Customer:
I’m using your Croduino beginner set with students in a school computer science club and both the students and I are excited about it. My electronics knowledge isn’t very strong, but your tutorials have helped me a lot.
Now that we want to build some robots that can move around away from the computer, I’m interested in how to power the Croduino board with batteries so it doesn’t need to be connected to a laptop all the time.
Can we use 4×1.5V batteries on an MB102 and then to Croduino? Or can I do this with a KIS3R33S STEP DOWN MODULE? Can I actually do it the way I’m imagining. I should mention - I’m not confident with all the electronics details.
Original message (Croatian)
Pozdrav, koristim vaš croduino set za početnike u radu s učenicima, na sekciji informatike u osnovnoj školi i oduševljena sam i ja i učenici. Pogotovo jer moje znanje iz elektronike i nije baš jako i vaši tutorijali su mi mnogo pomogli.
E sad budući da želimo napraviti neke robotiće koji će se malo i gibati dalje od računala, zanima me kako izvesti napajanje baterijama na croduino pločicu? Tako da nam nije povezano s laptopom u svakom trenutku.
Možemo li baterije 4*1,5V na MB102 pa na croduino? Ili to mogu izvesti preko KIS3R33S STEP DOWN MODULA? I mogu li to uopće izvesti na način koji sam zamislila u glavi. Ponavljam, nisam baš na „ti“ sa svim segmentima elektronike.
Originally submitted via Facebook on 26 March 2017. Migrated to the forum for community visibility.
Soldered Support:
There are several ways to make Croduino wireless. Keep in mind the board is designed to work with a computer and would use up a battery relatively quickly.
The modules you mentioned are very similar to the integrated regulator on Croduino which you access through the VIN pin. So you would connect a 7-12V battery to the GND and VIN pins. In that case I’d recommend a 9V battery. This regulator isn’t perfect and would itself drain the battery considerably. You’d end up with quite a few dead batteries to recycle.
4×1.5V batteries would probably work in practice. However, it’s not safe to connect them directly to the +5V pin of Croduino because the maximum input voltage for the microcontroller is 5.5V.
My recommendation is rechargeable batteries. One would be enough - connect it to GND and the +5V pin.
Feel free to ask if you need more details.
Original message (Croatian)
hvala na pohvalama, drago nam je čuti da ste zadovoljni.
Više je načina kako omogućiti da Croduino bude “bežičan”. Treba imati na umu kako je pločica prilagođena radu s računalom te bi relativno brzo potrošila bateriju.
Moduli koje ste nabrojali vrlo su slični integriranom regulatoru na Croduinu kojem pristupate preko VIN pina. Dakle, spojili biste bateriju od 7-12V na gnd i VIN pin. U tom slučaju preporučio bih 9V “kockastu” bateriju. Ovaj regulator nije savršen te bi sam poprilično praznio bateriju. Konačno imali biste popriličan broj praznih baterija za reciklirati.
Baterije 4x1.5V bi, vjerovatno, u praksi radile. Međutim, nije ih sigurno spojiti na +5V pin Croduina jer je maksimalni ulazni napon mikrokontrolera 5.5V.
Moja preporuka su punjive baterije (Soldered: Open-Source Electronics, Boards, Sensors & Modules – Soldered Electronics). Dovoljna je jedna koju biste povezali na gnd i +5V pin.
Slobodno pitajte ako trebate više detalja.