Hi there, I'm a new member here but I've been messing around with arduino for a while but its only now that I've really come across something I thought worth askin.
You see I'm building a line following robot based on pololu's 3pi robot. I'll link my schematic down bellow since I'm hoping to make it opensource. I've made a lot of different changes to it over the years and have finally made my own pcb version. It's been a great improvement over my janky protoboard ones. The problem however is that after quite a bit of testing (a month or so), it suddenly started killing my arduino nanos (clones). This happened after I pressed the reset button.
To describe how dead they are, my nanos are no longer recognized by my computer. each time I provide power ,via either Vin pin or usb, all three LEDs ( RX, TX and PWR ) light up. I suspect that I either shorted something out with my sweaty fingers or my chinese boost converter is responsible.
The reason why I use a boost converter is that I wanted to step up my 4v to ~12v ( I know it sounds too high but it worked for a while) before feeding it into my L293D and arduino. I also saw that pololu also boosted their battery voltage to 9V but later read that they have their own proprietary switching boost regulator circuit to do that.
so to sum it up my questions are:
What does the 3 LEDS lit up mean
Should I get rid of the boost converter or just tone down the voltage
DVDdoug:
That was my first thought when I read the title of your post.
...Cheap boost converters and cheap Nano clones. Who knows? But I suspect the boost converters.
But with a robot (motors) it could be back-EMF somehow getting into the Arduino through another pin (maybe not through the power supply connection).
Actually I tried to replace both the nano and the boost converter with new ones. After trying it out the nano died again the moment the motors reversed directions. What I dont understand however is that shouldnt the driver die before my nano?
Paul__B:
Sorry, your schematic is corrupt, and we need at least that to even begin to figure out your problem.
I've linked the schematic and a picture of my robot instead turns out the files were too big.
Hi,
Try and post your images as attachments in jpg or png format under 1M in size.
Your pdf file is corrupted someway and will not load.
At the moment a picture of your project and your schematic would be invaluable.
A copy of your PCB layout will also help.
If your PCB was working and then started to cause problems, you need to check your PCB tracks for cracks and shorts.
How wide are your tracks, in particular gnd and tracks carrying motor drive current?
Have you got a DMM?
I don't hear you telling us what your circuit voltages are when the fault occurs.
