# Openscale connect with Blynk Board **URL:** \ **Category:** Force & Weight\ **Created:** [November 1, 2019, 5:02am UTC](https://community.sparkfun.com/t/openscale-connect-with-blynk-board/38126 "2019-11-01T05:02:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bowen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@bowen](https://community.sparkfun.com/u/bowen)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2019, 5:02am UTC](https://community.sparkfun.com/t/openscale-connect-with-blynk-board/38126/1 "2019-11-01T05:02:45Z")
Hi there, I have two sparkfun products: 1. Openscale : [SparkFun OpenScale - SEN-13261 - SparkFun Electronics](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13261) 2. Blynk board: [SparkFun IoT Starter Kit with Blynk Board - KIT-14682 - SparkFun Electronics](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/14682) I am trying to connect these two. From this blog: [https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/openscale-applications-and-hookup-guide#resources-and-going-further](https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/openscale-applications-and-hookup-guide#resources-and-going-further) It says the “In the bee scale application , OpenScale is hooked up to Blynk Board and the data collected is pushed to a data-streaming services.” However I cannot find anywhere how OpenScale can hook up to blynk board: > **[The Internet of Bees: Adding Sensors to Monitor Hive Health](https://makezine.com/projects/bees-sensors-monitor-hive-health/)** > > Learn how to pull realtime sensor data from a beehive to monitor its weight, temperature, and humidity over the internet. Can anyone give me any advices? I am a professional Programmer woking in IT industrial, however I am not familiar with chip connections. Any help will be much appreciated! ---
**Author:** ![TS-Chris](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/sparkfun/user_avatar/community.sparkfun.com/ts-chris/32/6057_2.png) [@TS-Chris](https://community.sparkfun.com/u/TS-Chris)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2019, 8:34pm UTC](https://community.sparkfun.com/t/openscale-connect-with-blynk-board/38126/2 "2019-11-01T20:34:13Z")
Hi bowen That looks like a typo in our guide. The beehive project used a [[Particle Photon](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13774) rather than a Blynk Board. I believe the Photon was connected to the Blynk server though for it’s data collection. I can’t verify this since the beehive isn’t actually in place anymore and the person that created the project is on an extended vacation right now. The OpenScale communicates via TTL serial so you’d need to connect the OpenScales GND, RX and TX pads to GND TX and RX on the Blynk Board. (or Photon if you’re using that) The rest of the work would be done in software.]([Particle Photon (Headers) - WRL-13774 - SparkFun Electronics](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13774)) ---
**Author:** ![El\_Duderino](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/sparkfun/user_avatar/community.sparkfun.com/el_duderino/32/6367_2.png) [@El\_Duderino](https://community.sparkfun.com/u/El_Duderino)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2019, 9:41pm UTC](https://community.sparkfun.com/t/openscale-connect-with-blynk-board/38126/3 "2019-11-01T21:41:39Z")
Also, one quick note about connecting the OpenScale to the Blynk board. The Photon has 5V tolerant digital pins so you can get away with connecting the serial header on the OpenScale to the Photon BUT the ESP8266 on the Blynk board runs at 3.3V and is not 5V tolerant so you will need to use a logic-level converter like this [[Bi-Directional Logic Level Converter](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12009) to shift from 5V to 3.3V and vice versa. If you are not familiar with logic levels in electronics, I would recommend reading through [[this tutorial](https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/logic-levels).]([Logic Levels - SparkFun Learn](https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/logic-levels))]([https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12009](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12009)) ---
**Author:** ![bowen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@bowen](https://community.sparkfun.com/u/bowen)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2019, 9:44pm UTC](https://community.sparkfun.com/t/openscale-connect-with-blynk-board/38126/4 "2019-11-05T21:44:19Z")
> TS-Mark: > Also, one quick note about connecting the OpenScale to the Blynk board. The Photon has 5V tolerant digital pins so you can get away with connecting the serial header on the OpenScale to the Photon BUT the ESP8266 on the Blynk board runs at 3.3V and is not 5V tolerant so you will need to use a logic-level converter like this [[Bi-Directional Logic Level Converter](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12009) to shift from 5V to 3.3V and vice versa. If you are not familiar with logic levels in electronics, I would recommend reading through [[this tutorial](https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/logic-levels). > [/quote] > > Hi TS-Mark, > > Thanks for your information about voltage. > > However I found the Photon also documented as 3.3v: > > [https://docs.particle.io/datasheets/wi-fi/photon-datasheet/](https://docs.particle.io/datasheets/wi-fi/photon-datasheet/) > > [https://core-electronics.com.au/particle-photon.html](https://core-electronics.com.au/particle-photon.html) > > Do you mean Photon can actually tolerant 5v regardless what it states in the datasheets? > > Cheers!]([Logic Levels - SparkFun Learn](https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/logic-levels))]([https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12009](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12009)) ---
**Author:** ![El\_Duderino](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/sparkfun/user_avatar/community.sparkfun.com/el_duderino/32/6367_2.png) [@El\_Duderino](https://community.sparkfun.com/u/El_Duderino)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2019, 10:39pm UTC](https://community.sparkfun.com/t/openscale-connect-with-blynk-board/38126/5 "2019-11-05T22:39:37Z")
Hi again bowen, The Photon does run at 3.3V but the digital I/O pins are 5V tolerant. The table [[here](https://docs.particle.io/datasheets/wi-fi/photon-datasheet/#peripherals-and-gpio) lists the ratings for the GPIO and peripheral pins and anything labeled FT, per the note below the table, is 5V tolerant with a few minor issues outlined in that note.]([https://docs.particle.io/datasheets/wi-fi/photon-datasheet/#peripherals-and-gpio](https://docs.particle.io/datasheets/wi-fi/photon-datasheet/#peripherals-and-gpio))