This single-pole, double-throw (SPDT) momentary switch can be used as a general-purpose micro switch, but the long lever arm makes it especially useful as a tactile bump sensor for your robot (e.g whiskers or antennae). The switch body dimension is 20.0 x 6.4 x 10.2 mm, and the lever arm is 50 mm long.

This single-pole, double-throw (SPDT) momentary switch can be used as a general-purpose micro switch, but the 2"-long lever arm makes it especially useful as a simple tactile obstacle-detector for your robot. The switch body dimension is 20.0 x 6.4 x 10.2 mm (0.79" x 0.25" x 0.40"), and the lever arm is 50 mm (2") long. This three-pin switch can also be used as a two-pin single-pole, single-throw (SPST) switch that is open or closed by default, depending on which two pins are used.

Dimensions (in mm) of snap-action switch with 50mm lever: 3-pin, SPDT, 5A.

For a more sophisticated tactile sensor, see our force-sensing resistors.

People often buy this product together with:

This single-pole, double-throw (SPDT) momentary switch can be used as a general-purpose micro switch or tactile bump sensor for your robot. The switch body dimension is 20.0 x 6.4 x 10.2 mm, and the 16.3mm lever arm is has a roller at the tip.

This single-pole, double-throw (SPDT) momentary switch can be used as a general-purpose micro switch or tactile obstacle-detector for your robot. The switch body dimension is 20.0 x 6.4 x 10.2 mm (0.79" x 0.25" x 0.40"), and the 16.3mm (0.64") lever arm has a roller at the tip. This three-pin switch can also be used as a two-pin single-pole, single-throw (SPST) switch that is open or closed by default, depending on which two pins are used.

Dimensions (in mm) of snap-action switch with 16.3mm roller lever: 3-pin, SPDT, 5A.

For a more sophisticated tactile sensor, see our force-sensing resistors.

People often buy this product together with:

This is a heavy duty SPST toggle switch - your basic on/off toggle. Rated for 2A at 250V or 4A at 125V. Includes a face plate and two threaded nuts for mounting. Works great with our missile switch cover.

Features

0.5 x 0.55 x 1.45"

This is a 3-terminal microswitch two pack, each equipped with a 19mm roller lever actuator. This switch has a great ‘clicky’ sound to it with a nice tactile feel and is perfect when used for a slider, 3D printer, or robot project. Each microswitch is rated for 5A at 250VAC.

Housing Dimensions:

19.8 x 15.8 x 10.3 mm

This battery holder connects 3 AA batteries together in series for powering all kinds of projects. We spec'd these out because the box is compact, and 3 AA's add up to about 3.3-4.5V, a very similar range to Lithium Ion/polymer (Li-Ion) batteries, plus it has a nifty on-off switch. That makes them ideal for use with 3.3V projects that have a 2-pin JST connector meant for one of our Li-Ion/Poly batteries. (Of course, you can't recharge them like Li-Ion/Polys, so don't try to plug this into one of our Li-Ion/Poly charger boards!). It also features an ergonomic belt clip for taking your power on the go!Fits any standard AA battery. When using rechargeable NiMH the output voltage will range from about 3.7V with charged batteries to 2.7V at the end of life with a nominal voltage of 3.6V. When using alkalines, the output will range from 4.5V with new batteries to 3.3V at the end of life with a nominal voltage of about 4.5V.The polarity matches that of our 2-pin JST cable and Li-Ion/Poly batteries. Uses a genuine JST connector so it wont 'catch and tear' in JST connectors.

This battery holder connects 3 AAA batteries together in series for powering all kinds of projects. We spec'd these out because the box is slim, and 3 AAA's add up to about 3.3-4.5V, a very similar range to Lithium Ion/polymer (Li-Ion) batteries, plus it has a nifty on-off switch. That makes them ideal for use with 3.3V projects that have a 2-pin JST connector meant for one of our Li-Ion/Poly batteries. (Of course, you can't recharge them like Li-Ion/Polys, so don't try to plug this into one of our Li-Ion/Poly charger boards!) It also features an ergonomic belt clip for taking your power on the go.Fits any standard AAA battery. When using rechargeable NiMH the output voltage will range from about 3.7V with charged batteries to 2.7V at the end of life with a nominal voltage of 3.6V. When using alkalines, the output will range from 4.6V with new batteries to 3.3V at the end of life with a nominal voltage of about 4.5V.The polarity matches that of our 2-pin JST cable and Li-Ion/Poly batteries. Uses a genuine JST connector so it wont 'catch and tear' in JST connectors.

