With the Freewheel mod carried out, when the PCB is turned off, there is no power to PWM2 so the Cytron acts like a generator still.
With 3D gears, when you turn the steering wheel with PCB off, the LEDs on the Cytron light up as does the led on the BNO085 (AIO PCB), is this going to cause any damage?
I’d imagine I’m not alone in having 3D gears permanently engaged and the AOG PCB only turned on when using autosteer.
What board version?
Has not created an issue with many hours on V2.
To put your mind at ease unplug the motor and measure the leads, turn the steering wheel, what kind of voltage do you see?
AIO Standard and Micro noticed both did it when I had the covers off for Teensy updates.
On my tractor I have an isolation switch between Phidgets and PCB, but guess most installs won’t.
Will check the voltage shortly and report back!
Measured voltage with a multimeter, turning steering wheel slowly 0.5-1 volts, turning it fast 3.6 volts.
This obviously goes back into the Cytron and through the PCB to be able to light the BNO led.
Makes me wonder if the relay option is perhaps a better option for those whose cannot isolate the steering, foam wheel guys are obviously ok, but for gears with no means of easy disengagement.
Depending on the protection features of the board that probably isn’t a big issue. I checked out the schematic and it looks like it is probably back feeding through the 12v side of the cytron and then through the regulators(could very well be wrong though). The two pins to the teensy have 330 ohm resistors that should limit the current and at 3.6v it should be fine.
Plus I don’t think that anyone has had any boards get fried because of this issue yet and there are quite a few people running potatofarmers gear drive that haven’t had any issues.
Since the 3.6V is right at the motor, i doubt the voltage after backing through the cytron would be enough to hurt anything.
Do you use 12 or 24v steering.