okay, don’t ask why, but i decided to plug the vexplorer flashlight into the motor out let and activate it via remote control. It’s cool because you can turn it on and off from a long distance…not to mention send out morse code messages…granted that you’d need someone that could under stand it…
anyhow, will this damage anything? just as a note, the flashlight only turns on when the stick is a certain direction (ex: only up, not up and down)
I don’t how much current the signal line can supply, but I would imagine that it probably isn’t a good idea to do this. Maybe somone else has can provide more information.
The Flashlight can be plugged into a motor port on the VEX Microcontroller, but you need to observe the correct polarity and plug it into the power lines - black to far side opposite of key and red in middle. I believe there is information about this in the instructions that come with the Flashlight Kit. Basically, you are just using the motor port to supply power just like on the VEXplorer. You still have to turn the Flashlight on with it’s power switch.
This shouldn’t hurt anything, but it probably won’t do anything useful. Probably just bright enough to see, but dim and flickery.
The VEXplorer light can handle reverse polarity and any voltage that the VEX Microcontroller will put out during normal operations.
The outputs on the VEX Microcontroller are current limited and can handle short-circuits and such without damage.
If you want to control the VEXplorer light from a VEX Microcontroller, you can get the PWM->DC motor adapter (bottom of this page), or you can build a simple switching circuit to turn it on/off under program control.
Cheers,
I use the signal splitter, should i even use the flashlight?
You can run the VEX flashlight from the signal splitter. Either plug it straight in if you want it to stay on all the time, or use a DC motor adapter if you want to control the light from the remote.
Cheers,
If you want a really bright light, just purchase one of the bright white LED converter kits used to convert standard flashlights from incandescent light bulbs to LEDs and connect it to one of the motor ports. These kits can be found at local hardware stores for about $10.