Safely connect/disconnect Roboclaw

General discussion of using Roboclaw motor controllers
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britonet
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu May 16, 2019 7:00 am
Safely connect/disconnect Roboclaw

Post by britonet »

I have the Roboclaw (2x30A but I think it does not matter for this topic) connected to the PC via USB.

In the manual it says that the Roboclaw must be already power up before connecting the USB port with ION MOTION studio.

1) The same applies for any application? e.g. If I write my own application do I need to power up the Roboclaw before making the USB connection?

And for unplugging:

2) Is it safe to just unplug the Roboclaw from the PC even if the Roboclaw is still power up?, or do I need to turn the Roboclaw power off before disconnecting?
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Basicmicro Support
Posts: 1594
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 9:45 pm
Re: Safely connect/disconnect Roboclaw

Post by Basicmicro Support »

1. The Roboclaw takes NO power from USB so you must power it from the Main power terminals or the logic power terminals. We recommend powering the Roboclaw before connecting USB because that will prevent the creation of a ground loop through the USB cable which could damage the Roboclaw or the PC.

2. Yes. You can always unplug th4e USB at any time. What you should never do it unplug the main power negative terminal while connected to USB. This, again, could create a ground loop which could damage the Roboclaw and/or the PC.
Basicmicro Tech
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed Feb 13, 2019 2:56 pm
Re: Safely connect/disconnect Roboclaw

Post by Basicmicro Tech »

See the link below for a discussion about power issues that could cause damage to the RoboClaw or attached hardware.

https://resources.basicmicro.com/robocl ... ng-issues/

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