Allright so this is the mess i put together in Fritzing. Idea is to create a robotic car with water pump, 4 motors, 2 motor drivers, relay for water pump, stepper with driver, HC ultrasonic sensor, 2 IR sensors, 2 blue LEDs and one buzzer, all powered by 4xAA batteries. My knowledge is (very) limited in this area, but i have consulted this project with ChatGPT a LOT, and this is what (we) came up with.
Idea is to create a common connection point for 6V, 5V and GND, hence the clutches of cables. Black are grounds, blue are 5V and 6V. 6V from battery box would go into VIN pin, motor drivers would connect to 6V connection point together with relay, and everything else would be 5V as its all sensors that take 5V as far as i know. Relay is for controlling the water pump (turning it on and off when needed). All the digital pins were used, so i googled i can apparently use Analog pins as digital ones as well, so its all used to the last pin like this.
The expected result is that i will be able to code this so the car spins at place (tank drive) until a flame is detected by flame sensors, position itself so both IR sensors see the flame (i.e its in front of the car) then slowly approach it altering its position so the flame is in front all the time, approach the flame (candle in our case) to some direction thanks to HC ultrasound sensor, switch on waterpump and spray it through nozzle that moves from side to side thanks to stepper motor until flame is extinguished. All this time LEDS would blink and buzzer would make a sound like firefighters car.
I know its a mess in the picture but please try and help me, i would like to not break anything in testing so im asking beforehand to be sure. Thanks in advance to everyone!
Did ChatGPT tell you to test each component, individually as you developed the project? Now is quite late to begin testing.
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Yes, most of it is tested, but even if not i dont have anything connected just yet, so i still can test them no?
I suggest you begin with the most power hungry devices, the motors and their controllers. Get them to work as you plan for the final project.
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I meant more like overall if the connections would work as displayed on the scheme. Can i create a common point for all the 5V, GND and 6V like that? Would it run alright without burning Arduino?
Hard to say without knowing how you will ultimately, physically connect the wires. Will you just put all together then power and hope? Or will you make one connection at a time and test?
You need at least 6.5V. 7V-12V is recommended. ChatGPT should know this…
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He straight up suggested 6V since that's ehat motors and pump are rated for, and then connect it to VIN on Arduino. If i go higher with voltage I'll need more parts like step down regulators and stuff for the motors and pump since I won't be able to power them straight from psu?
Maybe a stepdown to connect into 5V not VIN pin, but still power motors from battery pack directly before stepping it down to 5V?
Of course one by one, I'm just asking if this connection method would be even possible, to sort of extend the 5V/GND from pin with one cable and connect 8 or some number kf components to this cable to provide 5V/GND to all components.
Or another idea, what if i use 9V battery instead of the 6V currently in ghe scheme. I could then theoretically run it directly to motors and have nothing bad happen to motors even though they are 6V, as there's the motor driver that will regulste speed of the motors so they won't overheat from turning too fast. And i could plug it into VIN without problems since it's in the perfect range you wrote.
For perhaps 10 minutes and then get another 9 volt battery. Concerning your wiring connections, just wire the connections that are ground or are needing one specific voltage to a common point for that voltage/ground. Don't daisy chain. Not because it wont work, but because at this point, you will be making lots of changes as you test.
I meant more like 6 AA batteries not one 9V battery, i know those suck current-wise. Those should last longer if I calculated the current draw correctly. That's what i meant with connections, create a common point like in the scheme and just connect all the common voltages or gnd into this point. Daisy chaining would be what exactly, what do you mean?
Hi, @chameleonn
Welcome to the forum.
Fritzy is not a very good CAD in its picture mode to show how things are connected.
To greatly clarify your project, can you please post a copy of your circuit, a picture of a hand drawn circuit in jpg, png?
Hand drawn and photographed is perfectly acceptable.
Please include ALL hardware, power supplies, component names and pin labels.
Concentrate on layout with gnd connections 
along the bottom of the page and power connections along the top.
If wires have to cross, do it at right angles, try not to draw diagonal lines unless really needed.
Thanks... Tom...
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It was just quickly thrown together to give you guys an image of what I'm trying to achieve here, I've never actually drew a circuit by hand or anything so that would probably turn out to be even worse than the Fritzing scheme 
I'm like 90% sure it should work like in the scheme, only question was the common points, if it's even possible to wire it like that, and also now that everyone's mentioning it, the 4xAA would be changed to 6xAA, i.e. one more box 2xAA would be connected to this one in parallel to create 9V. That should be perfect for VIN pin and other components as well?
Hi,
Fritzy has a schematic feature as well, that may help with your diagram.
Laying out like this example of a part of your diagram will help.
Use gnd symbols and 5V and 9V symbols to tidy the wiring.
I have neuropathy, so hand drawn diagrams look worse than my 4yo grandsons drawing.
Hope this helps, this type of schematic makes understanding a project a lot easier.
Hand drawn circuits means you can make many symbols yourself for non standard components, as long as you name the connections.
Tom..
That refers to having one wire connected to the power source and going to the first device needing that power. Then a second wire connecting that first device power to a second device, then a new wire connecting to a third device, and a new wire going on to the fourth device, etc.
Oh yeah I don't want to nor plan on doing that, i meant exactly creating a common connection point like you said and connect all the wires into this point, so i can connect and disconnect any component as i need.
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Okay so i have put together a scheme in Fritzing which is really a LOT more clear and understandable than the original design haha. All the ground symbols are obviously common grounds, connected all to one common point and then to Arduino UNO GND, all the 5V symbols are one common point as well that will be connected to 5V pin on arduino, 9V symbol goes to VIN pin on arduino and motor drivers, all from 9V power supply.
For the motors it should be ideal since the L298N motor drivers are not that efficient and about 2V are lost in heat, so even though i would power them with 9V only about 7V would go into motors, and even though those are rated for 6V it should work just fine, mainly when i will regulate their speed with the drivers.
My main questions are:
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The 9V 6xAA batteries setup to VIN pin, would that be suitable since the range for that pin is 7V-12V?
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Also, another concern is the water pump and relay, the pump is rated for 3V-6V, so 5V should work?
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Next question is the stepper motor, its 28BYJ with its driver board, could i power it from 5V on arduino? It will be used only to move a water spray nozzle from side to side, so no heavy load there.
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Last but not least, together all the components in 5V pin should draw about 520mA, even with the water pump and the stepper connected, so that should be fine for the 5V pin right?
And overall, would a connection like this work? Any changes or comments? Thanks for all input in advance, i really appreciate all the help.
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