jstarne1
Hello Everyone , I had this idea when the v3 was around , but I wanted to wait until v4 was in circulation before pursuing it. The concept is a shield that plugs in directly on top of the existing EZB v4. It would regulate 5 volts on the power pins. Then of course I was thinking... WAIT! 5 volts is a fine standard, but servos run on 6 volts by standard and some high torque get the most power with 7.4 volts! So there are some options. I want to make this shield generally available to the community for testers. I imagine two or maybe three different versions of the shield would be appropriate.
5 volt standard servo shield- all 24 digital power pins regulated by a switching psu , green certified , Gold standard efficiency 96%
5 volt @7.5amp with switch to 6 volt @ 10amp Boost for High Torque servos, preset for all 24 digital power pins , switching psu, green certified, Gold standard efficiency 96%
Dynamixel shield option - 5v @5a and secondary power option 12v @10a continous.
The switching regulators cost more however they produce less heat and waste less power. This increases battery life of your project.
what I would like is feedback on is how I should lay this out. How do YOU as a user want the shield.
1 Top mount pins line on v4 now or 90 degree out to the sides?
2 dip switches or physical jumpers to change voltage from 5 volt to 6 volts (or 7.4 if your servos can take this continuously )
3 what battery voltages does everyone use, I want to configure shield for most users so they do not need to use a plether of step down converters.
4 whats your idea or opinion , lets be constructive afterall I am doing this for you 
I pointed out I could make a ALL 5 volt shield and then a alternate shield for the ezb pros , with servo boost voltage. The 5 volt may really be best for the beginners to ez robot or electronics in general.
Jumpers instead of switches wouldn't prevent a sale, they are just a personal preference. If you can't find something suitable, I wouldn't complicate the design with transistors just to make switches work.
Alan
Why complicate anything with switches or jumpers?
It seems the general view is smaller shields for banks of ports to limit voltage so why not have totally separate boards, one for 5V, one for 6V and one for 7.2V? Colour coded could be an option too since you can pick circuit board colour these days, red for one, yellow for another, green for another and so on.
A 6 port (or however they are split on the EZ-B) voltage regulated shield would go down a storm. Pass through the signal and the ground, regulated Vcc to 5, 6 and 7.2 volts, plug in and away it goes.
I was playing with designing a voltage regulated board for the V3, to allow external power and regulate it. My board was pretty large as it was built with Melvin in mind but it wasn't complicated. Vin to the regulator, Vout to the power pins of the new digital ports, a couple of capacitors, resistor and LED, common ground, the signal was the only tricky bit as they need to all be separate but with a 2 layer board it's not difficult to work out. It never happened as the V4 was announced shortly after but I am sure it would be something the community would love.
Ok , so I suppose if you were using a 7.4 volt board just as a example but then needed to hookup three sensors , then use 3 inline voltage regs to drop it to 5 volt. That's your suggestion right?
No. If you have 5v sensors to use then you would use a 5v board. If you have 6v servos use a 6v board etc.
Inline regulators (like the 5v one in the shop) are great for one sensor but if you plan to use say 3 ping sensors (front, left & right) then a 6 port regulator shield would be perfect for that. Or if you need to drive 2 arms with 3 servos per arm at 6v then a 6v shield would be perfect.
The design of each board would be identical, just the components would differ (and the colour possibly).
I had the same thought as @Rich... have colour coded banks or mini shields that only fit 4 pin banks on the ezb... yellow for 5V, green for 6V, and blue for 7.4v... or something like that....
this is what I am using on my astromech now to power servos, lights and sensors. This way you can hook up a voltage regulator to the entire board and adjust to the desired voltage.
www.servocity.com/html/servo_power_boards.html#.VO9pOfnF_HU
Aaron
Ok so 27.99 cost to power 8 servos and it doesn't include any king of regulator , so the reg is a seperate cost.