How do you speed up the boe-bot motors?

StarWars_Speeder

Hi, I can make the motors go max speed on pulsout 650 and 850. I was wondering if there was a way to tweak the motors to go faster, or whether or not there are different motors that will fit on the boe-bot chassis that I can buy.

Mike Green

You can certainly replace the existing servos with somewhat faster ones, but the easiest thing you can do is to add an extra AA battery, particularly if you're currently using rechargable batteries. The standard 4 AA cell battery holder puts out 6V with alkalines, but only 4.8V with NiMH's. By adding a 5th cell, you get 7.5V with alkalines and 6V with NiMHs. The 7.5 is on the edge of too high for servos, but with NiMHs the 6V is just right.

Ugha

Also as long as you have nothing else hooked up to the servo connectors on the BOE (no ping or anything else that can plug
into them) you could switch them from VDD to VIN to get a little bit more power into the servos.

Like Mike said... if you use BOE-Boost with alkalines or a 9volt to power your BOE, don't do this... it'll cook your servos.

There's a jumper on most BOEs that's right between the two servo ports to do the job.

Ken Gracey

StarWarsSpeeder,

We have something coming which will give you 3x more speed, and fit within the Boe-Bot chassis. Unfortunately they're not cheap, but they'll certainly boost your bot.

Ken Gracey
Parallax, Inc.

Whit

Ken Gracey (Parallax) said...
We have something coming which will give you 3x more speed, and fit within the Boe-Bot chassis. Unfortunately they're not cheap, but they'll certainly boost your bot.

Ken, You do know how to get folks excited don't you? Can't wait to see this...

Speeder, If you decide to add a 5th AA battery are you aware of this product?
http://www.parallax.com/Store/Microcontrollers/BASICStampModules/tabid/134/List/1/ProductID/455/Default.aspx?txtSearch=BOE+Boost&SortField=ProductName%2cProductName·This is about as simple a solution as you could get.

Check out the pdf BOE Boost Documentation (link to this is on the page linked above). It will give you some info on the 7.5 volts for Alkaline batteries·vs. 6 volt for NiMH (rechargable) batteries·that Mike Green mentioned as well as the Vin (full battery voltage)·and Vdd (regulated voltage)·jumper. This jumper (located between the servo connection headers·on the Rev. C BOEs) Important - If you do go to Vin remember to change the setting of the jumper (back to Vdd)·before using a·9 volt battery or power supply·or you could damage your servos.

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Whit+


"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." - Walt Disney

Post Edited (Whit) : 7/10/2008 8:46:48 PM GMT

Dgswaner

increase your wheel size.

Ken, don't leave us hanging, how about a bench photo or even a description. [noparse]:)[/noparse]

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"A complex design is the sign of an inferior designer." - Jamie Hyneman, Myth Buster

DGSwaner