I have the bot board II which I bought from lynx motion and this 9 volt battery (). I know the battery is supposed to go in a designated area... but when I connect it on any free pin it turns on! I have programmed it and it works perfectly. I'm just curious if that is the correct way of powering it? I read in the manual that it has to be in those two certain pins but in order to get my battery in there I need to extend it with two cables. I am just wondering if it's okay to plugin the battery in any free pins( P0, P1, P2, etc) since it works. I am also wondering if it can cause any damage to the bot board and/or atom pro microcontroller.
First of all: always put the battery in the designated area! Why risk?
It might be that the headers (P0,P1, etc) have a V+ pin which is also connected to the standard battery plug, and that’s why it might be working anyway. But what if one day you accidentally switch the connection (v+ to GND and GND to v+) and have no reversed-battery protection? That’s gonna be pain, so again stick with the instructions or you may regret not following them!
Yes, you are risking Yes, you are risking destroying your microcontroller by plugging in power other than where it should be… The picture you show above is appears to have 5 cells, so it is probably 6 volts if it is a NiCd or NiMh pack. Had it actually been a 9 volt pack, you would be in need of buying a new micro, since they will not take that much over-voltage. The power connection that is designated connects first to a 5 volt regulator, then from there gives 5 volts (not 9 or 6) to the processor, and possibly the pin groups with jumper placement.
Forgot something. The Basic Forgot something. The Basic Atom, Basic Stamp, etc have an onboard regulator that is probably protecting the module. The SSC32 that has an AVR on board requires the on board regulator to run it, and would not be protected from overvoltage on the power supply.
You’ve had 2 people tell you You’ve had 2 people tell you that it is bad to connect power to any place other than the actual power terminals. Also, that the regulator that is part of the Basic Atom probably saved it from overvoltage. And that it wouldn’t save the SSC-32 device if that was hooked up too. What else are you needing help with?
Only plug the battery in where it is supposed to go. If the cables not long enough make some longer ones. $0.50 worth of cable is a lot cheaper than having to buy a new MCU because you plugged a 9v battery in where there should be 5v.
