Rover 5 Basic Power Wiring Question (With Spider Board)

Community General Discussions
1

Hello All!

 I've just purchased a bunch of parts that I hope to turn into a working rover. Before I start wiring things up I've been looking for some clean pictures on how to get started. I found this image:

http://www.robotspace.co.uk/Images/PICT0026.JPG

And I have a question about the flow of power to the controllers and the motors. I understand that the rover 5 motor controller needs 2 sources of power, one at 5V and the other from 4.5 - 12V (according to the manual.) Now in the above image the battery is connected to the screw terminal on the Spider board, and then jumpers are connected from the GND/VCC pins first to the motor power pins on the Rover 5 motor board and then to the logic power pins.

This is a very basic electronics question, but *how does this work?* Is the wiring in the image wrong? Wouldn't the voltage from the battery be too much for the logic pins and/or the voltage for the motors be too low?

I'd love to be able to power everything off one battery, but I'd like to understand a bit more about what the Spider board provides in terms of voltage regulation etc. 

Thanks in advance!

2

Hi! Take a look at my

Hi!  Take a look at my recent forum post on wiring my Service Droid using the 4ch controller and spider and see if that helps… 

 

3

Wonderful!

This diagram should be included with every kit! One question and one comment

1. Are the GND connections between Motor Channels 1-4 and the GND lead to the spider strictly neccesary? 

2. I think the Spider boards all now ship with ATMEGA2560s so you might want to use that label in your diagram.

4

I am glad it’s helpful.

I am glad it’s helpful.  Note: the schematic is still a work in progress with advice I’ve been getting from OddBot on that post. I hope also add some rationale on there  as not everyone would need this exact configuration. 

5

Direct links for posterity …

Post: https://www.robotshop.com/letsmakerobots/node/40103

Diagram: https://www.robotshop.com/letsmakerobots/files/Service_Droid_Wiring_Diagram_-Vader_Version_2.pdf (NOTE: This may have been updated more recently, check the above post)