Mbot - more voltage to the motors

#1

I’m very new to robotics but I can’t seem to find an easy answer for this - I think it’s easy to do if I knew a little more. So, I bought the cute little Mbot and am a bit disappointed in it’s speed. I remember looking at reviews of these and when they would take off the back was a bit of a wheely bar. But when mine goes forward, it’s about half the speed I expected, maybe less.

So I was thinking about it and I’m using a 3.7v battery (the mBot battery), the little motors are 12v capable (I think)… I’m sure you know where I’m going with this - How do I do it?

#2

mBot’s main board mCore can take 3.7-6V. I am afraid higher voltage will cause damage to the device.

#3

Thanks for responding so quickly!
So apparently the motors are 4-6v, not 12v like I originally thought (sorry!). I know the mcore is capped, which I thought was at 3.7v, I’m assuming there’s resistors from the 6v battery jack, unless it would actually “go faster” with AA’s than the 3.7v mBot battery I bought. But either way, originally, I was talking about the motors, not the mcore. I want to bypass the core to give more voltage to max out the motors (6v). So knowing the battery is only 3.7v… I think I could throw a transistor from the output of the mcore to the motor and maybe add a AA battery (1.5v) to it… :smiley:

It’s my first time with it though, so I don’t know exactly what I’m doing. Any advice would be appreciated. I think I’d need a transistor on each of the wires to the motor, guess I’d have to play with it and a volt meter to see the actual outcome and how the reverse part would work.

Side-Question: Is there an easy way to take off that protective shield around the mcore? On the pictures the board was exposed and I thought it was just a screw-on shield but it’s a 4x plastic clip and I’m hoping I can just pry it off without breaking it to have a better look at the board.

#4

You are not suggested to use direct 6V to power TT motor. I just tested M1/M2 output on the mCore, about 3.8V. Higher power may cause damage to the motor.

To get rid of the protective cover of mCore, we just unscrew the four screws on the for corner, then you can easily take it off.

#5

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