I have the magician chassis and 4 AA batteries attached to my Arduino Uno and Ardumoto. When both the batteries and USB are connected they function great but when I disconnect the USB, one of them goes slower with less power. Could it be a power problem? I also have a bluetooth slave, and a buzzer+LED that are barely turned on. Will a 9V battery fix this? Thanks!
EDIT: Right wheel is the problem. Going forward is OK. Turning left too. But going right and backwards just pivot around the right wheel clockwise and counter-clockwise respectively. So when the right one has to go backwards. Seems like a motor problem but works perfectly when connect by usb.
SwissAndOr:
I'm using 4 1.5V batteries from Supercell. Maybe it's their capacity? I'll try to get 4 brand new AA batteries.
That's not really going to work satisfactorily with L298 motor drivers (which waste 3V
or so). You can upgrade to 6xAA cells for the motor supply and the motors will only
see about 6V of that.
I suspect your motors are at their friction limit and struggling to move because of
the inadequate voltage - that would expose slight differences between the motor's
efficiency as large differences in performance.
Also check wiring it sound and no dodgy joints in the motor connections, extra resistance
there would also affect performance a lot.
Noticed that it isn't my right motor's problem. When I switched my two motors A to B B to A, the left one started not functioning. So its a problem with B. So B is slightly slower when going forward or turning left but B doesn't even work when going right or left. I'm gonna check my program and upload it. I thought it was a motor shield problem but remember it works perfectly when connected by USB and battery. The Ardumoto has lights for the motors and when I go right and down only one is turned on. Yet as soon as I plug it into the USB when going right or down the other lights up.
Well, if you are powering the motors from a small 9v battery, then the battery probably won't last long. Usually a 9v battery is used to power the arduino and AA batteries are used to power the motors. Should be may schematics available to show the wiring. Note that rechargeable AA batteries only put out 1.2v. If you don't have a multimeter to use for testing, get one.
Well, if you are powering the motors from a small 9v battery, then the battery probably won't last long. Usually a 9v battery is used to power the arduino and AA batteries are used to power the motors. Should be may schematics available to show the wiring. Note that rechargeable AA batteries only put out 1.2v. If you don't have a multimeter to use for testing, get one.
How do I use multiple batteries? My Ardumoto has a energy input but only that or the Arduino input is to be used one at a time.
SwissAndOr:
I attached a 9V battery and it worked perfectly! It was a voltage problem. But the motors say 6V max. Should I worry?
No, the L298 motor drivers waste 2.5 to 3V, your motors see about 6V. You should
worry about the motor drivers getting too hot, if anything.
By 9V battery I hope you mean a big one, not a PP3 sized one (they won't power motors
without overloading and dying rapidly, wasting most of their capacity - they are designed
for low currents). 6 AA NiMH cells is probably a good compromise, about 8V and lots
of current available without voltage droop.
SwissAndOr:
I attached a 9V battery and it worked perfectly! It was a voltage problem. But the motors say 6V max. Should I worry?
No, the L298 motor drivers waste 2.5 to 3V, your motors see about 6V. You should
worry about the motor drivers getting too hot, if anything.
By 9V battery I hope you mean a big one, not a PP3 sized one (they won't power motors
without overloading and dying rapidly, wasting most of their capacity - they are designed
for low currents). 6 AA NiMH cells is probably a good compromise, about 8V and lots
of current available without voltage droop.
I was using a PP3 sized one but only to test to see if it needed more voltage. I don't really need rechargeable batteries. The problem now is that will my robot hold 6 AA batteries on it's back without constantly falling back when accelerating or even standing still? Arduino Robot New - Album on Imgur
I was very annoyed at the supermarket, trying to buy 2 batteries for the TV remote, that they batteries were not labelled as 1.2V and 1.5V. All my rechargeables that I already have, are 1.2V and I already found out thats not enough for the TV remote.
Noticed that it isn't my right motor's problem. When I switched my two motors A to B B to A, the left one started not functioning. So its a problem with B. So B is slightly slower when going forward or turning left but B doesn't even work when going right or left. I'm gonna check my program and upload it. I thought it was a motor shield problem but remember it works perfectly when connected by USB and battery. The Ardumoto has lights for the motors and when I go right and down only one is turned on. Yet as soon as I plug it into the USB when going right or down the other lights up.