Axon improvement mod, need test volunteers

[Admin]

I've noticed on my Axon that as the battery gets really low that my Axon will reset often. For example, if I have a 6V battery and its say low at 5.5V, and then suddenly I turn on a lot of servos, the Axon will reset.

This is normal, but I have a mod idea I'd like to test that in theory should allow the Axon to handle even lower voltages without resetting.

It involves soldering a small SMD capacitor between ground and 5V (on the ADC line under the board). Its like 5 minutes of effort.

If you have:
solder (RoHS preferred, but lead-based is ok)
soldering iron capable of 380C or higher (no cheap irons!)

then just send me your mailing address. I'll mail you a free capacitor to try out in the next few weeks.

Solder it on and go about building your robots like normal. Then just report back whether the Axon works fine or if it did anything weird after a week of using it or so.

[airman00]

what value capacitor, I might have one lying around

[Admin]

It must be a tantelum capacitor. I haven't yet decided the capacitor value yet, but I doubt you have one of those.

I had bought caps already . . . Mouser said it was 22uF, but the datasheet is 2.2uF. So gotta go back and order new caps . . . sigh . . .

[TrickyNekro]

I'll try it out.... But hey.... I can find a lot of tantalums no worries....
I know the south Greece supplier.... :p (he cooperates with mouser, digikey, EBV......)

[Admin]

I ended up deciding on a 10uF tantalum, 0805, rated at 16V and ESR of 6 ohms.

[Admin]

I tried this about a month ago, and have been testing like this since. Definitely a huge improvement when Sharp IR rangefinders are used. I used 5 (all that I own) and there was still zero noise in the 5V power supply.


edit: clarified that no noise was in 5V line

[Webbot]

Are you soldering caps directly to the Sharp IR board? If not - you should  These beasts are current hungry.

[Admin]

Are you soldering caps directly to the Sharp IR board? If not - you should  These beasts are current hungry.

Nah, thats too much effort