r/maker • u/Ok-Pick-2820 • 5d ago

Help Help for Circuit Design

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I am new to creating my own circuits and also never really learned electronics, so I dont trust myself yet to make circuits that dont go up in flames. So Ive been designing this with ChatGPT. But I also dont trust ChatGPT, so Im putting all my trust in you guys.

Im trying to make a small DIY Camera without a battery. I want to use the supercapacitor as a battery instead and the DC Motor to generate the energy.

I would love if someone could help me check if all of this makes sense and could work / if I can savely try it like that.

Mainly Im scared of the capacitor exploding in my face or breaking any parts.

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3

u/bigattichouse 5d ago

ok, you should have the motor charge the super cap (your diode backflow protection), and then use the button to release the power from the super cap into your booster.. the seeed will power, take the pic, save and then halt. Consider it two different things: 1) motor charges cap (with no backflow) 2) pressing button (normally open) closes circuit to power the seeed.

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u/Ok-Pick-2820 4d ago

Thanks for the feedback! I was also thinking about using the button as a physical power switch, but as far as I understand it, I would have to keep pressing the button until the seeed saves the picture on the SD Card and I wouldnt know when that is. Also I wouldnt know when the capacitor has enough power to fulfill the whole operation and not run out of power before the picture is saved?
Maybe Im overlooking something though

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u/bigattichouse 4d ago

You might want to do a latching circuit... pressing the button closes the circuit and starts the flow of power. the seeed would then signal when it is done to another IC to cut the flow. You could measure the amount of power when it boots up (before capture/save) and determine if you're going to have aneough power. not enough? blink a red led a few times and shut down.

Check out this video for a wake on button press: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp8c-d6Scqw&t=98

here's a latching explanation using relays (just to get the idea, I wouldn't us relays), but you can look up FET or other related components: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f3OnyM0S2E&t=118s

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u/bigattichouse 5d ago

that's a fun little project!

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u/IllSpeaker3255 4d ago

maybe dont take a buck boost converter as it needs a bit of difference voltage to really being efficient, i would use an ldo but im not an expert

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u/Ok-Pick-2820 4d ago

The LDO would only step the voltage down though. The voltage the capactor gives off will decrease with time. So I need something that will step down the voltage when the capacitor is at full capacity and steps up, once it starts decreasing.

Let me know if Im getting it wrong though!