3.2 Power supply

The control module for the manipulator arm is very flexible in terms of power supply and distribution. The instructions tell you provide a strong 6 volts to one side of the motor drivers, and use a 9v PP3 battery to supply the control board’s electronics. The board even comes with a battery connector and two switches. To be safe, this is exactly how the arm was first connected, but why the palaver?

Discussion at the LynxMotion web site states that all the electronics on the robot and control board can be run anywhere from 6 to 12 volts, and jumpers are provided on the control board to distribute a single power supply to all components. Well, the strategy we adopted was to buy a variable voltage switched-mode supply, capable of giving 6, 7.5, etc, volts. As a first effort we can choose 7.5 volts (halfway between the two primary supply requirements), and feed it to both one of the motor control banks and the control electronics. Then we immediately do away with the battery connector, and can stop worrying about the battery going flat and the ongoing costs of replacements.

Once this configuration is achieved, we can always experiment with some slightly higher voltages…