go away spammer

Author Topic: Small robot electronics  (Read 2792 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Ro-Bot-XTopic starter

  • Contest Winner
  • Supreme Robot
  • ****
  • Posts: 1,431
  • Helpful? 25
  • Store: RoBotXDesigns.ca
    • Ro-Bot-X Designs
Small robot electronics
« on: May 30, 2007, 02:11:50 PM »
I have a few questions for the more experienced electronists out there...

1. I need to power a robot from a 3.6 V 130 mAh NiMH battery pack. What is the best way to get 5V for the logic?
I thought about using a voltage doubler and then a voltage regulator to get the 5V needed. Is there a better way?

2. I need to build a charger for the above battery pack using a solar panel that gives me 6v and a few mA at the light bulb, probably more in direct sun light.
I am not sure how to do this, just connect the panel through a diode will be ok or I need to make sure the current will not excede 1/10 of battery capacity?
Check out the uBotino robot controller!

Offline Hal9000

  • Supreme Robot
  • *****
  • Posts: 338
  • Helpful? 0
Re: Small robot electronics
« Reply #1 on: May 31, 2007, 05:08:04 AM »
There are microcontrollers which use 3.6V as the logic/power, right?

I also think that the 'grey area' (I think it's called) for logic starts at 2.2V or something, so you should be able to get away with it I guess. Haven't really tried using small batteries with larger voltage applications, but it will be interesting to know how others do this.

Couldn't you use 2 of these 3.6V in series, also?
"The truth is, you can't hide from the truth, cos the truth is all there is" - Handsome Boy Modeling School

Offline hgordon

  • Expert Roboticist
  • Supreme Robot
  • *****
  • Posts: 373
  • Helpful? 7
    • Surveyor Robotics Journal
Re: Small robot electronics
« Reply #2 on: May 31, 2007, 07:29:37 AM »
Depends on the device, but you can generally drive 5V TTL logic from a 3.3V device.   If you actually need 5V, look for "DC to DC converter" - I know that Recom makes a device that takes converts 3.3V to 5V.

Battery charging is a bit of a tricky business - you'll want to look for an IC that actually manages the process.  Do a web search on "maxim solar battery charger"
Surveyor Corporation
  www.surveyor.com

 


Get Your Ad Here