Hi, I am using an Arduino UNO for my final project which control 6 servo motors and 4 DC geared motor. To control the objects above, I bought a 12V, 7.2AH rechargeable battery for it.
So, now I want to ask:
The Arduino will malfunction or occurs any problem if I connect the positive pin of battery to Vin pin of the Arduino and negative pin of the battery to the GND pin of Arduino?
The servo motors and DC geared motor will breakdown if connect such a mass current and voltage through it? ( Battery > Arduino Uno board > servo motors and DC geared motor)
What kind of servos and motors do you have ?
A servo usually is for 4.8 ... 6V.
You can not use the Arduino for that. The Arduino 5V pin can not deliver enough current. You need a DC/DC converter to make 5 or 6V for the servo.
Is the motor a 12V motor. You need some kind of motor driver (a hardware board that is able to supply enough current) for the motor. But it all depends on the voltage and maximum current (stall current) what kind of motor driver would be suitable. Do you want the motors to turn in both directions ? If not, perhaps a power mosfet could be used.
What kind of servos and motors do you have ?
A servo usually is for 4.8 ... 6V.
You can not use the Arduino for that. The Arduino 5V pin can not deliver enough current. You need a DC/DC converter to make 5 or 6V for the servo.
Is the motor a 12V motor. You need some kind of motor driver (a hardware board that is able to supply enough current) for the motor. But it all depends on the voltage and maximum current (stall current) what kind of motor driver would be suitable. Do you want the motors to turn in both directions ? If not, perhaps a power mosfet could be used.
I'm using L293D IC to control DC geared motor that I mentioned before, it is able to control the DC motor to turn both direction by pressing a switch. For servo motor, I'm not using any IC or motor driver for it because I just connect it to Arduino and control it by change the program inside Arduino itself.
So, the question is, when the 12V, 7.2AH battery connect to Arduino board, will the Ampere damaged the Arduino UNO board or the servo and DC motor? I have finish assemble my servo arms already. But I still using USB connect to Arduino and pinout to control the servo because I only have one Arduino UNO board for my project. If the board is damaged, I can't afford for another board due to budget constraint.
lohan:
So, the question is, when the 12V, 7.2AH battery connect to Arduino board, will the Ampere damaged the Arduino UNO board or the servo and DC motor?
You can apply 7...12V to the Arduino. That can be 0.5A or 50000A. The Arduino only uses the current it needs.
But if you accidently make a shortcut with a wire, a large current will create more damage (and more smoke).
You can not supply 12V to the servos or the motor, regardless of the amount of current.
So with 6V, you can supply a voltage to everything.
If you use a DC/DC converter to make 6V, you can power the Arduino, the servos and the motor.
It is possible that the microcontroller on the Arduino board could run at a voltage a little lower than 5.0V, but that is not a problem.
The Arduino output to the signal wire of the servo is the way to go.
The Servo library is included in the Arduino software.
The L293D is an older kind of H-bridge. It was made before power mosfets exists. The major disadvantage is the large voltage drop. If you use 6V, the motor will get only 5V (lower with full load).
You could also buy a "Adafruit Motor Shield", it uses the L293D, and clones on Ebay are very cheap.