Hi,
Being brand new on this forum, I hope posting at the good place.
I have a game controller project for a space simulator.
My plan is to go for a modular design, chaining several dedicated physical devices (ie. Main flight box, Exploration mode Box, Status box, Fighting box,...) each with specific buttons/displays, signal LEDs, etc...
Regarding the code I have no issue and could successfully implement all logical features as a prototype (temporary buttons, switches, LED and OLED displays, game communication through usb-cdc,etc... so I am moving to next step now, planning box builds.
From the big number of controls in that game (Elite Dangerous), one pico2 will not be enough.
I plan using several of them, eventually using pico RP2040 Zero as well that I will need to test.
They would communicate by I2C with one as a server, others as clients.
However, as far I am comfortable with coding, I am quite an absolute beginner in electronics and need some advice here.
I would like to share the master USB power source, connected to a powered USB HUB, that can deliver (theoretically) 3A.
My understanding is that by default about 5+ picos / RP2040 could be safely chained, so probably more with this powered HUB.
What are your thoughts about this ?
Also, I understand that I need to chain them through the vsys pin for power.
Should I chain one of their ground pin as well with no specific protection ?
Thanks in advance for any advice/hint/link or help.
Best to you (and an happy new year!)
SparcT1
Being brand new on this forum, I hope posting at the good place.
I have a game controller project for a space simulator.
My plan is to go for a modular design, chaining several dedicated physical devices (ie. Main flight box, Exploration mode Box, Status box, Fighting box,...) each with specific buttons/displays, signal LEDs, etc...
Regarding the code I have no issue and could successfully implement all logical features as a prototype (temporary buttons, switches, LED and OLED displays, game communication through usb-cdc,etc... so I am moving to next step now, planning box builds.
From the big number of controls in that game (Elite Dangerous), one pico2 will not be enough.
I plan using several of them, eventually using pico RP2040 Zero as well that I will need to test.
They would communicate by I2C with one as a server, others as clients.
However, as far I am comfortable with coding, I am quite an absolute beginner in electronics and need some advice here.
I would like to share the master USB power source, connected to a powered USB HUB, that can deliver (theoretically) 3A.
My understanding is that by default about 5+ picos / RP2040 could be safely chained, so probably more with this powered HUB.
What are your thoughts about this ?
Also, I understand that I need to chain them through the vsys pin for power.
Should I chain one of their ground pin as well with no specific protection ?
Thanks in advance for any advice/hint/link or help.
Best to you (and an happy new year!)
SparcT1
Statistics: Posted by SparcT1 — Fri Jan 02, 2026 9:39 am