Amperage required for SLA to power a computer

Community General Discussions
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So I am going to add a computer to my robot project so that I will be able to use OpenCV and Sphinx. I will be using this motherboard: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7144823&CatId=4296. This processor: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6620918&CatId=2326. And 2 sticks of this RAM: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6572442&CatId=4534. Oh I will also be using a 3.5" HDD 40 GB. I was thinking that I would be able to use this PSU: http://www.mini-box.com/PW-200M-DC-DC-power-supply?sc=8&category=13 to power the computer off of an SLA. My two questions are: Will that PSU provide enough wattage to power the computer. Also, how many amps will this, approximately, draw. I have done some research and answers range from 1.5 amps at startup to 10 amps at startup. So I was going to put that question out there to hopefully get a definite number to work with. Thank you to everyone  

PS Due to recent comments by everyone, I have another question. What would be the least possibly amount of processing power and RAM needed to run a java program for Sphinx(speech recognition) and maybe 3 OpenCV image processing programs? Thanks again

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Consider going with a better

Consider going with a better battery technology.  LiPo or at least Nimh. 

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Well I’m just wondering if

Well I’m just wondering if those battery types would be able to handle the amperage a computer would require. I would really like to get a definite answer for the amount of amperage I am going to need. 

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I am with mogul.

You need to rething your motherboard selection. As much as I hate to say it, you should reconsider your processor too. And, maybe think about replacing your hard drive with something solid state, like a Compact Flash or SDHC card.

I believe what is being said, is you should really sit back and rethink your choices first. What you have chosen is good for a desktop, but, not so good for a mobile platform. Even MAAHR is using a mini itx board.

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What is it about your

What is it about your project that requires so much processing power?  Typical LMR robots use a microcontroller and run off a handful of AA batteries.  Even if you really do need a serious processor, you might think about something like a Pandaboard–which has even been known to run ROS, and works on a single 5v supply.

I’ll admit I’m mostly just curious.

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Actually, he’s using a micro

Actually, he’s using a micro itx.  Even smaller than a mini.

Never mind.  I missed the “A.”  I stand corrected.

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I was wrong.

I scanned the page too quickly. I didn’t notice that it was a very small form factor board. My statements about the AMD and the non solid state hard drive still stand. moving parts and high power processors are power hungry. 

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Well I want to use OpenCV

Well I want to use OpenCV and Sphinx for facial detection/recognition and speech recognition, respectively. These require that a computer be used. I would just use a laptop but I was thinking that I might be able to achieve more processing power for a similar cost. 

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You were more on target than

You were more on target than I was.  And I never called in to question your power assesment.  My bad.

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If you look around,

If you look around, (actually, I think it’s still on the first page as I type this.)  I am working on (for LMR) a big robot project using a single board computer.  The computer I chose has its power supply built in–Which is why I chose it.  I missed the fact that it requires an 18volt 5 amp power supply, and had to deal with that fact.  Because of the weight of my 2kg+ battery pack, my whole project may be a little underdesigned and is probably still under powered.

Have you gotten Sphinx and OpenCV to work on a laptop or desktop?

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I am currently waiting until

I am currently waiting until OpenCV is able to be programmed using Java (which they say will happen soon). As for Sphinx, I attempted posting a question about it here: https://www.robotshop.com/letsmakerobots/node/31173. Have you had any experience with Sphinx? Because I could sure use the help figuring out which JAR files need to go in the library. Anyway if you have had any experience with Sphinx take a look at the link. Thanks

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Would this be a better

Would this be a better HDD? http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1118531&CatId=5300. Reading and writing wattage is 2W. Other tech specs can be found here: http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0356690

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I am making my first

I am making my first incursions into OpenCV.  So far it’s been a rocky road.  They keep changing things, and the tutorials haven’t been keeping up.  Sphinx is on my list of things to do–but I haven’t gotten there yet.

I have two suggestions.

Both of your critical applications are supported at least to some extent by both ROS and GroG’s MyRobotLab.

ROS is a relatively mature system, with a large and active development community.  It’s got a pretty steep learning curve, but there are some really good tutorials to get you started.  I’m not really impressed with the OpenCV tutorials, but OpenCV is becoming a dependency, so they’re bound to improve.  Also, the languages that ROS supports best are Python and C.  But there is some development going on in Java.

MyRobotLab is a newer system, and GroG has been working on pretty much on his own.  But it works under Java.  GroG is about to release a new version but Life has had other plans for him lately.  Not much in the way of tutorials, but hopefully that should change soon, and there have been a couple of interesting projects come out of it.

Whatever you do, if you’re going to be using incorporating things like OpenCV and Sphinx–you’re going to need some kind of framework to tie everything together.