Author Topic: I need help with batteries!  (Read 1344 times)

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JordanNUS86

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I need help with batteries!
« on: September 22, 2009, 01:25:47 AM »

Hi all,

I am currently making inverted pendulum robot. I'm using Basic Stamp 2 mounted on Board of Education as the controller. I use Motor Mind C as the motor driver to drive two 12 V DC motors. For controller and motor driver, I use separate power sources which are Trinity 7.2 V 1800 mAh batteries. The controller works fine. I've tested the signals sent to the motor driver. They are OK. But I find problems with motor driver. The DC motors are jerky and the speeds are very slow. I've tested each motor using direct current from DC power supply. They are OK and move smoothly. I tried to replace the battery for motor driver with DC power supply. The motors work fine. So it seems that the battery and the motor driver are not compatible. Is it because the battery is too weak?
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Offline Joker94

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Re: I need help with batteries!
« Reply #1 on: September 22, 2009, 04:42:59 AM »
do you have a data sheet for the controller as it may help us if we could see a data sheet.

It may be because of the batteries but i  won't be able to definetly be able to tell you anything unless i can see some specs of the controller you are using.
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Offline MangoBot

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Re: I need help with batteries!
« Reply #2 on: September 22, 2009, 07:39:59 AM »
maybe the motor controller doesnt have what it takes to control your motors, some datasheets would be great
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Offline galannthegreat

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Re: I need help with batteries!
« Reply #3 on: September 23, 2009, 09:47:09 PM »
What's the motor controllers ratings and specs?
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Kurt

JordanNUS86

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Re: I need help with batteries!
« Reply #4 on: September 23, 2009, 11:41:50 PM »

Hi all, I have found and solved the problem. Anyway, thank you so much for your kind intention to answer me. The motor driver that I used is Motor Mind C from Solutions Cubed. It can drive two DC motors of 6 V up to 24 V and maximum current rating is 4.5 A. The controller that I used is Basic Stamp 2p 24 from Parallax. Well, I use two batteries, one for controller and one for motor driver. The controller sends analog control signals to the motor driver. The problem was because I did not make the ground connections between the controller and the motor driver connected. So if the ground connections are not connected, it seems that the motor driver will not read the analog control signal properly as the voltage references for the motor driver and the controller may not be the same. I just simply put a black wire connecting Vss of the Basic Stamp 2p 24 Carrier Board and the negative voltage of the motor driver. I hope this may be helpful for others facing similar problems. ^^
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