The Terminal Block Breakout FeatherWing kit is like the Golden Eagle of prototyping FeatherWings (eg. majestic, powerful, good-looking). To start, you get a nice prototyping area underneath your Feather, with extra pads for ground, 3.3V and SDA/SCL. Not one to stop there, we expanded the PCB out to 2" x 2.5" with 3.5mm pitch terminal blocks down each side. There's also four mounting holes so you can attach the breakout to your enclosure or project.

This product works with all our Feathers! The terminal blocks allow you to connect to any of the external Feather pins, great for wiring temporary or permanent installations. We also give you a few extra terminal block pins for ground and 3.3V connections since those are so useful.

Finally, there's a slide switch, which connects the EN pin to ground when in the 'off' position, cutting off the 3.3V regulator. Note that the FONA Feather uses both VBat and 3.3V as power supplies so you wont be able to fully turn off the FONA Feather with this switch.

Note: As of Thursday, December 15th 2016, this product now comes fully assembled! Plug in your Feather and you're ready to go immediately.

Also, the terminal blocks included with your product may be blue or black.

This is a very simple board that takes a 6-12V input voltage and outputs a selectable 5V or 3.3V regulated voltage. All headers are 0.1" pitch for simple insertion into a breadboard.

Input power can be supplied to either the DC barrel jack or the two pin header labeled + and -. Output power is supplied to the pins labeled GND and VCC. Board has both an On/Off switch and a voltage select switch (3.3V/5V).

The two sets of four GND and VCC holes are spaced such that when connected to our Basic Breadboard both power busses will be powered.

Note: Headers are not supplied. You will need to supply your own headers to connect this board to a breadboard. Check below for some breakaway header strips.

Features

6-12V input voltage via barrel jack or 2-pin header

3.3V or 5V regulated output voltage

800mA Operating Current

ON/OFF switch

Output voltage select switch

Power status LED

PTC fuse protected power

5.5x2.1mm center positive barrel jack

2.15x0.65"

This power distribution board is designed specifically for the Romi chassis as a convenient way to access the chassis’s battery power and pass that on the rest of the electronics that make up your robot. It has slots for soldering directly to the chassis’s battery contacts offers reverse voltage protection, several power switching options, and easy access to the various power busses. Just add your own motor drivers, microcontroller, and sensors to complete your Romi robot.

This power distribution board is designed specifically for the Romi chassis as a convenient way to access the chassis’s battery power and pass that on to the rest of the electronics that make up your robot. The board features reverse voltage protection and the patented latching circuit from the Pololu pushbutton power switch, providing a compact, solid-state power switch for your robot that can be controlled with a momentary pushbutton: one push turns on power and another push turns it off.

The board has a small pushbutton already installed and offers convenient points for connecting external pushbutton or tactile switches in parallel. It also offers several alternate pushbutton connection options that result in push-on-only or push-off-only operation, and additional inputs enable further power control options like allowing your robot to turn off its own power. Alternatively, the board can be reconfigured to disable the pushbutton circuit and give control to the small installed slide switch.

The board’s power buses are accessible through a set of 0.1″-spaced pins that are compatible with standard 0.1″ male and 0.1″ female headers, and also through a larger set of holes that are compatible with 3.5mm-pitch terminal blocks (you can combine a 2-pin block and a 3-pin block into a single 5-pin block that spans the three power holes and two ground holes).

Two 1/4″ #2-56 screws and two #2-56 nuts are included for mounting the board to the Romi chassis.

Power Distribution Board for Romi Chassis.

Motor Driver and Power Distribution Board for Romi Chassis.

Installation

Power Distribution Board for Romi Chassis with included hardware.

Power Distribution Board for Romi Chassis on a black chassis.

Before installing the power distribution board on a Romi chassis, you should solder any headers, terminal blocks, wires, or other connectors you plan to use on the board (not included). Please read the rest of this page carefully to determine what additional connectors you might want and where they should be installed.

It is possible to remove the board from the chassis later to solder additional connections, and some of the through holes can be soldered through the slots in the chassis while the board is mounted, but soldering beforehand is easier and avoids the risk of inadvertently melting the chassis with your soldering iron.

