Asked
— Edited
I have already asked and got an answer for this but just noticed that the saber tooth help page says something different.
Quote:
The EZ-B connects to the GND, +5 and Signal to the Sabertooth. The Signal from the EZ-B connects to S1 on the Sabertooth.
Got that the signal goes to s1 but then there r the other 2 that are different.
www.ez-robot.com/Tutorials/Help.aspx?id=173
But, wouldn't that only feed the EZ-B +5V, which may be within it's limits but only barely...
As far as 5V being within the EZ-B limits, I would think as long as it provides a constant 5V it should be fine, since the power input voltage regulators on the EZ-B drop whatever you are feeding it to 5V anyway, and throw the rest away as waste heat.
I am planning on feeding 24V into my Sabertooth (driving 24V wheelchair motors) and then use the 5V Bec to power the EZ-B. The Sabertooth has a bigger heat synch, so I will let it handle dropping the voltage for the EZ-B.
Alan
The 5v output from the Sabertooth can only power small loads up to 1 amp.
I personally don't use the 0 and 5v on mine. I always power my electronics separately from my motor control circuits to help eliminate any potential electrical noise problems. When you use a separate battery for the EZ-B is when you need to make sure you connect the commons together as shown in Technopro's first drawing.
Also if you think about it, basically you would be hooking 5v to the 5v regulator input on the EZ-B. I have never tried using a regulator with an input voltage that is the same as the output voltage.
From the looks of it the 5V on the Sabertooth is only 1A though, which may cause problems if running high power servos like the Tower Pro MG995s (which I have just had to supply externally from the EZ-B due to browning out the LCD and possibly being the cause of disconnections).
Alan
Sensors etc. Should be fine for the 1a of the sabertooth... maybe.
Food for thought
so my drawing is correct for powering the ez-b with a separate battery.
I will only be using it for one micro servo at first and then 2 more normal servos later for a camera movement.
and quite possibly a distance sensor.
to power all that I would want the ez-b separate from the sabertooth power, right? like in my first drawing?