In my last forum post I had a problem that when 4 motors started, the voltage drop would reset the Arduino.
It was suggested that I use a capacitor with a diode to try and prevent the drop from resetting the Arduino. Since then, I have altered the circuit, as shown below (3x motors removed for simplicity's sake), however the issue is now that when I power up the circuit using a 3.7V 600mAh LiPo the Arduino is powered, however when PWM is set to 255, the motors have no juice to spin!
Am I doing something wrong here? How might I overcome this seemingly simple problem?
Thanks for pointing that out! I was just reading into that as you posted this
So what I've done there is wrong, but the motors without the cap/diode for the Arduino worked fine- are you saying that those capacitors connected in series with the motors are what's causing the issue?
Wire the motor to the +V Side and switch GND to the motor. Diode Across the motor.
I think you worded your capacitor bit wrong... but you are saying that you are adding a surge control cap at the Arduino... it could help... might not.
The way You drew up your diagram... you would "STARVE" the motor at 255 since the transistor would not be fully turned on... due to the placement of motor on the emitter side and the resulting voltages at the Emitter and Collector pins (referenced to the base as well)
leito:
It was suggested that I use a capacitor with a diode to try and prevent the drop from resetting the Arduino.
Well, that is rather optimistic but really, either your power supply/ battery can provide the power (current) for the motors, or it can't. If it can't, you need to find one that can. One approach with batteries, is simply to provide a separate battery for the Arduino.
