How to Power the El Escudo

Development Boards Arduino
1

Hi

Has anyone out there used an El Escudo? How is yours powered?

I purchased an El Escudo and an inverter. The inverter I got is this one:

http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10469

The Inverter page says “The output is terminated with a JST connector, so it plugs directly into the input on the EL Escudo or EL Sequencer board.”

But then the instructions .pdf says I need some other inverter that SparkFun does not sell. Is the .pdf out of date and not taking the EL Inverter 12V into account?

Also the El Escudo has two power input sockets. One says ‘From Inverter’ and one says ‘Raw Voltage’. Why would I ever use the ‘Raw Voltage’ socket?

I have hooked the inverter to the El Escudo and then attached the El Escudo to my Uno. I then loaded the example code and attached some El Wire. No luck.

2

I don’t own one, but judging by the schematic and board images I’d say you connect the output of your inverter to the board’s ‘inverter output’ connector. The raw side, i believe, is to power an inverter via the external power source of an arduino. (One side is input (Low voltage), other side is output (High voltage)). Your inverter has connector for an external source.

Dave

3

Thanks for your reply Dave

I got antsy and asked support and learned that Sparkfun now sells an inverter for the El Escudo. You are right and predictably enough it plugs into the inverter JST input.

I was just thrown by two factors. It turns out that the instructions .pdf is out of date. The other thing I was thrown by was when I tested this I could not get it to work. But operator error is how I roll around here so I just need to keep hammering on it.

4

Hi freddyk,

I am struggling with getting the EL Escudo running. Your first post mentioned you bought the 12v inverter (http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10469) but then you say in your last post that “Sparkfun now sells an inverter for the El Escudo”. Which inverter is that, the 3v? I have tried both and neither work unless directly wired to the EL, then they both work fine and blink or stay on depending on the switch setting.

Did the 3v inverter work from you when it was powered from the arduino?

Lastly, which PDF were you referring to? Can you share the link?

Thanks,

david

5

Hi

I got the unit working with the 12V Sparkfun inverter that I linked to in the first post above.

The unit needs that to power two of the El Wire ports at a time. The unit also needs 3 or 5V from the arduino to power its logic circuits. So 12V inverter into the JST connector labeled ‘inverter output’ and then the board will get the power it needs from the Arduino to power the logic.

If you search Google for this ‘EL_Escudo_User_Guide’ you will find the user guide pdf. I can’t find it on the Sparkfun site anymore. It is out of date.

I hope that helps.

Fred