Ubec Inc

[Darios Uclaray]

Buildinga soccer robot controlled by hobby servos, arduino uno, and a lipo battery. The servos are powered by a battery controller that can output 5.1V-6V up to 3A which is plenty for a a 11.1V 1000A 3 cell high discharge lipo battery. I am trying to save the weight of a dedicated 9V battery just to power the robot and just rely on the lipo to power the arduino and servos. I don't really know much about electronics and just wondering if anyone agrees wiring the ubec's output to feed into the 5V terminal of the arduino would be a catastrophic or good idea to save weight and get the machine un-tethered from my computer.

Open to any other ideas to how to power an arduino, I guess I'll throw on the battery if I have to, just wanted to hear what you guys might think since you probably have more experience with how not to murder your electronics.

The Arduino has a built-in voltage regulator that's rated for 7-20V so you can power it directly from the 11V battery (into the barrel jack or Vin). You do have to "be careful" if you are powering other stuff through the Arduino's voltage regulator but it's fine for the Arduino itself.

Anything powered from a large LiPo pack needs a fuse, the fuse being rated to fail before the wiring catches fire. Accidental short circuits are seriously bad news with these powerful batteries, and eye-protection should be worn if you are tinkering as the sparking involved is pyrotechnic in nature!

DVDdoug:

The Arduino has a built-in voltage regulator that's rated for 7-20V so you can power it directly from the 11V battery (into the barrel jack or Vin). You do have to "be careful" if you are powering other stuff through the Arduino's voltage regulator but it's fine for the Arduino itself.

Thanks, I'll hunt down a barrel jack and give it a plug. I am using the 5v pin to power a servo control board and 3.3V for a PS2 reciever. I might plan on using all the pins eventually for a gyro and enabling L29 motor drivers. All in all, hopefully just light stuff but I think I'm getting ahead of myself talking about those things.

MarkT:

Anything powered from a large LiPo pack needs a fuse, the fuse being rated to fail before the wiring catches fire. Accidental short circuits are seriously bad news with these powerful batteries, and eye-protection should be worn if you are tinkering as the sparking involved is pyrotechnic in nature!

Thanks to some assistance here, I am just about complete with my Raspberry Pi Drone build to include all the software setup. The only remaining issue is in regards to powering the Raspberry Pi. I have the Pi currently being powered by the Pixhawk Telemetry 2 port and its insufficient even with the LIPO battery fully charged as the Pi shuts down after about 30 or so seconds. I can plug the Pi in to power it through the USB-C port to get all the software installed on it, but I need a solution so I can fly the drone with power to the Pi from the LIPO battery. I saw another forum message with the suggestion to power the Pi by tapping power from the Pixhawk servo rail. Would this then replace the telemetry 2 power to the Pi GPIO pins or would you run this power to another location on the Pi?

Not sure why you are having this issue, and sounds like something else is going on. The kit is robust as per the course. But you can tap from the Pixhawk power rail as long as it has power, eg, from an esc. So you would cut the telemetry power and ground wires then connect separately to the rail. The TELEM2 port signal wires are left alone.

1] The UBEC can provide a reliable power source when you have other devices that load up the power demands of the drone such as range finders, optical flow, LEDs, servos, gimblels, cameras, etc. The flight controller is not designed really as a power source, but it is normally ok when you have low power demands.

When using frames without integrated power distribution boards (PDB) you can get PDBs which include a ubec. This is often used when you want to add a separate camera such as used with first person view (FPV).

To further clarify, for the first option, I would run wires directly from the power rail that should be getting power directly from the ESC for motor 1 (the UBEC lines for motors 2-4 were removed as directed in the video) to the GPIO pins after removing the power wires from the TELEM port?

A Battery Elimination Circuit (BEC) is essentially a voltage regulator that steps down the voltage from the main LiPo battery pack (e.g., from 4S 14.8V or 6S 22.2V) to a lower voltage like 5V or 9V. Commonly integrated within the flight controller or ESC, the BEC eliminates the need for a separate battery to power your electronics.

BECs can be either linear or switching. Linear BECs, often found in ESCs, dissipate excess voltage as heat to step down the LiPo voltage to 5V. This is not particularly efficient, especially at higher voltages or with significant current draws, as it can lead to wasted power and overheating: -regulator-vs-switching-regulator/)

Switching BECs, on the other hand, toggle the power supply on and off to manage voltage reduction, avoiding the overheating issue common with linear BECs. They maintain about 85% efficiency across higher voltages and currents, making them preferable for setups above 4S.

This is my first time dealing with a rc airplane radio trans mitter system

Here are my questions

I have a bec (esc) 30 amp which I bought with a A2212 brushless motor and bought a separate ubec. 20 amp.

Now I am stuck, they look exactly the same, they have the same amount of wires. Every schematic I have seen does not fit my wiring.

Best article I have read on the matter. I actually understand now. I have a 40amp esc with a bec 3-5v and a Air3 Inav which came with a UBEC. So just to clarify as this will bw in a plane and the ESC has a large heat sink on it and will be mounted outside the plane to keep cool it should be fine to power the inav without the hassle of soldering on the UBEC then? It also cam with a capacitor so having that plugged in will also help?

Good blog !!, thanks for sharing.

I also have a quadcopter..

i use a 4s batt to power the motor and esc (emax esc with bec)

I also put in a 2s batt to power up my tx, gimbal & camera (gimbal pit roll control also have red wiire to FC)

when i connect anyone of the battery, the FC will lights up and working.

if i connect 2 of them, you think it will overload the FC? my FC is APM2.6.

also, does the 600mw fpv tx, 2d gimbals & camera consume battery?

the reason i put in extra 2s battery is to get longer fly time.

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