Week 3

More Electrical research

• Was wrong. it would be simpler to use a voltage divider (just a simple parallel circuit) and a buck converter (SMPS)
  • regulators are good if the input voltage varies, but since shimi as of now is being powered from a steady power supply then they are not necessary
• Good video explaining buck/boost converters : click here
  • in summary, the buck converter uses both a capacitor and inductor to impede the full voltage from the initial power supply. Then once the inductor and capacitor reach a certain charge, a switch is flipped and the capacitor and inductor power the load. once the capacitor and inductor have discharged to a certain point then the switch is flipped again, and the cycle repeats. When done correctly, the fluctuations between the power supply and inductor/ capacitor combo become negligible
    • not sure exactly how the buck converter knows/chooses when to switch

• REALIZATION Because the 19V power supply uses a lower amperage than the 12V power supply, we cannot just use these 2 power supplies. Although we can lower the voltage, it is impossible to increase the current while decreasing voltage and keping resistance the same. Thus we will need to acquire a new single power supply that can power both the motors and speakers, as well as the Jetson
  • Based on the info above, we don't need a buck power converter, and we just need to make a simple parallel circuit.