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I have a microcontroller and a Raspberry Pi, both running off of the same 5v supply, in parallel. The microcontroller has 4 5v output pins and the other is a Raspberry Pi, that can only accept inputs of 3.3v and less.

Obviously I cannot directly connect the outputs to the inputs - that'll fry the Raspberry Pi.

How can I connect 5v outputs to the GPIO pins on the Raspberry Pi?

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2 Answers 2

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Use a level translator such as the one sold by sparkfun.

Hook one VCC to 5V and the other to 3.3V on the Rasberry Pi.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ With a little more research, I found this. This appears to be exactly what I need, thank you. \$\endgroup\$
    – Steffan Donal
    Mar 11, 2013 at 23:53
  • \$\begingroup\$ For a single-directional connection like OP seems to be asking about, a voltage divider will be cheaper than a translator chip. \$\endgroup\$
    – The Photon
    Mar 12, 2013 at 0:06
  • \$\begingroup\$ @ThePhoton: True. \$\endgroup\$
    – Gustavo Litovsky
    Mar 12, 2013 at 0:09
  • \$\begingroup\$ That's what I thought I could do at first, but in this case buying the resistors for the dividers + shipping will end up costing the same as this chip, which will take up less space than veroboard. \$\endgroup\$
    – Steffan Donal
    Mar 12, 2013 at 0:10
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If the connection is going one way: from 5V to 3.3V, then in addition to a dedicated chip, a variety of voltage shifting techniques are available, as described in this post. The most relevant (cheapest, easiest, etc) are:

  • Voltage divider (two resistors connected in series from your +5 output to GND with the center "tap" connected to your 3.3V input
  • Diode voltage down shifter circuit (diode connected in series with a resistor to the lower voltage, 3.3V in this case)
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