Powering BotBoarduino & AL5D Servos

Lynxmotion Electronics & Software
1

Hi Guys,

I recently received an AL5D robot arm with the BotBoarduino. I was wondering if I can power the BotBoarduino from USB (VL) and at the same time power the servos from a wall wart (VS)? I have read in the BotBoarduino manual (lynxmotion.com/images/html/build185.htm) that this shouldn’t be done, but is this true even if the jumper setting VS=VL is removed?

Thanks.

2

I wondered about that.

I’ve ran a servo shield on the BotBoarduino, and used a 2nd DC (Lab power) supply. Worked OK.

Alan KM6VV

3

You can indeed have two separate power supplies on the BotBoarduino… Where in the manual did you read otherwise?

4

Look at the very start of the document (build185.htm), at statement 1. In Red it says you must remove the USB cable to prevent damage…

This is probably where he inferred this from.

Personally I don’t see any problem in running VL off of USB… But make sure to remove the VS=VL jumper as you don’t want to run servos off of this. Note: I have gotten away with running one servo (not under load) with USB power for tests, but I would not recommend this for anything more than that.

Kurt

5

Oh… lol

To prevent damaging the board, you must remove the USB cable when operating the robot!

This is a warning that if you have a moving robot you should remove the cable before operating the robot to prevent the USB socket from being ripped off the board. :stuck_out_tongue: We are rewording the warning. 8)

6

This warning was added after an in house mishap with a less than fortunate BotBoarduino… :blush:

7

Thanks for clearing that up. Looks like I misinterpreted the manual.

I’ll be sure to be very careful when leaving the USB cable plugged in while operating the robot and of course removing the VS=VL jumper.