@jstarne i built one for my big robot design to be automatic,big circuit runs by a small computer and has auto-docking and hook up your wiring looks good,but i see you are drawing 9.7 amps at 12.9 volts ,is that with out a load or driving it

batteries i see are 2 12 volts 8.5 amps in parallel ,thats 17 amps total hours is 1.75 and have to add full CPU power witch is much more,plus load on all motors and servo's a really good test run all motors at 75% and add some load if carrying any items when i design any robot ,i look for low drop regulators,low current computers that can handle all my programs,i use very low current sensors like the max sonars,work out my digesn to almost no fans

mostly do long testing on power verses temperature,never use a cd rom ,2 main reasons one is when you use it draws current ,second is weight with adds more torque on the motor

also reduce torque on a motors i try to cut on all added weight,low current leds,if using a panel meter go to lcd alot less currenton hard drives standard hard drivess weight more,use alot more current and if bumps or falls gets damaged i use SSD THERE IS much more i do also,but these are just some good pointers you help you out my buddy

Hi man thanks for taking a look. Obviously I didn't "draw in" dock connections but.I figured it was implied they would also connect to electrical system monitor. Oh in the drawing I just pulled up a random figure and made sure math was correct for wattage so I wouldn't get made fun of lol. My.onboard atx is ultra low draw. AMD 2.2 GHz dual core 20 w tdp CPU , and HDD is standard. Cd Rom is a external usb drive. The specs on my dc to dc converters say 94 percent efficiency. 120 watt is max rating on my dc to computer regulated power supply. Obviously I get the fun of testing in a couple days but I'm estimating 80 watts while in forward motion. Just based on manufacturer info , but I know that's only worth as far as I could throw a heavy rock. Lol

Not a.final idea , just a docking station idea I doodles that goes well with this post...

at full current on you atx board and power supply , i have one just like that and with full cpu power it draws 3 .4 amps, 1/2 cpu witch is about nomal 2 1/2 amp board you have is not bad,dual cores are mostly used by most robot companies ,and one of the ones i use alot too

Sweet I'm looking to 2-4 hours autonomous away from a charger.

@jstarne i think only get 1 hour maybe little more,my system doesnt use a cdrom or hard drive now usb cd rom does take near 500 ma and hard drive takes about 1 amp total compare that to SSD only 50 ma,so guessing at just your computer system using USB CD ROM,hard drive full CPU load,plus a little loss on PSU power supply looking at about 4 amps ,maybe 3 1/2 thats just computer part of it,there is a website to put in hard drive or ssd ,cd rom plus computer board plus run at 50% load and full load,its like a calculator and tells you the current output will look for it

have you done any tests on main drive motors,for load carrying ,batteries,computer,motors frame (robot) sensors,cd rom hard drive plus all else you are adding ,plus are going to have him carry a BEER or drink ,and see if the motors will handle the load,rule of thumb add about 20% more weight then you want to carry,one way is to measure all items going on your robot,including carry items add 20% then find something thats about that we ight like cans of food ,rocks or books ,see if your mot ors w ill handle the load and measure the current of both motors then your robot be bettter then perfect usuing thses idea's plus save you headaches latter to change and update motors and ,batteries and more thats my always first step on designing and building a robot