Skip to content
  • Categories
  • Recent
  • Tags
  • Popular
  • Users
  • Groups
Collapse
Brand Logo

ModalAI Forum

  1. ModalAI Support Forum
  2. VOXL Dev Drones
  3. Sentinel
  4. Need Assistance Connecting Pure Thermal Mini 2 Pro to Sentinel

Need Assistance Connecting Pure Thermal Mini 2 Pro to Sentinel

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Sentinel
14 Posts 3 Posters 2.3k Views 1 Watching
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as topic
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
  • Chad SweetC Offline
    Chad SweetC Offline
    Chad Sweet
    ModalAI Team
    wrote on last edited by
    #3

    VOXL 2 J9 cannot be used as a host at this time, so what you are trying will not work

    1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • A EvansA Offline
      A EvansA Offline
      A Evans
      Contributor
      wrote on last edited by
      #4

      Could you provide a solution happy to buy any addition boards.

      VinnyV 1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • A EvansA A Evans

        Could you provide a solution happy to buy any addition boards.

        VinnyV Offline
        VinnyV Offline
        Vinny
        ModalAI Team
        wrote on last edited by
        #5

        Hi @A-Evans
        Several of our plug-in boards expose USB host ports, such as this:
        https://www.modalai.com/products/m0125?variant=40740708876339
        or this:
        https://www.modalai.com/products/m0078
        or our 5G modem product (you do not need a modem to get the USB hub features).
        https://www.modalai.com/products/mdk-m0090?variant=40594936463411

        Please check our cables page to see what option will work best for you based on what HW you have, such as:
        https://www.modalai.com/collections/cables-1/products/mcbl-00009
        or https://www.modalai.com/collections/cables-1/products/mcbl-00022
        all cable specs are here (updated often) and you might find some other options that can help: https://docs.modalai.com/cable-datasheets/

        Hope this helped!

        A EvansA 1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • VinnyV Vinny

          Hi @A-Evans
          Several of our plug-in boards expose USB host ports, such as this:
          https://www.modalai.com/products/m0125?variant=40740708876339
          or this:
          https://www.modalai.com/products/m0078
          or our 5G modem product (you do not need a modem to get the USB hub features).
          https://www.modalai.com/products/mdk-m0090?variant=40594936463411

          Please check our cables page to see what option will work best for you based on what HW you have, such as:
          https://www.modalai.com/collections/cables-1/products/mcbl-00009
          or https://www.modalai.com/collections/cables-1/products/mcbl-00022
          all cable specs are here (updated often) and you might find some other options that can help: https://docs.modalai.com/cable-datasheets/

          Hope this helped!

          A EvansA Offline
          A EvansA Offline
          A Evans
          Contributor
          wrote on last edited by
          #6

          @Vinny Thanks for this vinny, appologies for the late reply been on holiday, what is the difference between each suggested?

          VinnyV 1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • A EvansA A Evans

            @Vinny Thanks for this vinny, appologies for the late reply been on holiday, what is the difference between each suggested?

            VinnyV Offline
            VinnyV Offline
            Vinny
            ModalAI Team
            wrote on last edited by
            #7

            Hi @A-Evans
            The main difference between this board:
            c6cc3bd2-c77b-4325-af32-390a165f87ea-image.png
            and this board:
            3e7eef26-2102-497c-af55-b6df2c1412aa-image.png
            is the UART on the smaller board is not present on the "L" board.
            The "L Board" only gives USB2, but has the option to select a high current VBUS option bypassing our USB power switches.
            Either one will work for a Pure Thermal Lepton over USB2. The "L" board might be better for drones with high vibe since it can be secured with additional mounting holes.

            Hope this helps!

            A EvansA 1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • A EvansA Offline
              A EvansA Offline
              A Evans
              Contributor
              wrote on last edited by
              #8

              Cheers Vinny appreciate the detail will get finance to put an order in now.

              1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • VinnyV Vinny

                Hi @A-Evans
                The main difference between this board:
                c6cc3bd2-c77b-4325-af32-390a165f87ea-image.png
                and this board:
                3e7eef26-2102-497c-af55-b6df2c1412aa-image.png
                is the UART on the smaller board is not present on the "L" board.
                The "L Board" only gives USB2, but has the option to select a high current VBUS option bypassing our USB power switches.
                Either one will work for a Pure Thermal Lepton over USB2. The "L" board might be better for drones with high vibe since it can be secured with additional mounting holes.

                Hope this helps!

                A EvansA Offline
                A EvansA Offline
                A Evans
                Contributor
                wrote on last edited by
                #9

                @Vinny I've received the parts, and not think I may be missing some pieces, the sentinel comes with the VOXL 2 USB board, but there isn't anyway to connect both these board, I'm assuming the uart on 3.0 can't be used to connect the camera or wifi? or do I need a specific cable for connecting the pure thermal to the uart?

                apologies I'm a software man not a hardware man.

                VinnyV 1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • A EvansA A Evans

                  @Vinny I've received the parts, and not think I may be missing some pieces, the sentinel comes with the VOXL 2 USB board, but there isn't anyway to connect both these board, I'm assuming the uart on 3.0 can't be used to connect the camera or wifi? or do I need a specific cable for connecting the pure thermal to the uart?

                  apologies I'm a software man not a hardware man.

