First, thanks for your help with getting my first robot going. I now have a little bot that runs around the house. Pretty fun! The issue I’m having now is I think I have too much stuff weighing down the little beast. When it makes a sharp turn or changes direction from forward to reverse it can tip over. I’m using the Pololu RRC04A chassis with an Arduino Duemilanove and LadyAda’s motor shield. To power this robot I have a 6 pack of AA NiMH powering the Arduino and another 6 pack of AA NiMH powering the motors though the shield. All these batteries are taking up a lot of space on this 5" chassis and causing it to tip.
I’m thinking about dropping the motor shield and using the Pololu Qik 2s9v1. Does the Arduino and the 2s9v1 Driver Controller each need a set of 6 AA batteries or can 1 set of 6 AA work for both? I believe I can power the motor controller’s logic from the Arduino’s regulated 5v, but not the motor supply so I think I need to somehow get the 1 battery pack to feed into the Arduino and motor contoller’s motor supply. Is this possible and a recommended way of doing it? Thanks for helping out this new robot builder!
The qik 2s9v1 and one battery pack should work. You would use the regulated 5V for the logic supply and the unregulated voltage (7.2V or 9V) for the motor supply. I’m not sure what your physical options are, but you can always just make Y connections so that your power goes from the battery pack to both the Arduino and the motor controller. Make sure you have thick, short connections from your battery to your motor controller.
Great! Thanks for your help. I think I’m going to connect the 6 AA battery holder I bought from Pololu to a terminal block (which hopefully you’ll have in stock soon) soldered to a protoboard. I’ll have that wired to an on/off switch to make it easier to turn the robot on and off instead of pulling the plug. From there I’ll power the 2 buses on the protoboard and then run 22 awg wires from the buses to the motor power supply on the Qik 2s9v1. I’ll also power the Arduino from the protoboard’s buses using a barrel jack connector. I’ll power the logic power supply of the Qik 2s9v1 using the 5v regulated power from the Arduino. It helps to write this out. Let me know if you have any suggestions. Thanks again!
