smoke from the Dagu mini driver

[tammclaughlin]

Hi,

I mistakingly connected the battery terminals to the connections for the wheel motors on the Dagu mini driver instead of the actuall wires from the motors and the driver module started to smoke.
It all powers on ok but I not had chance to install the software and test so just wondering if I have burnt out something and need to replace the Dagu mini driver?

[Alan]

Hi Tam,

Welcome to the forums.

Unfortunately, it's never a good sign if you see the magic smoke escaping from your electronics, so I'm afraid, that yes, you probably will need a new Mini Driver in order to get your robot fully working.

Having said that, you may have only fried part of your board so you might still be able to use the Mini Driver as an Arduino, or to drive one motor.

The best way to test is to try to program the Mini Driver from a PC, by connecting it up using the supplied USB cable (if you're using Windows then you'll need to install some drivers which are linked to on the Mini Driver product page). We have a blog post which explains how to program the Mini Driver. If you're able to get the test program to upload then that's a good sign (as you have a programmable microcontroller you can use to control electronics) and if the program then makes motors move (you'll need batteries attached for that) then that's even better.

Best of luck testing your Mini Driver.

Regards

Alan

[tammclaughlin]

Thanks for your speedy response.

In fact it looks like it is working.
I thought that I would have to set up an sd card and download/install/configre/write software to test the robot but did not realise that the software was aleady bundled on the image with an interface to control the robot. Very impressed. So the Dagu is working but yes, it may have fried a chip that I am not using.

The problem I have now is that I am using normal alkaline batteries so it's hanging after a few movements. I confirmed by powering the Pi from a charger. I need to get rechargeable batteries but unfortunately my local supermarket is shut haha so will need to wait until tomorrow now.

Can't wait to do more with and learn more about this robot inc adding to it.

[tammclaughlin]

just attached my rechargeble batteries and the motors started to move more now that I had decent power going to it ....then lots of smoke and burnt components on the driver chip ..... so new one just ordered