Reverse polarity protection

Hi, I stupidly reversed my input voltage polarity now nothing works. There was no smoke.
Have I cooked my Picoborg reverse or is there some kind of protection that will reset itself ?
If I have cooked it any Idea when there will be new stock available?

piborg's picture

Unfortunately there is no reverse polarity protection on the PicoBorg Reverse.
Given that nothing is working the board is likely to be damaged.

We will not have any PicoBorg Reverses back in stock before Christmas at this point.

piborg's picture

I have just had a quick look, ModMyPi do have some PicoBorg Reverses in stock still:
https://www.modmypi.com/raspberry-pi/breakout-boards/piborg/piborg-picob...

Thanks for the quick reply, I've been on their page and they do indeed have stock :)
Unfortunately a quick browse through the other goodies has made me doubt my choice of board for my project.
My initial idea was to build a ROV powered with 3 12v DC bilge pumps. Easy to do with two reverse boards. However I've just seen the ultraborg and am now considering using 3 brushless motors with esc's as they use PWM signals similar to servo's. Using an ultraborg would work out cheaper ( 1 board instead of two)
My problem is....I need tank type steering as found with the reverse. I've seen a similar post ( https://www.piborg.org/node/1780) where you advised on using a joystick to control the ultra borg. Would tank steering be possible with the ultraborg? also would the WebGui for the Reverse work with the ultraborg?
Am I expecting too much?

Thanks again

piborg's picture

It all depends on how the ESCs work with the motors in this case.

If the incoming servo signal can make the motors drive both forwards and backwards by changing the level then it will be able to tank steer.
To make this work you will want to use the tuning GUI to make sure that the 0 value is where the motors are not running.

If the incoming servo signal can only make the motors drive in one direction then it will not be possible to tank steer as this needs one side to drive forwards while the other side drives backwards.
In this case the joystick code might need a bit more adjustment, but it can still work just without reversing or tank steering.

The Web UI can be updated in the same way as the joystick script.
I think the same list of things to change will apply in this case.

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