Power Consumption Calculations

So our plans for power are using 6 AAA alkaline batteries (which each have 1.5 V and 180 mAh). These consist of packs of three batteries in series with two of said packs in parallel for extra capacity. 3 batteries gives us 4.5V with 180 mAh and 6 batteries in our configuration gives 360 mAh. Note that alkaline batteries under 500mA draw die quickly…

Update 5/01: We came to the obvious realization that we would be much better off not trying to build our own unreliable battery packs. (Button cells have high resistances and we would not be able to have the current draw necessary to power the motors.) In lieu of this, we are powering each one of out bots with a single 9V battery regulated to 5V and 3.3V where needed. We believe that having one fewer component to potentially debug will allow us a smoother testing and ultimately lead to fewer headaches down the road.

ItemQtyVoltage (V)Amperage (mA)WattageTotal AmperageTotal Wattage
H Bridges25V100 mA.5 Watts200 mA1 Watts
Motors25V100 mA.5 Watts200 mA1 Watts
LEDs25V20 mA.1 Watts40 mA0.2 Watts
Mouse Encoder15V25 mA.125 Watts25 mA.125 Watts
AtMega Chip15V2 mA.1 Watts2 mA.1 watts

Total Wattage: 2.65 Watts Total Amperage: 467 mA

comments powered by Disqus