                  VinnyV Offline
                  VinnyV Offline
                  Vinny
                  ModalAI Team
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #10

                  Hi @A-Evans
                  In your original post, you wanted to connect Pure Thermal Lepton USB board to Voxl2, correct?
                  Either of those boards, even if Sentinel came with the USB+ UART adapter, all work to expose a USB2 host which should be suitable for connecting to Lepton.
                  The originla board you posted from Sparkfun uses a 1mm JST SR connector, so you can make any simple adapter to our USB plug, or you can check out some of our cables as a starting point:
                  https://docs.modalai.com/cable-datasheets/#mcbl-00071
                  https://docs.modalai.com/cable-datasheets/#mcbl-00080

                  Generally speaking, yes, you can only have 1 plug-in board at a time connected to J3/J5 on Voxl2. That is why we have so many options of boards for different use cases.
                  If you need additional USB ports, UARTs, etc, for more expansion support, you might need to consider something like our 5G modem board (you do not need to have a modem for the bulk of it to work).
                  It exposes multiple USB ports and other UART/I2C ports as well.
                  However, if all you want is to add Lepton over USB, the Voxl2 USB board should be all you need.

                  A EvansA 1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • VinnyV Vinny

                    Hi @A-Evans
                    In your original post, you wanted to connect Pure Thermal Lepton USB board to Voxl2, correct?
                    Either of those boards, even if Sentinel came with the USB+ UART adapter, all work to expose a USB2 host which should be suitable for connecting to Lepton.
                    The originla board you posted from Sparkfun uses a 1mm JST SR connector, so you can make any simple adapter to our USB plug, or you can check out some of our cables as a starting point:
                    https://docs.modalai.com/cable-datasheets/#mcbl-00071
                    https://docs.modalai.com/cable-datasheets/#mcbl-00080

                    Generally speaking, yes, you can only have 1 plug-in board at a time connected to J3/J5 on Voxl2. That is why we have so many options of boards for different use cases.
                    If you need additional USB ports, UARTs, etc, for more expansion support, you might need to consider something like our 5G modem board (you do not need to have a modem for the bulk of it to work).
                    It exposes multiple USB ports and other UART/I2C ports as well.
                    However, if all you want is to add Lepton over USB, the Voxl2 USB board should be all you need.

                    A EvansA Offline
                    A EvansA Offline
                    A Evans
                    Contributor
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #11

                    @Vinny I think there has been a misunderstanding I need to connect the camera while also having the wifi adapter plugged in, are you saying there is no way to utilise the uart connector on the VOXL2 USB3.0 / UART expansion Adapter, and the only board that is currently on offer with more than one usb connector is the 5g modem?

                    VinnyV 1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • A EvansA A Evans

                      @Vinny I think there has been a misunderstanding I need to connect the camera while also having the wifi adapter plugged in, are you saying there is no way to utilise the uart connector on the VOXL2 USB3.0 / UART expansion Adapter, and the only board that is currently on offer with more than one usb connector is the 5g modem?

                      VinnyV Offline
                      VinnyV Offline
                      Vinny
                      ModalAI Team
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #12

                      Hi @A-Evans
                      OK, yes, I see. WiFi was not mentioned in the original post, so thanks for clarifying.

                      Yes, in order to have more than 1 USB port, you need to have one of our Microhard or 5G modem boards to expose multiple USB ports. Those boards all have USB hubs on them to enable this. Whereas our very simple plug-in boards only expose the one port direct from Voxl2.

                      For either 4G/5G Modem or Microhard boards, you do not need to have the module installed. The USB hub portions of the design work with or without wireless modules installed.

                      Hope that clarifies things.

                      A EvansA 1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • VinnyV Vinny

                        Hi @A-Evans
                        OK, yes, I see. WiFi was not mentioned in the original post, so thanks for clarifying.

                        Yes, in order to have more than 1 USB port, you need to have one of our Microhard or 5G modem boards to expose multiple USB ports. Those boards all have USB hubs on them to enable this. Whereas our very simple plug-in boards only expose the one port direct from Voxl2.

                        For either 4G/5G Modem or Microhard boards, you do not need to have the module installed. The USB hub portions of the design work with or without wireless modules installed.

                        Hope that clarifies things.

                        A EvansA Offline
                        A EvansA Offline
                        A Evans
                        Contributor
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #13

                        @Vinny ah could you provide me a parts list, I may have to return the others, shipping is heafty to the UK too. are there any third party board that would work?

                        VinnyV 1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • A EvansA A Evans

                          @Vinny ah could you provide me a parts list, I may have to return the others, shipping is heafty to the UK too. are there any third party board that would work?

                          VinnyV Offline
                          VinnyV Offline
                          Vinny
                          ModalAI Team
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #14

                          Hi @A-Evans
                          This is our current WiFi solution for Voxl2, or any ModalAI board with a standard USB2 4-position JST GH port.
                          https://www.modalai.com/products/wifi-usb-cable-add-on?_fid=da227b041&_pos=1&_ss=c
                          If you want to use our 10-pin USB3 format connector for the Alpha USB Dongle, then you can also consider using this cable: https://www.modalai.com/products/mcbl-00022

                          Note: We use Alpha WiFi since it's NDAA compliant 🙂
                          You are free to use any WiFI USB dongle sourced at the UK, and make your own cables for USB2 (not too hard for proto-type builds).

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          0

                          Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.

                          Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.

                          With your input, this post could be even better 💗

                          Register Login
                          Reply
                          • Reply as topic
                          Log in to reply
                          • Oldest to Newest
                          • Newest to Oldest
                          • Most Votes


                          ModalAI
                          Categories Recent Tags ModalAI.com Docs
                          © 2026 ModalAI® · Accelerating autonomy for smaller, smarter, safer drones · Powered by NodeBB
                          • Login

                          • Don't have an account? Register

                          • Login or register to search.
                          • First post
                            Last post
                          0
                          • Categories
                          • Recent
                          • Tags
                          • Popular
                          • Users
                          • Groups