I am trying to determine if I need additional hardware in my electrical circuit. The documentation for the Roboclaw motor controller states that it has regenerative voltage/current features that may need to be dealt with, however this is mainly aimed at situations where the controller is powered by a bench power supply which doesn’t help me. I am using this controller to power two Gobuilda motors in a differential track drive robot. The controller is powered by a LiPo Battery, and I’m wondering if I will run into any electrical issues when the motors stop and/or change directions if all I have between the LiPo battery and the controller is a switch and a fuse. I am hesitant to place a diode between the controller and the battery (like what is suggested in the documentation) as I feel like LiPo batteries are fussy about how they are charged.
So I guess my question is ultimately, do I need any additional hardware and/or implement something in software to control the regeneration?
Given the size of the motors and controller I’m guessing you’re using a big RC/Hobby pack with tons of current capacity, so the only thing you’ll have to worry about is voltage. I can see that p47 of the User Manual goes over how to set up a voltage clamp circuit. I believe this means that the controller will watch the regenerative charging voltage, and if it goes too high, drive the gate on a MOSFET to allow some current through a power resistor to dissipate it and prevent excessive voltage being applied across the battery.
This seems somewhat conflicting. Page 47 of the user manual states “When using power supplies regenerative voltage spikes will need to be dissipated” but the circuit diagram shows a battery not a power supply. Also the data sheet for the 2x15 Amp version suggests that the voltage clamp circuit doesn’t need to be implemented when it is powered by a battery, only lab power supplies etc require this. I’m confused, should I implement a voltage clamp or not? If not, will the LiPo battery handle the charging not done by a smart charger or similar.
