-5MP-Plus OV5642 Camera Module the module you are looking at? The documentation states "All IO ports are 5V/3.3V tolerant" which means you will need a voltage translator.

I also found another version of module with the same image sensor that is listed with "I/O: 1.7 ~ 3.0V" under Key Specifications, however, this module is likely not interesting as it has a parallel interface. https://www.arducam.com/new-5mp-ov5642-camera-module-support-jpeg-output/

Did you check with ArduCam regarding the IO-voltage range?

[Parishad]

Thank you Helsing. I am also looking at Arducam Mega 5MP SPI Camera.Yes looks like both of them has 3.3/5 V I/Os operation. So needs to work on the level shifter.

[helsing]

Thank you for the update. Please do not hesitate to let us know if you have any more questions on this topic.