Hello everyone
I know that the V4 has a direct voltage input from the battery to the digital pins. I was unsure however if this also incuded supplying direct voltage to the outer pin as well?
I was looking online to make something to where i can run my servos and or sensors at a different voltage then what was supplied from the board. I planned to run 12 volts into the board but realized I would need to step down the voltage in every pin that requires 7.2 or 5v. servo City sells a servo Power Board for around $20-30 and I was wondering if anyone had experience with using it. I think it may solve the problem of powering multiple pins at another voltage than what the board is supplying? It says that "cleanly power your servos on more than 6 volts and not burn up your receiver" I could be completely wrong in thinking that this may work so any thoughts would be welcome! It would definitely be a easier way to power things if this could work though
Ok... So if I understood... The V4 have no power regulators ? So if I use a 12V font to power it, I can not plug the 6v servos straight to V4? I have to use external power or feed the Ez-b with only 6v?... That's it?
Correct, the Vcc of each digital port is equal to the input voltage. Therefore you must use a power source that will work with your servos (5v, 6v, 7.4v depending on the servo), use a regulator to reduce the voltage of the digital port or have an external power distribution set up to provide the required voltage.
Be aware, sensors are likely to be 5V. The EZ-B will nag you that your battery is low if you supply it with 5V.
There are regulators on the V4 however these are used for the EZ-B components, as far as power out is concerned there is no regulation (there is a max and min voltage for the V4 though! 4.5v and 16v respectively) but I thought it best to just mention these regulators for a complete answer.
Rich, can't you change the "low" voltage warning threshold in the connection dialog settings? Currently the default is 6.6V...But, can't you just set that at 4.5V or something? Maybe that would eliminate the low battery warnings if powering the EZB with only 5V?
Yes you can but only after the EZ-B is connected to ARC. So on power cycling it would nag again. Altering this is not something I have tried since I use a 2S LiPo so it's set up fine for default. I'm unsure if the warning resets to the new, lower value on re-connection or if it needs setting each and every time. I'll check when I get a moment.
like rich said each time you power up it will say the voltage is low..
My plan around it is to supply the v4 with 7.2-12volts from a lipo battery and then split off power for sensors, led's, etc
im just making sure but isn't the signal wire still regulated?
Yes, the signal pin is regulated... 3.3V (5V tolerable) if I am not mistaken...
The EZ-B V4 Datasheet explains all
@RichardR, the Vin Default Low Battery Warning is 6vdc not 6.6 vdc but Whats .6 among friends? ;-)
I really dislike that nag phrase. I'm supplying 6.5 vdc to EZB now and something somehow fluxed with the voltage input of my robot and the hag keep nagging me about voltage. I had to power cycle to shut her up. mad
I really wish the battery tender settings were adjustable through the web interface to the EZB hardware instead of ARC.