23
23
supply from the unreliable brushes. The capacitor would discharge
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24
fairly slowly (due to the resistance of the circuit), but will charge
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25
very quickly. Potentially, it will charge so quickly that it'll pull
26
too much current from the power supply. So the resistor limits this.
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Unfortunately, the resistor will also have a potentiometer effect
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(with the resistence of the main circuit). 10Ω was chosen as a value
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due to these rough workings: Lets say the arduino circuit takes 100mA.
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if we aim to lose 1V across the resistor, that's 1V / 0.1A = 10Ω (from
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V=IR). The 100μF was a guess! The problem with the capacitor is that
32
if it's can only hold a small charge, it won't be able to maintain a
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reasonable charge when the power breaks. If it's too large, it will
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take ages to charge (and effectively short the power, save for the
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resistor, while it charges). 100μF seemed like a good value,
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26
too much current from the power supply (i.e., short the power supply
27
and trip it). So the resistor limits this. Unfortunately, the
28
resistor will also have a potentiometer effect (with the resistence of
29
the main circuit). 10Ω was chosen as a value due to these rough
30
workings: Lets say the arduino circuit takes 500mA. If we aim to lose
31
1V across the resistor, that's 1V / 0.5A = 2Ω (from V=IR). The 100μF
32
was a guess (from Dad), but "PCB" Mat suggested something larger, like
33
2200μF. So we went with 1000μF, which appears to power the board
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after power-off for a couple of revolutions. The factors here are
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that a capacitor that is only able to hold a small charge won't be
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able to maintain a current for a reasonable amount of time when the
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power breaks. If it's too large, it will take ages to charge and
38
effectively short the power (save for the resistor) while it does.
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