The four battery terminals should be soldered to the board after it is mounted on the chassis, as described in the chassis assembly instructions. You will be able to remove the board and battery contacts from the chassis as a single piece after soldering.

Once your you have soldered your through-hole connections to the power distribution board, please follow the instructions given in the Pololu Romi Chassis User’s Guide to finish assembling the chassis, mounting the control board, and soldering in the battery contacts. (The diagrams in those instructions show assembly with the larger Romi 32U4 Control Board, but the same steps apply for the smaller power distribution board.)

Power switch circuit

By default, the on-board pushbutton can be used to toggle power: one push turns on power and another turns it off. Alternatively, a separate pushbutton can be connected to the BTNA and BTNB pins and used instead. Multiple pushbuttons can be wired in parallel for multiple control points, and each of the parallel pushbuttons, including the one on the board itself, will be able to turn the switch on or off. The latching circuit performs some button debouncing, but pushbuttons with excessive bouncing (several ms) might not function well with it.

For proper pushbutton operation, the board’s slide switch should be left in its Off position. (Sliding the switch to the On position will cause the board power to latch on, and the switch must be returned to the Off position before the board can be turned off with the pushbutton.)

Alternatively, to disable the pushbutton, you can cut the button jumper labeled Btn Jmp; this transfers control of the board’s power to the on-board slide switch instead. A separate slide or toggle switch can be connected to the GATE pin and used instead.

More advanced control options are available through the button connection pins and four control inputs:

Power distribution

The diagram below shows the layout of the power distribution buses and access points on the board.

VBAT is connected to the battery contact labeled BAT1+ and provides a direct connection to the battery supply. By default, VBAT is the high side of all six of the chassis’s AA battery cells in series, although this can be reconfigured with the battery jumper (see below).

VRP provides access to the battery voltage after reverse-voltage protection.

VSW is the battery voltage after reverse protection and the power switch circuit.

VREG is not connected to anything by default, but along with the adjacent ground and VSW pins, the VREG pins provide a good place to connect an optional voltage regulator. For example, adding a D24V5F5 step-down regulator would make a regulated 5 V supply available for a microcontroller and other electronics on your chassis.

BAT2+ provides access to the high side of two AA cells in series. This can be useful if you reconfigure the board to provide two separate battery supplies as described below.

Battery supply configuration

The power distribution board’s default configuration provides battery power, VBAT, from all six of the chassis’s AA cells in series (nominally about 7.2 V with rechargeable batteries or 9 V with alkaline batteries). However, the board’s battery jumper, labeled Bat Jmp, allows you to reconfigure the battery connections to provide two independent supplies: BAT1, with 4 cells in series (nominally 4.8 V rechargeable or 6 V alkaline), and BAT2, with 2 cells in series (nominally 2.4 V rechargeable or 3 V alkaline). Cutting the connection between the BAT1− and BAT2+ pads separates the two sets of batteries, and using solder to bridge the BAT1− and GND pads establishes a common ground between the two new supplies.

Warning: Do not bridge the BAT1− and GND pads without first disconnecting BAT1− from BAT2+. Failing to do so could create a short circuit across the BAT2 batteries.

Simplified schematic diagram

This schematic is also available as a downloadable pdf (110k pdf).

In addition to the power distribution board, we have a few other boards designed to mount onto a Romi chassis:

The Motor Driver and Power Distribution Board for Romi Chassis adds motor drivers and a more versatile power circuit (including a 5 V switching regulator); just add a microcontroller and sensors to build a Romi robot.

The Romi 32U4 Control Board turns the Romi chassis into an integrated robot platform. In addition to the same motor drivers and power circuit found on the motor driver and power distribution board, the Romi 32U4 board includes an on-board ATmega32U4 microcontroller, a number of other peripherals and sensors, and interfaces for an optional LCD or Raspberry Pi.

People often buy this product together with:

The SparkFun MIDI Shield board gives your Arduino-based device access to the antiquated, but still widely used and well supported MIDI communication protocol, so you can control synthesizers, sequencers, and other musical devices. The MIDI protocol shares many similarities with standard asynchronous serial interfaces, so you can use the UART pins of your Arduino to send and receive MIDI’s event messages.

