Electronics > Electronics
Small robot electronics
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Ro-Bot-X:
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?
Hal9000:
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?
hgordon:
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"
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