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Comments by Patrick
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New products: RoboClaw Solo 30A and 60A Motor Controllers
- 18 March 2025Hello, IMasa.
It is not clear which RoboCalw you are asking about, but the Solo 30A and the Solo 60A controllers that you already mentioned are the only RoboClaws we offer that come with any wires pre-installed.
- Patrick
New products: Shunt Regulators
- 22 November 2024Hello, Steve.
The MOSFET also dissipates power and can be a limiting component, and it can depend a lot on your application how the power gets split between the resistors and MOSFET. Please keep in mind, the power ratings are intended primarily to indicate the relative average power-handling capabilities of the boards for up to a few seconds. The boards are designed for clamping occasional short (up to tens of ms) higher power pulses.
If you contact us with more details about what you want to do, we might be able to offer more specific feedback.
- Patrick
Video from content creator Curio Res: How to control a DC motor with encoder
- 5 November 2024Hello, Gopi.
The TB67H420FTG is underpowered for driving two of our 12V 37D gearmotors. I would recommend one of these drivers/controllers instead:
- Dual TB9051FTG Motor Driver Shield for Arduino
- Dual VNH5019 Motor Driver Shield for Arduino
- Pololu Dual G2 High-Power Motor Driver 18v18 Shield for Arduino
- Motoron M2S18v18 Dual High-Power Motor Controller Shield Kit for Arduino
Though you should generally be aiming to limit the load on the motor to around 25% or less of its stall torque, a conservative guideline for selecting motor drivers/controllers is to choose one that can readily handle the stall current of your motor.
- Patrick
New revision of the Dual VNH5019 motor driver shield for Arduino
- 1 April 2024Hello.
The Pololu Dual VNH5019 Motor Driver Shield for Arduino should be a good choice for powering two motors like the ones you are using, though the motor's current requirements might start pushing the boundaries of what the driver can do as you approach the 16V maximum operating voltage for that motor. Keep in mind that as the operating voltage increases, the motor's current draw increases proportionally, so the approximate current draw will be around 2.7 times higher at 16V than at 6V (which is the likely operating point for the current specs you copied since that is listed as the nominal operating voltage).
The best thing you can do to avoid damaging your motor is to just not subject it to loads beyond what it can handle. It might help to limit the supply voltage (or the maximum PWM duty cycle) and implement acceleration/deceleration limiting to avoid sudden impulses. You might also consider using the VNH5019's current sense feedback to monitor the motor's current draw and signal to reduce power or turn the motors off if the current gets too high. A good rule of thumb is 20-25% of the stall torque/current. However, that advice can be at odds with the objectives for a Sumo competition, so it is ultimately up to you to assess the risks and benefits of how you try to protect your motors, and to what degree.
- Patrick
New longer-range Pololu distance sensors
- 27 March 2024Hello, John,
The sensors use a 940 nm laser (Class 1).
- Patrick
New product: VL53L8CX Time-of-Flight 8×8-Zone Distance Sensor Carrier
- 25 March 2024Hello.
We do not currently have any MicroPython example programs for the VL53L8CX, but if you are interested in working on that, ST's API (application programming interface) should be a useful reference. You can find a link to that as well as other documentation on the product page under the "Resources" tab.
- Patrick
New Pololu distance sensors with digital and pulse width outputs
- 20 November 2023Hello.
A target does not need to completely overlap the cone projected from the sensor's FOV for the sensor to work, but it does need to reflect enough light back to the sensor's detector for it to estimate the distance accurately. So, the combination of maximum range and minimum target size will depend on external conditions like ambient lighting and target characteristics (e.g. color, size, shape, texture, and reflectivity). That typically makes it hard for us to say with certainty whether or not our sensors will work in a particular application, but I think it is very unlikely for a grain of rice at a distance of 20 cm to reflect enough light for these sensors to work reliably.
- Patrick
New longer-range Pololu distance sensors
- 20 November 2023Hello.
A target does not need to completely overlap the cone projected from the sensor's FOV for the sensor to work, but it does need to reflect enough light back to the sensor's detector for it to estimate the distance accurately. So, the combination of maximum range and minimum target size will depend on external conditions like ambient lighting and target characteristics (e.g. color, size, shape, texture, and reflectivity). That typically makes it hard for us to say with certainty whether or not our sensors will work in a particular application, but I think it is very unlikely for a grain of rice at a distance of 20 cm to reflect enough light for these sensors to work reliably.
- Patrick
New product: USB 2.0 Type-C Connector Breakout Board
- 25 July 2023Hello.
The usb07a boards use 0603 resistors (imperial units). Can you tell me why you are asking? In case it is helpful, we have a 3D CAD model of the board that shows the resistors on the product page under the tab.
- Patrick
New Pololu distance sensors with digital and pulse width outputs
- 14 June 2023Hello.
The output should be able to source or sink a few milliamps. There is a 220 Ω resistor in series with it, so it is unlikely to be damaged by overcurrent, but you will see a significant voltage drop or rise if you try to source or sink too much current respectively.
- Patrick