36 volt on thunderborg

Hello, i have a question About powering the thunderborg. Is it possible to put 36v on the thunderborg. I have 3 12v batterys in serie

Greetings Thieu

piborg's picture

Unfortunately the ThunderBorg has a maximum voltage input of 35 V. Going above that exceeds the safe operation limits of some of the components on the board :(

Is it possible with a Stepdown converter to make it 30 volts?

piborg's picture

If you can find a suitable step-down voltage converter which is able to handle the full current draw of the board and motors at a 30V output then that will work fine :)

I would recommend one capable of 12A or higher output to cover the maximum motor and 5V power draw from the ThunderBorg.

Is the max input of the thunderborg 10 amps?
Greetings Thieu

piborg's picture

The maximum output of the ThunderBorg is 5 amps per motor and 1.5 amps at 5 volts for powering the Raspberry Pi.

As long as the input can supply at least 11.5 amps it should be enough for the ThunderBorg to supply its maximum output.

Is it 5 amps at 35 volts?

piborg's picture

It is 5 amps per motor at the connected battery / supply voltage.

Thanks, i want to put a fuse in the input voltage, is a 10 amp fuse good?

piborg's picture

You want a little higher to cover the extra current draw from the 5V DC/DC on the ThunderBorg as well. I would recommend a 11 or 12 A fuse.

Hello, today i was testing my robot but i burned my thunderborg, there is a 10 amps car fuse before the input, do u know How this is possible?

piborg's picture

What motors where you trying to control with the ThunderBorg and how many?

24 volt motors, with 2 thunderborg each thunderborg 2 motors

piborg's picture

Do you have the motor specifications?

Excuse me motors are 12v

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piborg's picture

I believe these motors can draw too much current for the ThunderBorg :(

A quick search on Google lead me to this table:

It lists the rated current for the 12V 322RPM motor as 4.3A.

While this might sound fine, it means that the motor draws that much current when it is delivering maximum power. Unfortunately this is not the highest current the motor can draw, which is likely to be much higher (double or more). This worst case current is known as the "stall current" and is the current drawn when the motor is unable to move.

My guess is that one of the motors tried to draw too much current too quickly, causing the ThunderBorg to fail. While fuses are a good safety measure they do not protect against short spikes in current. There is a good description of how a fuse works here: http://www.my-car-computer.com/auto-fuses.html

Many thanks, so the amperage of the motors is to high. Is it possible to put 1 motor on 2 outputs of the thunderborg?

Is it in my situation better to use the diablo board?

piborg's picture

I think Diablo would be a better fit for your robot given the motors and battery setup you have been discussing. It will handle much higher currents than the ThunderBorg and it can be used with a 36V battery setup.

Thanks than im going to order one. Is it a long delivery time to the netherlands?

piborg's picture

The estimated delivery will depend on which shipping service you choose. See https://www.piborg.org/piborg-delivery-information for more details.

The fastest option would be DHL Economy Select, which has a 1-4 working days estimated delivery for Europe.

Is it possible to pay without a creditcard?

piborg's picture

Our store also accepts payment via PayPal and Bitcoin.

Last question About the Diablo, does it works fine with an Raspberry pi zero?
Greetings Thieu

piborg's picture

Yes, the Diablo will work with a Raspberry Pi Zero :)

You will need to attach pins to the GPIO so you can plug the 3-pin cables in.

I don't use paypal can i use a credit card?

piborg's picture

You should be able to make a credit card payment on the website without a PayPal account.

Leave the payment option as "PayPal" on the checkout screen and place the order. When you get to the PayPal login screen there should be a button labelled "Pay by Debit or Credit Card" below the Log In button.

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