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Old 06-25-2009, 08:53 AM   #99 (permalink)
stevey_frac
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Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Cambridge, ON
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Istas View Post
I'm going to learn what I need to learn to wire something into the power line that'll hopefully smooth that out enough so it doesn't happen (like a capacitor (or two?), and possibly an 8 volt regulator so the one on the circuit board of the device doesn't produce as much heat on its own), but the nearest Radio Shack is an hour away. I'll just avoid using my horn on the trip home (not that I usually use it anyway).
Get yourself a 10 uF ceramic capacitor, and wire it from the power to the ground as close to the MPGuino as you can. That will go a long way towards removing any high frequency noise from the board.

The 5v regulator shouldn't be putting out much heat. The MPGuino can't be using that much power, and typically, small 5V regulators are at least 80% efficient. I would check really really closely for some kind of short? I honestly don't have any experience with the MPGuino, but i'm a computer engineer, and really hot components on this kind of thing sets off my 'something is wrong' alert system. Also, check for other warm components. Most chips these days can run very quickly and produce no discernible heat.
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