Title says it all
Basically trying to figure out if I can power an Arduino Mega, with leds, from the vesc’s uart port or is this just too much?
I’m no expert but I believe it’s 5v 1a.
How much power would that be in mA?
Ok, thank you @mmaner!
@scepterr thats 1000 mA so it sound like it might be enough. I’ll have to try I guess and see, haha.
Lol no not how many mA is 1A LMAO How many mA are your power requirements?
I can’t remember exactly, the draw of the vesc itself is like 200-300mA?
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oh, haha. I’m not quite sure yet. It seems like the aurdino is about 200 mah, not sure about everything else.
Working on what I think could be the real solution for good headlights, brake lights, and tail lights, combined with multiple vesc bluetooth.
With the Mega, I can have up to 4 serial connections, so 4wd or 2wd could have data combined for sending to your smart phone.
Also will be integrated with an oled display to put on top of your board to give on board data.
Really, I would like to think of it as the central computer of the board. The vesc’s control the motors still, but all data is passed to this central computer so we can use it for lights, displaying, and to combine data between vesc’s to be sent to your smart phone.
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Don’t you get access to all vescs via can if using Bluetooth only on master?
No, you only get data from the master vesc then. So if your using it on a 2wd or 4wd, your only getting data from 1 vesc.
If you check out the firmware code, specifically the commands.c file, you’ll see that there is no way setup already to share data between the vesc’s, beside erpm, which is used for traction control.
No one has yet to create a system that conbines all of the data together. You can “guess” you’ll see the same current between the motors, but again, that’s a guess. You won’t get accurate numbers, and this is what some of the phone apps offer.
i’ve used around 500-800ma from the servo line 5v. not sure if theres a difference on the uart pinout.
this could help with the multiple vescs thing, but i haven’t tested it yet.
Also, why don’t you use the +5V from the PWM Port? I always did that with my arduinos and it should deliver 1A for sure.
Thanks for the link, I’m trying to get that code working right now actually. Been getting this error though:
fatal error: arduino.h: No such file or directory.
I had the leds up and working in minutes, but this piece has been a bit more difficult since I couldn’t just install it like a library and have it work…
The reason for using the uart for power is because it’ll mean less plugs. Trying to create a box essentially that has a bunch of ports for you to plug everything into. So master vesc + slave vescs each will have their own uart in port (master would then power the whole systems), then a front led port, back light port, and oled display port.
The vesc’s control the motors still, but all data is passed to this central computer
Like a multirotor! Good thinking! This project has a lot of potential and im interested in seeing where it goes.
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Thank you, good catch!
Just to show the lights, super easy to setup…
i really gotta figure out some way to split the uart port 3 ways…
wanna run bluetooth module wanna use the firefly remote wanna use some turn signals
decisions decisions
Well the Arduino Mega has 4 sets of serial input and ouput.
Mix this with some led lights, and the right controller, and there you go 
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where dju get these lights?
These are adafruit neopixel sticks. Bought on amazon for $10 each.
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More cost effective option http://amzn.to/2ChxA0n Neopixel is just branded ws2812b Edit:fixed link
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