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Building the Circuit and Unforseen Issues

A project log for Water Bot

Robot Sprinkler

mary-parkerMary Parker 07/25/2017 at 14:020 Comments

Building the circuit was pretty straight forward. I uploaded the Kicad schematic for anyone that is interested. This part of the build did uncover some unforeseen issues. The H-Bridge manual was completely written in Chinese, so I scoured the internet for information. I thought I had a good understanding of the bridge until the FET's became insanely hot during brief testing. Of course it goes without saying that buying some thermal paste and constructing a heat sink are in my immediate future. In addition, the solenoid for the water valve pulls 12v and 2 amps ! I don't want to drain my battery on a water valve so I will need to drive the power with a relay. Since each wheel needs to move independent, I need the sprockets mounted to the tire to transfer the force. However, the sprockets for the tires are not easily mounted to the tires. Mainly because the size of the sprockets in relation to any mountable surface.

Here is some photos of the circuit prototyping:

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