I was poking around on Pimoroni’s Pico Github and spied a reference to Yukon.
Actions · pimoroni/pimoroni-pico (github.com)
Being curious I did a Google search and found this.
Pimoroni Stealthily Announce RP2040 Yukon Modular Robotics Platform | Tom’s Hardware (tomshardware.com)
I’m impressed, might have to get me one of these when they become available.
I have a Pico Inventor and have been having some fun with it and servos. I added an encoder to make it even more interesting to play with.
So it looks like this has just gone out. It’s a nice platform, but once you add the LiPo and charger it is quite pricey. I wonder if there isn’t a way to USB PD power it for projects which don’t need 15A.
The schematic is here, yukon_no_display.sch (shopify.com)
I had a quick glance, it looks like some of it will run on the USB 5V.
It won’t work with Power Delivery I’m afraid - the USB-C port is for logic/programming only. The modules need an external power supply to function (this is a deliberate design choice, so you don’t need to worry about having the USB-C cable and a battery/external supply plugged in to the board at the same time).
You can however supply Yukon with any external power source between 5-17V, you don’t have to use the fancy batteries :)
Hmm, I have some old, not in use Laptop Power supplies. I think the Voltage might be too high though? Will have to go have a look at the specs.
I do also have this, should work for tinkering around.
5V 10A switching power supply : ID 658 : $29.95 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits
It won’t work with Power Delivery I’m afraid - the USB-C port is for logic/programming only. The modules need an external power supply to function
You can however supply Yukon with any external power source between 5-17V, you don’t have to use the fancy batteries :)
Oh that’s what I meant, Adafruit have a nice looking HUSB238 board for getting up to 20V 5A from PD, but setting that for 12V 3A might be nice for smaller projects which don’t need to be mobile.
I bought a makerbeam kit a while ago and never really did much with it, maybe now is the time to try.
I bought an Open Beam kit years and years ago. First thing I built was a portable Pi based breadboard rig.
The backside picture is a little out of date, I’ve redone the power hookup to use a T connector instead of the barrel jack.
Also did up a few other things.
Ah very nice! I wanted to learn to build something like a pen plotter but didn’t quite figure out the mechanics of it. It seems like a lot of those kits don’t have the associated brackets and gizmos to match.
Yeah, Motor brackets etc were sold separately. Same deal with threaded rod etc.
So if anyone is curious, I’ve got a Yukon with a Dual Motor/Bipolar Step module connected to a NEMA 14 stepper motor. I programmed a Sparkfun Power Delivery Board to output 12V and 3A and hooked it up to the Yukon using an XT30 Adapter Cable to a PinePower pack which should be capable of 12V 3.5A (it certainly manages 20V 3A fine for my soldering iron).
The results weren’t good. The Yukon kept giving me low-voltage errors. Using a multimeter I could see that the Sparkfun board was outputting 12V, but the moment the stepper motor tried to move the Sparkfun board seemed to reboot and output <5V, so the Yukon stopped turning the motor. The same happened with the Pi 5 power supply which is supposed to be 12V 2.25A capable. I ended up connecting it up to a basic 12V 5A power brick and it worked perfectly on that.
So, in terms of USB PD supplies, the Sparkfun board doesn’t seem to work. I tried setting the minimum and maximum acceptable voltages to quite wide ranges, but the sudden power draw of the motor still seemed to cause the Sparkfun board to reboot and so everything stops. That’s quite disappointing for what was quite an expensive USB PD board. I’d be curious to see how the Adafruit HUSB238 copes, but I can’t seem to get my hands on one at the moment, so for now I’ll be sticking to a basic power brick for driving this.
