Hello!
I’ve got a big hobby project but sadly I am a complete dork when it comes to electronics, so I stumbles across this site and ended up getting these components in. https://www.circuito.io/app?components=11061,11856,2345678,2345678,2345678,7654321,7654323,7654323
This seems to be fine, I haven’t wired it up yet though mainly because I noticed a few things which bring red alarms to my eyes.
A) Why is there still a USB Connected to the Arduino? Purely for code? Because I’d like it to be powered via the Lipo.
B) I’ve looked around the components for a kind of LiPo Voltage reader but didn’t find anything. I’d really love to find something to be able to check the Lipo Voltage and make sure I get Notified eventually via LED or smth that the Lipo is below a certain Voltage. Safety Measures.
C) I noticed the Arduino is powered via the VIN input by the Lipo, am I correct? Is this actually how you’re supposed to do it? Is that fine for the Arduino? I’ve read that Arduino’s have weird input voltage problems sometimes with components being damaged, so I’m being super careful.
D) There is also a 5V out coming from the Arduino which seems to power… well everything it seems like. Is that safe? Again, I’m worried that might damage the Arduino, or that it might perform very poorly.
E) I sadly couldn’t find the PS2 Transceiver Module to connect to a PS2 Controller, but that is in the end, how I will control it.
If you’re wondering, this is an 4 Omni Wheel Driven, BB Turret with 2 Servo Rotating Arms for aim, and 1 Servo for a Torso swivel.
I’ve done lots of small things usually and this is the first time I’m making something so “Large scale” or powered by a Lipo too. So I’m just being careful and asking you guys, if you have any feedback, ideas, or tips with this app or with the wiring in general.
I’ll try address each of your questions in turn as best I can (I’m a software developer that dabbles in electronics so I might not be able to answer them all).
A) My guess is yes; it’s just for show and to program the Arduino.
C) Provided you don’t send too much current through the Arduino, the 7.4V on VIN is well below the 12V maximum rating. The danger comes with the amount of current you send through the Arduino. I believe the L298N’s are designed to require very little current for the signal from the Arduino, and draw as much as needed by the motors directly from the battery.
D) I would be surprised if the 5V from the Arduino was used to drive the motors. That should come from the battery. Upon inspection of the project guide (wiring) the battery is connected to the Arduino VIN as well as all the positive supplies of all the L298Ns.
E) There’s a long list of components people would like added. Whilst we’re able to contribute our own components, it’s not that easy to do in my opinion. I’ve never managed it anyway.
If you’re worried about damaging the hardware, I’d recommend getting some fuses to place in the circuit so that you destroy them rather than the more expensive components like your Arduino. (This from someone who cooked his first ESP8266 )
Good luck and please share your trials and successes for us all to learn from.
Thank you for your Reply!
Upon further checking through the partially difficult to review wiring of the Circuit App, I could determine
A) Is true
B) I need to look into a bit
C) Thank you.
D) I confirmed that now, I was just utterly Confused why it even wanted the 5V to be connected to it as well, when you don’t have to have it. I wish I could remove those wires to make it cleaner. However, the Servo’s are still connected the the Arduino’s 5V Pin, which worries me a bit still. Since especially they, supposedly draw a lot more during movements.
E)Duely noted.
And Thank you, I will try and place a couple of Fuses along the wiring. I will also try to keep this Up to date. I’ll have to wait on some things to arrive from China before I can properly build anything. But thank you
Update
I figured out how to measure the Voltage Level of the LiPos now, its fairly straight forward after watching this Youtube Tutorial Series. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lec7kPv3VS8
It was ridiculously helpful. Simple words are, Analog Pins to read anything below 5 volts ( aka 1S LiPo) and a Voltage Divider for anything above 5Volts ( aka 2S+).
It works like a charm to yell at me when the Voltage gets too low.
Still waiting for a lot of the Components though, to make the real life test on whether this Project works or not.
)
