I am going to have a Lot of sensors and things on my bots. In order to do this, I will need a beefy 5V source. I am planning to put in one of DE’s switching BECs to supply my 5V.
What components do I need to remove or bypass to run the botboard off the same 5V source as everything else?
Its been a while since I have done any electronics work, but I believe that if I remove U2, and then jump pins 1 & 3, that should allow me to put regulated 5V in at VL, right?
Thanks!
Yep. That’s about it.
Connecting the output and the input together will kill the device as soon as power is applied. 
If the DE part has the same pinout, input, gnd, output, you can simply replace it on the board. But either way the device probably needs a good heat sink, so mounting it off board may make more sense.
Sienna, have you done a power budget for all your network of electronics and sensors?
The onboard regulator can be pushed to about 500mA supply with it mounted in the air like that. I can’t fathom power supply for electronics that goes beyond this
I plan to have 6 SRF-08’s (three front, three back) on the bot (I bought them years ago, so might as well use them 
), and each of them peak at 275mA, and because of their close proximity to each other, I am thinking I might have them pulse in groups of three.
I also will have a lot of LEDs prolly (knowing me, I like blinky 
)
I might use some sharp rangers as well, as I have a good number of those lying around too.
Then add in stuff like wireless links, LCDs, etc, and I think I am well beyond the limit of the linear regulator. Plus, to me it is more elegant to have one efficient power supply for everything, then it is to have many inefficient ones.
Jim, I am looking at DE’s ParkBEC or SportBEC. (when are you going to start carrying these! )
Soon, I let it get by me.
Those are nice I2C sensors. They have the light level detector too.
Have you seen the BlinkM Smart LED? You should really like these… Spark Fun carries them now.
8-Dale
I’ve just implemented an SRF-08 and a pair of IR rangers on Loki, my 4-servo biped. Luckly my controller board has a 7805 regulator. No power problems yet.
Do you need 6 SRF-08? Must be a big 'bot! I was thinking more on the lines a pair of sensors, forward and aft looking, on a scanning platform driven by a servo.
Next addition will be a Bluetooth.
Alan KM6VV
Its not that big of a bot… its just that I don’t like scanning sensors. Especially in bots that could be high speed in the future.
(What qualifies as a “big bot” around here?)
And for your Loki, since it is so small, aren’t you getting ground reflections into the sonar?