The SparkFun MIDI Shield provides an opto-isolated MIDI-IN port as well as a MIDI-OUT port. The MIDI Shield can be mounted directly on top of an Arduino, connecting the MIDI-IN to the Arduino’s hardware RX pin and the MIDI-OUT to TX. Potentiometers are connected to analog pins 1 and 2, and can be used to control volume, pitch, tone or anything else you’d like. The shield also comes with three momentary push buttons, a reset button, and green and red stat LEDs. The RUN/PROG switch allows you to program the Arduino over serial without having to remove the shield.

This revision of the SparkFun MIDI Shield also adds several configurable features, such as converting the MIDI output to a MIDI thru, and the option to use a software serial port for MIDI, leaving the hardware serial for programming and debugging. It also buffers the output, making it compatible with the Arduino Pro without needing to circumvent the protection resistors on the serial TX and RX lines.

Note: The MIDI Shield does not come with all parts soldered on. Two MIDI connectors, two trimpots, and three pushbuttons are included with the product and will need to be attached by the end user.

Includes

SparkFun MIDI Shield PCB

2x 5-pin DIN conectors

2x 10K rotary potentiometer

3x 12mm tactile pushbutton switches

The SparkFun Servo Trigger is a small robotics board that simplifies the control of hobby RC servo motors. When an external switch or logic signal changes state, the Servo Trigger is able to tell an attached servo motor to move from position A to position B. To use the Servo Trigger, you simply connect a hobby servo and a switch, then use the on-board potentiometers to adjust the start/stop positions and the transition time. You can use a hobby servos in your projects without having to do any programming!

The heart of the Servo Trigger is an Atmel ATTiny84 microcontroller, running a small program that implements the servo control features we are discussing here. On-board each Servo Trigger you will find three potentiometers, “A” sets the position the servo sits in while the switch is open, “B” sets the position the servo moves to when the switch is closed, and “T” sets the time it takes to get from A to B and back. Compared to a servo motor, the Servo Trigger board draws very little current, roughly 5 mA at 5V. Be sure to note that if you’re using the Servo Trigger to control your motor, the absolute maximum supply voltage that should be applied is 5.5 VDC. Additionally, the SparkFun Servo Trigger is designed to make it easy to daisy chain boards – you can simply connect the VCC and GND pads on adjacent boards to each other.

Note: Check out the Hookup Guide in the Documents section below for more advanced tips, configurations, and modes!

Note: This idea originally came from our friend in the Oakland area, CTP. If you see him, please give him a high-five for us.

Features

Recommended Voltage: 5VDC

Max Voltage: 5.5VDC

Current Draw: 5 mA

Three Control Settings

A - sets the position the servo sits in while the switch is open

B - sets the position the servo moves to when the switch is closed

C - sets the time it takes to get from A to B and back

A - sets the position the servo sits in while the switch is open

B - sets the position the servo moves to when the switch is closed

C - sets the time it takes to get from A to B and back

Easy Control with Potentiometers

Configurable Input Polarity

Configurable Response Mode

Compatible with Analog Servos

ISP Header pins Available for Reprogram

This sensor is essentially a reed switch, encased in an ABS plastic shell. Normally the reed is 'open' (no connection between the two wires). The other half is a magnet. When the magnet is less than 13mm (0.5") away, the reed switch closes. They're often used to detect when a door or drawer is open, which is why they have mounting tabs and screws. You can also pick up some double-sided foam tape from a hardware store to mount these, that works well without needing screws.

These are massive single pole - double throw (SPDT) sealed relays. This means that when current is applied to the coil it throws a simple changeover switch, terminating the connection from the NC contact to ground and closing the NO contact. Use them to switch high voltage/high current devices.

Features

SPDT Relay

Contacts Rated up to 220VAC @ 20A

Coil Voltage: 5V

Fully Sealed

This is a simple slide switch for the LilyPad. Use it as a simple ON/OFF switch, or to control LEDs, buzzers, sensors, etc. The swtiches on each board are rated for 4 volts at 300mA, but will work at 5 volts with a reduction in current.

LilyPad is a wearable e-textile technology developed by Leah Buechley and cooperatively designed by Leah and SparkFun. Each LilyPad was creatively designed to have large connecting pads to allow them to be sewn into clothing. Various input, output, power, and sensor boards are available. They’re even washable!

Note: A portion of this sale is given back to Dr. Leah Buechley for continued development and education of e-textiles.

Features

7.75x18.1mm

Thin 0.8mm PCB