For the teams that have been successful in powering their IR boards, what power source did you use (9v battery, 12v battery, etc…) and what do you think is the most efficient power source for the IR board?
its probably best to run it off of the 12 volt on the robot for simplicity
We run it off of an unused PWM port. The 7.2 VDC backup battery powers the +5VDC line on the robot controller PWMs. It provides adequate power and we have not had any issues.
Although for the competition we may change to an fused 20A power port to please the judges.
I just tapped off the main 12v breaker panel for the IR board on the robot. the PWM, analogue, or digital connectors could also probably provide the required ammount of power, and if that IR board draws anywhere near 500mA, it will probably do something requiring you to replace it, if you get my meaning. havent tried it, but the more I think about it the more I think there should be plenty of power on the PWM, analogue, or digital connectors and if there isn’t, in all likelihood you have bigger problems to worry about, like finding a new IR board.