Finding adequate power supply, regulator and following safety standards are some tricky things while building a robot. You give us some good pointers in these areas. Thanks Josh. I look forward to the next video.
This entire robotics series is unbelievably well done. Can't recall anything I've seen on UA-cam that's better (and I've watched a LOT of tech tutorials).
Thank you so much for making this video. This has been an obstacle I have faced for quite some time and it was just the thing I've been needing to get my projects off the ground!
thank you, i have been doing hobby robotics for a while now. Up till now i have used 2 batteries but i want to use 1 battery as my robots are small. your explanation is the first resource i have come across that is both understandable for hobbyists and sufficient in detail to give me the confidence to give this a try.
Thank you for the video, it really cleared up some doubts I had about the cricuitry! You explained things much better than most professors lol. So far I'm starting with a Ras Pi robot kit that you can edit code for yourself, but I will be moving to making my own custom robot in the future.
Great series - thank you! With respect to powering with a lipo battery such as a 3S, isn't there a danger in letting the power level in the battery drop below a certain level? Will you go into how to monitor and manage power, such as shutting things down when the battery reaches a certain level? Also, maybe how to charge a lipo safely which would be useful for a go home - roll up charging system?
My robot should have exploded or be dead by now 😭 I have put it through hell without knowing anything😭 I’m holding things closed while the power is running, using leds, lidars, multiple Raz Pis, servos, dc’s, sensors, cameras! My Bot was cooking!!!! Thank you for your video and the time you put into it! I have learned so much in a short period of time and you have saved me thousands of dollars from my ignorance throwing all my investments into one robotic project without understanding power restraints and protocols! Thank you!
If I had many sensors and a RPi and a Arduino UNO all integrated into one package using I2C would I olny need one regulator for the sensors to be powered? I know you would need a logic level converter for the RPi and UNO to communicate I am just unsure on how to let power flow through the daisy chain system the qwiic connectors can provide from the sparkfun and adafruit breakout boards.
Hey mate, sorry for the late reply, great question. I've never personally used the Qwiic system but I'd have a few thoughts: - One regulator will be fine as long as it's powerful enough - Many of the Qwiic devices will be low-current, and so daisy-chaining them is not an issue (and is obviously just convenient, especially given how I2C works) - The cables may be a limiting factor anyway. The FAQ suggests a conservative limit of ~226mA, potentially up to 1.4A www.sparkfun.com/qwiic#faqs - I imagine that if you really needed more current, you could build a "power injector" cable to prevent too much running through individual boards - As you've said, be aware of any level conversions required Hope that helps!
My main issue is wiring. I want to use a LiPo battery for some 7.4v heavy duty servos with gear box, power hogs, but the servo wires as all servo wires are, small gauge, but the LiPo has larger gauge wiring, what do you use in-between them to wire reduce.
Hi, please suggest ways to measure the exact power consumption of robots. In my simulation, I don't have battery but I want to model the battery. I also want to model on board CPU's power consumption - which i want to optimize later. Thanks in advance.
Ooh that's a tough one, which I don't personally have much experience in. In terms of live measurement, you could probably find a chip that has an accessible ammeter and log that with an Arduino or Pi, and process it later? This was just the first thing that came up in a search for me but it seems like it would do the job well au.element14.com/dfrobot/sen0291/i2c-digital-wattmeter-gravity/dp/3769910 For the simulation, I've never tried it but I'm sure people have made Gazebo plugins (public or private) that use the speed and torque of the simulated motors along with a model of the motor and the battery to simulate power consumption. I suspect you'd just model the CPU as a constant draw (measured using something like the above). Sorry I can't be of more help (and for the late reply!)
Hello! I love your videos - they are carrying my project :). I was wondering about a different battery. My rules say that electrical energy must be stored in a maximum of 8 AA batteries, and any battery using Lithium or Lead Acid is not allowed. I want to model your setup of 12v and 6A. Do you know of any recommended battery that I could use?
While you COULD run a setup similar to this off 8xAA, you will find that their current rating and also capacity is extremely limiting. Instead you are probably better off using 6V (or even smaller) motors and 4xAA (or even two banks in parallel) and making sure your robot is fairly light to reduce the load on the motors and thus the current. I can't recommend any particular batteries, but note that if you use rechargeable batteries they will typically have a lower voltage. E.g. NiMH is 1.2V so 4x would be 4.8 and actually needs a boost to get to 5V. Alternatively 5x1.2=6V. I hope that helps
@@ArticulatedRobotics Hello thank you!!! I have a DC/DC voltage regulator (12v input, 5v/5a output). If I use 6v motors but 8 AA batteries would this all work out? Should I run the motors off the output of the DC/DC converter for it to receive the necessary voltage?
