Charging a zumo 32U4 robot

Hi,

I would like to charge my Zumo 32U4 robot without removing the batteries, similar to what was suggested by other users (e.g. Zumo Charging: A Stupid Question). However, compared to the older Zumo robot for Arduino, 32U4 doesn’t seem to have a charging port any more. Do you have any suggestions how to connect a charger to the 32U4, ideally without having to turn the robot off during charging?

Hello,

In general, you can find information that is helpful for this type of question in the user’s guide for the Zumo 32U4 robot, which is linked to on the resources tab of its product page. The schematic for the robot (from the user’s guide) shows that the VB bus is connected directly to the positive terminal of the battery bank and exposed at one of the expansion headers. The following diagram from the user’s guide shows where on the headers the VB pin is exposed.

It should be possible to charge the batteries without removing them through the VB pin and one of the GND pins. However,charging the batteries while running the robot might not work well if the current consumption of the robot interferes with the ability of the charger to detect when the batteries are fully charged.

-Nathan