Ranger not working. Help

#1

Hi Folks. Just received my new mBot ranger. Put it all together. Everything seemed fine. Tried to use it but the motors are not working. They seem to start a little then stop. I updated the firmware still same issue. Everything else (lights, sounds) work. I tried to update the firmware a second time but now can’t even connect to the ranger. Not sure what is going on here??? It’s a brand new machine! Is there some problem with the board? Please HELP… Thanks.

#2

Are you using fully charged batteries? The motors draw a fair amount of current.

#3

Thanks for the reply. It is the batteries. I was using regular AA batteries. Powered the unit with a power supply and everything works. I really like the MBot Ranger but should not say AA batteries on the box. Now I need to find a decent lithium ion battery pack that can run the unit. Any suggestions?

#4

With motors, the big thing is amps.
you can either go with a 7.4 lipo battery pack
https://forum.makeblock.com/t/mbot-ranger-best-high-capacity-lipo-battery/5103

OR 6-8 AA rechargeables with 2600mAh. I have found tenergy to work well for me. 6 aa battery holder for low requirements and 8 aa battery holder for higher.

#5

I’m using a mix of Amazon Basics AA 2500mAh and Eneloop Pro 2500mAh rechargeable batteries, they work really well.

#6

Thank you guys for the replies. Just as a short term stop gap, I purchased some amazon AA rechargeable and should arrive shortly today. Will see if they will work. I will also try and find some Lipo on amazon but delivery time these days is long… thanks again.

#7

I normally use a hobby RC Lipo battery. Most of the time I use a 2S battery but if I am making robot that I want big power like a sumo fighting robot I will use a 3s.

These hobby RC batteries are super super common and lots of places sell them. It is important not onyl to get a battery that is right voltage but can supply enough amps. Any battery battery designed to run hobby motors will have plenty of amps. You can see details about the battery that I use in this build video I made https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00Utw_X8DM4

#8

Thanks for the video outofthebots, and thanks for the suggestions on the batteries. Will definitely buy some of the hobby ones and try them out. The amazon rechargeable AA did work but I am confident with some of the other batteries suggested I will get better performance.

#9

This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.