Hmm, yeah you'd definitely want to use a different regulator in this instance (if yours is only 12V in), but no need for a regulator between the batteries and the motor. DC motor voltage ratings aren't usually very solid, you can run them at other voltages but they just won't perform as designed. So you could run 2x4x1.5VAA (i.e. 6V but paralleled for more current). Current is going to be your main problem, so you need to drop the voltage. If everything was 100% efficient it probably wouldn't make a difference - your 12V motors might use less current and your 12V-5V reg would not use more current than 6V-5V, but in practice I think you'd find the lower voltage set up to work better. You might just have to experiment!
I can't understand the purpose of using arduino. Can you generously explain why you used it for motors while raspberry can make for you those tasks easily, too?
Hi, I like your video a lot! Could you please leave the link to the regulator? I have been searching for a similar one, but it is being a bit hard. Thank you so much!!
I was thinking that we should use a small electric generator in the robots ,which can produce electricity and also can give power to pistons instead of motors
Hi, the context here (I believe, I don't recall the quote) is about the WIRE rating (or possibly motors) in an ELV DC circuit, where voltage effectively doesn't matter. The issue with wires is them breaking down due to the thermal load, which is due to the voltage DROP over the wire rather than the absolute voltage. This is proportional to the current squared and the resistance (P=IV, V=IR, P = IIR). So 5V@1A vs 5V@10A is a huge difference to the wiring, whereas 1V@5A vs 10V@5A is basically the same. If you were putting hundreds of volts into it then the voltage would come into play. But yes of course components can be VERY sensitive to voltages and you should always make sure those are correct :)
Finding adequate power supply, regulator and following safety standards are some tricky things while building a robot. You give us some good pointers in these areas. Thanks Josh. I look forward to the next video.
This entire robotics series is unbelievably well done. Can't recall anything I've seen on UA-cam that's better (and I've watched a LOT of tech tutorials).
Thank you so much for making this video. This has been an obstacle I have faced for quite some time and it was just the thing I've been needing to get my projects off the ground!
thank you, i have been doing hobby robotics for a while now. Up till now i have used 2 batteries but i want to use 1 battery as my robots are small. your explanation is the first resource i have come across that is both understandable for hobbyists and sufficient in detail to give me the confidence to give this a try.
Hi Josh, thank you very much for the amazing videos. Please keep on making such videos. It helps a lot. Thanks again
Thank you!
Excellent video! You did an amazing job at simplifying and explaining things to make it easy
Thank's Josh!
Thank you for the video, it really cleared up some doubts I had about the cricuitry! You explained things much better than most professors lol. So far I'm starting with a Ras Pi robot kit that you can edit code for yourself, but I will be moving to making my own custom robot in the future.
Nice!
Great series - thank you! With respect to powering with a lipo battery such as a 3S, isn't there a danger in letting the power level in the battery drop below a certain level? Will you go into how to monitor and manage power, such as shutting things down when the battery reaches a certain level? Also, maybe how to charge a lipo safely which would be useful for a go home - roll up charging system?
Thank You For Your Time This Really Helped Me
best robotics content! THANK YOU!
My robot should have exploded or be dead by now 😭 I have put it through hell without knowing anything😭 I’m holding things closed while the power is running, using leds, lidars, multiple Raz Pis, servos, dc’s, sensors, cameras! My Bot was cooking!!!! Thank you for your video and the time you put into it! I have learned so much in a short period of time and you have saved me thousands of dollars from my ignorance throwing all my investments into one robotic project without understanding power restraints and protocols! Thank you!
Can I use common hardware store wires/cables for robot car powered by 12V lead acid battery? or do I need any specific wire/cables?
So in theory with the circuit above and the motors running constantly at max the battery would run out in 30 min right?
❤❤❤I like your content about robotics.
If I had many sensors and a RPi and a Arduino UNO all integrated into one package using I2C would I olny need one regulator for the sensors to be powered? I know you would need a logic level converter for the RPi and UNO to communicate I am just unsure on how to let power flow through the daisy chain system the qwiic connectors can provide from the sparkfun and adafruit breakout boards.
Hey mate, sorry for the late reply, great question.
