Software > Software
$50 robot programing
ed1380:
I'm on a really tight budget. I scavanged some heatsinks off an old motherboard. will it work then?
What would you guys recomend for me to do since I'm on a tight budget? suck it up and get it, since I'm going to use it in the future, or use a 6.0v battery pack?
dunk:
so you could use a regular linear regulator from a 9v battery for your servos but the "spare" 4 volts will be converted into heat.
bolting a heatsink on there will help but it really depends how long your servos will be running for.
when i first learned this my regulators were ok while the servos were stationary but they would over heat after less than a minute of movement.
trust us here, linear regulators aren't much good for big voltage drops or anything that draws more than a few hundred milli Amps.
switching regulators on the other hand have little controllers in them that switch the power on and off at high frequency, then smooth out the output with an inductor and capacitor to get the required voltage.
no nasty heat build up and very little wasted power.
using a LM2575, an inductor, a diode and 2 capacitors you can build a 1 Amp switching regulator for under $5.
http://www.national.com/pf/LM/LM2575.html
pick a capacitors, diode and inductor that will be able to withstand more than 1A. (i think from memory the datasheet tells you the minimum specs for these components.)
once you have one of these built you will be able to convert the power from most batteries to 5 Volts.
dunk.
ed1380:
--- Quote from: dunk on March 28, 2007, 06:04:03 PM ---so you could use a regular linear regulator from a 9v battery for your servos but the "spare" 4 volts will be converted into heat.
bolting a heatsink on there will help but it really depends how long your servos will be running for.
when i first learned this my regulators were ok while the servos were stationary but they would over heat after less than a minute of movement.
trust us here, linear regulators aren't much good for big voltage drops or anything that draws more than a few hundred milli Amps.
switching regulators on the other hand have little controllers in them that switch the power on and off at high frequency, then smooth out the output with an inductor and capacitor to get the required voltage.
no nasty heat build up and very little wasted power.
using a LM2575, an inductor, a diode and 2 capacitors you can build a 1 Amp switching regulator for under $5.
http://www.national.com/pf/LM/LM2575.html
pick a capacitors, diode and inductor that will be able to withstand more than 1A. (i think from memory the datasheet tells you the minimum specs for these components.)
once you have one of these built you will be able to convert the power from most batteries to 5 Volts.
dunk.
--- End quote ---
Thats awesome. Thanks.
If I were to set the photovore off in the class room what would it do? The room's brightly lit. If I turn off the lights will it follow the beam of a flashlight on the ground in front of it?
ed1380:
How hard would it be to add or change the source code to a robot with infared object avaoidance? or maybe both and a switch to choose which one would have priority.
ed1380:
bump? Anyone?
I've tried avrlib, and don't know how to find source codes. All it gives me is a link to a site.
I don't know what to order if I don't know if it''ll work or not.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version