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Unread 24-05-2005, 21:34
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Manoel Manoel is offline
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Re: 70 dollars burning up

Quote:
Originally Posted by mechanicalbrain
We had a camera on our robot burn up. this camera was connected to the main power source (through a spike not directly of course) and we had just connected it. It ran fine for several hours but the robot was suspended and couldn't move. Later when we ran it on the ground the wire burned through the rubber and the camera emitted a foul smelling cloud of smoke. I'm almost positive there was a spike in current caused by our motors when the robot turned (we really need a better drive train and the motors literally fight each other). My only worry is how to protect the camera. I'm thinking a resistor or a DC regulator. Also I'm considering using a capacitor to provide power to the camera when the motors cause a power dip, and I'm wondering if this fits under the "no other power source rule". Any help or advice would be great meanwhile ill shop for another camera.
Well, if you really had your camera connected to a Spike, then that's your problem. Spikes will output the battery voltage, which should be around 12 V, and the camera was supposed to be connected to a PWM header, which should output about 7 V. It's actually quite impressive that a sensitive device like the camera lasted such a long time running at a voltage 70% bigger than its rated voltage.
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Manoel Flores da Cunha
Mentor
Brazilian Machine
Team # 383