Setting Up about the Zybot - Hardware in detail III

The servo cables need all of the room that they have for the servos to have full motion so we can't organize their cables. However, we can zip-tie down the lengthy camera cable. Leave a bit of slack for the camera to move and then zip-tie the cable in place. `

To connect the battery we are going to create two Velcro loops for the battery to sit in.

Cut two pieces of Velcro about 4 inches long.

Separate the Velcro and then attach it back together overlapping only as wide as the battery.

Trim the Velcro so that when you fold over each side it reaches only to the other side of the battery.

Close the Velcro so it forms loops and glue those loops in the middle of the Zybot underside.

You know have resealable loops to hold the battery in place.

The voltage regulator that I am using is conveniently the size of a Pmod so I can use a Pmod clip to attach mine. Depending on the voltage regulator you use, you may have to get creative with how you attach it. Put the voltage regulator somewhere close to the ZYBO power pins and the PmodCON3.

At this point do not have the battery plugged into anything. We do not want to be messing with wires and various boards connected to power until we have all of our connections made and secure. Also be sure you have read the instructable on Power considerations for the Zybot.

The motors require 12V. So, we want to connect the 12V side of the Voltage regulator to the motors. For the regulator I am using there is a handy set of screw terminals that I can use to connect to the 12V side.

So, first I need to two sets of red and black wire long enough to go from the H-bridges to the Voltage regulator. Mine ended up being about 11 inches long. Then I will strip about 1/4 inch of the insulation on each side.

Then I will connect them to the screw terminals.

Note: The way you connect the Voltage Regulator and motors may be different depending on the connection style of your voltage regulator. In any case you are connecting the 12V side to each H-bridge. Be vary careful that you pay attention to which side is power and which is ground!

This step may seem a little weird to those of you who have some electronics experience.

Take one of the two pin MTE power cables, and plug the power side onto the VS pin of the PmodCON3 and plug the other end into the 5V side of the voltage regulator. The servos can only take 5V.

Again, make sure that the power and ground are connected to the respective pins.

It may seem weird that we are only connecting the power side of the PmodCON3. The PmodCON3 will already have a common ground with the ZYBO since it is plugged into the ZYBO so it doesn't need a ground pin. However, this means that you must have all of the power connections done before you plug in the battery, otherwise the servos will float.

The last thing you need to plug in before you plug in the battery is the ZYBO board. The ZYBO board can only handle 5V!

Take the second MTE cable and plug that into the 5V side of the voltage regulator. The other side of this will be connected to the ZYBO board. Remove the blue jumper from JP7, which is by the power switch. Plug the MTE cable into the GND and VV5V0 pins paying close attention again to connecting power to power and ground to ground.

This is again going to be different depending on the voltage regulator. The one I'm using has a set of input pins. So I take my special batter to MTE cable and plug the power side into the Vin and the ground side into the GND.

I would highly suggest testing the voltage regulator current and voltage at every pin to make sure that you aren't going to destroy any part of the Zybot, particularly the ZYBO. I did not use the voltage regulator that you will be using so I don't know for sure the current and voltage. On top of that it is extremely easy to get pins mixed up and power something incorrectly.

Congratulations, you have now completed the hardware for your Zybot!

Continue on to the controller instructable so you can drive your Zybot around.