If I use any other power other than the USB, I have flakey results. Its as if the board isn't getting enough power and resets or does other odd things. I have tried using a 12v power adapter into the power jack and have also tried using the 12v source from my car into the Vin. In both cases it seems the board will work, then reset, or do a number of things. However if I have the board plugged into a usb cable, it works flawlessly.
Always show us a good schematic of your proposed circuit.
Show us a good image of your ‘actual’ wiring.
Give links to components.
Do not use the Arduino 5V pin to power large loads.
What else is being powered by the Arduino 5v line?
You don't mention which board you use. The older Arduinos (Uno, Mega, ...) use a small voltage regulator to reduce the voltage from 12V to 5V. The excess voltage is converted to heat. The amount of heat depends on the amount of current (see post #3) that is required and the excess voltage.
Because the voltage regulator has basically no heatsink, it can't get rid of the heat, gets to hot and shuts down.
A few possible solutions:
- Use a power supply with a lower voltage; the lower the better. Check the spec of your board as to what the minimum is, probably 7V.
- Use a 5V power supply with sufficient current capacity directly connected to the 5V pin of the board. For Uno, Nano, Mega it's not advisable to connect the USB and the 5V pin at the same time.
Your topic has been moved to a more suitable location on the forum. Installation and Troubleshooting is not for problems with (nor for advice on) your project.