I've never personally used the Qwiic system but I'd have a few thoughts:
- One regulator will be fine as long as it's powerful enough
- Many of the Qwiic devices will be low-current, and so daisy-chaining them is not an issue (and is obviously just convenient, especially given how I2C works)
- The cables may be a limiting factor anyway. The FAQ suggests a conservative limit of ~226mA, potentially up to 1.4A www.sparkfun.com/qwiic#faqs
- I imagine that if you really needed more current, you could build a "power injector" cable to prevent too much running through individual boards
- As you've said, be aware of any level conversions required
Hope that helps!
My main issue is wiring. I want to use a LiPo battery for some 7.4v heavy duty servos with gear box, power hogs, but the servo wires as all servo wires are, small gauge, but the LiPo has larger gauge wiring, what do you use in-between them to wire reduce.
Hi, please suggest ways to measure the exact power consumption of robots. In my simulation, I don't have battery but I want to model the battery. I also want to model on board CPU's power consumption - which i want to optimize later. Thanks in advance.
Ooh that's a tough one, which I don't personally have much experience in.
In terms of live measurement, you could probably find a chip that has an accessible ammeter and log that with an Arduino or Pi, and process it later? This was just the first thing that came up in a search for me but it seems like it would do the job well au.element14.com/dfrobot/sen0291/i2c-digital-wattmeter-gravity/dp/3769910
For the simulation, I've never tried it but I'm sure people have made Gazebo plugins (public or private) that use the speed and torque of the simulated motors along with a model of the motor and the battery to simulate power consumption. I suspect you'd just model the CPU as a constant draw (measured using something like the above).
Sorry I can't be of more help (and for the late reply!)
Hello! I love your videos - they are carrying my project :). I was wondering about a different battery. My rules say that electrical energy must be stored in a maximum of 8 AA batteries, and any battery using Lithium or Lead Acid is not allowed. I want to model your setup of 12v and 6A. Do you know of any recommended battery that I could use?
While you COULD run a setup similar to this off 8xAA, you will find that their current rating and also capacity is extremely limiting. Instead you are probably better off using 6V (or even smaller) motors and 4xAA (or even two banks in parallel) and making sure your robot is fairly light to reduce the load on the motors and thus the current.
I can't recommend any particular batteries, but note that if you use rechargeable batteries they will typically have a lower voltage. E.g. NiMH is 1.2V so 4x would be 4.8 and actually needs a boost to get to 5V. Alternatively 5x1.2=6V.
I hope that helps
@@ArticulatedRobotics Hello thank you!!! I have a DC/DC voltage regulator (12v input, 5v/5a output). If I use 6v motors but 8 AA batteries would this all work out? Should I run the motors off the output of the DC/DC converter for it to receive the necessary voltage?
Not sure if just dropping the motor voltage but changing anything else would prove to be beneficial.
Hmm, yeah you'd definitely want to use a different regulator in this instance (if yours is only 12V in), but no need for a regulator between the batteries and the motor.
DC motor voltage ratings aren't usually very solid, you can run them at other voltages but they just won't perform as designed. So you could run 2x4x1.5VAA (i.e. 6V but paralleled for more current).
Current is going to be your main problem, so you need to drop the voltage.
If everything was 100% efficient it probably wouldn't make a difference - your 12V motors might use less current and your 12V-5V reg would not use more current than 6V-5V, but in practice I think you'd find the lower voltage set up to work better.
You might just have to experiment!
I can't understand the purpose of using arduino. Can you generously explain why you used it for motors while raspberry can make for you those tasks easily, too?
Hey ,Thanks a lot for all the info ,
Keep it,
Hi, I like your video a lot! Could you please leave the link to the regulator? I have been searching for a similar one, but it is being a bit hard. Thank you so much!!
I was thinking that we should use a small electric generator in the robots ,which can produce electricity and also can give power to pistons instead of motors
fire vid
nice hairstyle!
Haha thanks, I was overdue for a cut!
"voltage does'nt matter"
sorry but no, a to high voltage can fry components
Hi, the context here (I believe, I don't recall the quote) is about the WIRE rating (or possibly motors) in an ELV DC circuit, where voltage effectively doesn't matter. The issue with wires is them breaking down due to the thermal load, which is due to the voltage DROP over the wire rather than the absolute voltage. This is proportional to the current squared and the resistance (P=IV, V=IR, P = IIR). So 5V@1A vs 5V@10A is a huge difference to the wiring, whereas 1V@5A vs 10V@5A is basically the same. If you were putting hundreds of volts into it then the voltage would come into play.
But yes of course components can be VERY sensitive to voltages and you should always make sure those are correct :)